Food Bank Advent – Reverse Advent Calander 2021
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As it’s almost November, it’s once again time to start our reverse advent campaign. Each November, myself along with lots of other members of the UK money blogging community put together a reverse advent calendar to help support our local food banks over the festive period.
What Is Reverse Advent?
Reverse advent works a bit like an advent calendar, but rather than a treat for yourself, you donate an item of food to your local food bank each day for either twenty-four days or one month, whichever you’d prefer.
While most people do usually do advent during December, reverse advent works better during November, as it allows time for food items to be distributed by food banks before Christmas.
You can of course take part in December, but do keep in mind items likely won’t get to people until the new year, so it’s probably best to avoid adding too many Christmas items.
How Can I Take Part?
There are lots of ways you can part in reverse advent.
The first and most obvious is by collecting food items during the month and then donating them to your local food bank.
Many of us UK money bloggers add one item each day so we can post on social media daily and encourage and remind others to do the same.
However, you can add as many items as you want to at a time and there is no need to go out and buy something to add each day, you can pick up extra items with your weekly shop or online shop and add those as and when you want to.
As times are tough for a lot of people right now, I know not everyone will be able to afford to donate 24 or 30 items.
But there are other ways you can support your local food bank including sharing the posts of those that are taking part to help raise overall awareness of the campaign.
There are also lots of low-cost ways to donate, including picking up supermarket basics – food being donated doesn’t need to be fancy, branded or expensive to make a difference.
If you’re unable to get out and about but still want to help, you could consider making a one-off or monthly donation to The Trussell Trust instead. Monetary donations allow food banks to replenish any stock they desperately need and to cover running costs such as rent and electricity.
You could also encourage others to take part by organising a donation point at your workplace.
When Should I Donate My Items?
As I mentioned above, it’s usually best to donate items at the start of December if you can to allow time for collection and sorting by food bank volunteers.
What Should I Donate?
Food banks generally want long-life items that don’t need refrigerating such as tins and dried goods.
Before getting started with reverse advent it might be worthing contacting your local food bank or taking a look on social media to what they need. Lots of food banks get more than enough donations of baked beans and pasta but are crying out for less obvious items like UHT milk, coffee, sugar and tea bags.
You could also consider donating toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo and sanitary items or including some baby items like nappies and wipes.
As it’s for Christmas, you might like to include some Christmas items too, such as a Christmas Pudding or selection box. If you donate mince pies do check the dates as they are surprisingly short-dated.
Another thing to consider is adding some gluten-free or other dietary items to your reverse advent box.
Food banks do not accept donations of alcohol.
When choosing what to donate you might also want to take fuel poverty into consideration. Foods that need little cooking like instant noodles and instant mash are a great choice.
If you’re taking part this year we’d love to see your progress across social media using the hashtag #foodbankadvent
All Food Bank Advent Posts
Reverse Advent 2019 – 3 days of food for £5
Reverse Advent 2018 – what to donate
Reverse Advent 2017 – with UK Money Bloggers
10 Ways To Support Food Banks This Winter
