New grocery categories
Starting this September, the Campus Food Bank is moving to a new way of categorizing our food. We are switching our systems because our current food categories are based on historical food bank categories, and their specificity is quite Western. This is limiting our ability to prioritize a better variety of cultural foods as well as flexibility for clients to choose the foods they actually want. By making more general categories, clients will be able to choose foods they actually want and not have to take less food because they don’t want anything in a certain category.
What is changing?
Our previous shopping categories were: pasta, rice, cereal/oats, sauce, canned/dried protein, ready-made meals, canned fruits/vegetables, and snacks. These category limits are indicated by household size and noted on our shopping lists and store signage. Produce items, and items in the fridge and freezer are labelled with limits based on what we have in stock each day.
Our new shopping categories are: grains, canned veg & sauces, canned/dried protein, and ready-made meals. These each have category-specific family size limits, and we are creating a new ‘other’ category for non-perishables that don’t fit these categories. Produce items, items in the fridge and freezer, and all items in the ‘other’ category will be labelled with limits based on what we have in stock each day.
We hope that the new categories will help the store to be better stocked, as well. We now have more flexibility to accept seasonal or cultural food items and have set aside space in the store for this ‘other’ category so that unique items are featured and not tucked away because they don’t fit in a category.
How will this affect clients?
Let’s use a family of three for an example.
Previously, a client shopping for a family of three would follow these limits:
Pasta or rice 500g - 2 items
Cereal or oats 250g - 1 item
Pasta sauce can - 1 item
Canned/dried protein - 4 items
Ready-made meals - 4 items
Canned fruit/veg - 1 item
Snacks - total 6 items
Produce, fridge/freezer stock individually labelled with limits each day
Starting in September, a client shopping for a family of three will follow these limits:
Grains - 6 items
Canned veg & sauces - 1 item
Canned/dried protein - 4 items
Ready-made meals - 4 items
Other (incl. snacks, specialty/seasonal items, toiletries), produce, fridge/freezer stock individually labelled with limits each day
Rather than being forced to pick pasta/rice AND cereal, the family can now take any combination of grain items they choose. We find that canned vegetables are less popular and there is a variety of sauce we get in, so we can now include more sauces in this category than just tomato sauce while not forcing clients to take canned veg if they don’t actually want it. As well, we had a difficult time defining what a ‘snack’ is, so the ‘other’ category is meant to give us more flexibility to feature unique food items we receive, and even encourage more variety in community food drive donations.
We will continue to have gluten-free, vegan, and Halal options available by requesting from a volunteer. This also applies to diapers and baby products.
Appointments will continue to be offered on a biweekly basis.
What are the feedback opportunities?
We will be circulating a client poll in our October client newsletter to collect feedback about this switch. Clients are encouraged to give feedback in-store to volunteers or staff. We also have a comment jar on our back check-out table and clients are always welcome to send feedback to info@campusfoodbank.com.
As always, thank you for your patience and kindness as we navigate this time of increasing demand. Happy September, everyone! Take care of yourselves and each other, and remember that the Campus Food Bank loves you!
Your CFB staff,
Cailtin, Erin, Madi, Priya, and Rhea
