Seasonal work is slacking off for laborers at this time of year, putting the crunch on domestic budgets for many low-income families and making autumn a good time to remember the food pantries. With grocery costs escalating since the pandemic and Hamptons prices at some East End markets being typically higher on top of that, rumbling stomachs — and anxiety over where the next meal is coming from — are a daily reality for too many of our neighbors.
We’re told that often food pantries see a glut of certain items (leftover candy after Halloween, ramen or boxed macaroni and cheese that’s filling and cheap but not terribly nutritious) while certain essentials slip donors’ minds.
Here are some suggestions for what you might drop off at a collection point this fall.
Breakfast items to send kids to school and parents to work with energy under their belt: hot cereals such as oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, boxed cereals of all kinds, breakfast bars like those produced by Nutri-Grain or Kind.
Shelf-stable, single-serving drinks for kids, including vanilla or chocolate milk, juice boxes, and squeezable juice packs. Also, shelf-stable Parmalat.
Snacks that can be tucked into a lunch box: energy bars, granola bars, or fruit bars, individual packs of dried fruit or fruit leather, trail mix, cheese sandwich crackers.
Staple pantry supplies for baking and cooking: vegetable oil, olive oil, or Crisco; flour and corn meal; white and brown sugar; basic spices in small containers (including salt and pepper); sauces such as soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard, and ketchup (in full-size containers, not takeaway packets); dried beans and lentils.
Pasta sauces, rather than just a box of pasta, because the box of spaghetti for $2 may be one thing the client could afford to buy themself, but that $5 sauce? Maybe not.
Canned goods that go beyond just the often-donated tinned corn or green beans. Think: hearty soups or stews; all varieties of canned beans or chickpeas, and canned meats — including canned tuna, chicken, or ham — that deliver solid protein.
Personal-care items in full-size packaging (rather than leftover hotel toiletries, which are nice but don’t last long and are finicky to distribute). Bar soap, liquid hand soap, body wash, disposable razors, tampons and sanitary pads, shampoo, diapers, and Band-Aids.
Don’t forget the Little Free Pantries spread around town by the Neo-Political Cowgirls, Men at Work Construction, and other individuals and institutions. These are the small glass-front cabinets that can be accessed 24/7 at six locations, on a “Take what you need, give what you can” basis. Among the locations: LTV Studios on Industrial Road in Wainscott, Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, the Montauk School, Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, East Hampton High School, the Senior Citizens Center on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, and the Gansett Meadow apartment complex in Amagansett.
Finally, we’re putting in a plug here for cookies, as well. Just because a family or individual person has a pinched grocery budget doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a sweet treat at the end of a long day. Even poor kids deserve their favorite Pepperidge Farm Mint Milanos from time to time, and imagine the smile you could provide to an older citizen when they find a box of Mallomars at St. Michael’s housing in Amagansett or Windmill Village II.