What do Boston food pantries need this season? Here are tips from the Greater Boston Food Bank

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's Saturday morning newsletter, The Weekender. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here. 

The holiday season is nearly here. And while you’re wheeling your cart down the grocery aisle, looking for ingredients for that new dish you’re sure will wow those hard-to-impress guests, it might seem only natural to pick up a few extra cans to give to a food pantry.

“Thanksgiving and the December holiday season bring so many opportunities for reflection,” said Cheryl Schondek, chief operating officer at the Greater Boston Food Bank. “It’s a time where folks say, ‘I am fortunate that I’m able to have a delicious meal with my family. But there are so many that are not.’ “

It’s this empathy that fuels so many seasonal donations. But sometimes we hesitate. How helpful might something small, like a can of vegetables, really be?

With the amount of people in need, every donation matters, says Schondek. I spoke to her to learn more about what kinds of items local food pantries are looking for at this time of year, and how you can find out what your community needs most.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Hanna Ali: Food pantries tend to receive more donations around the holidays. Are there any items that you end up with a surplus of around this time of year?

Cheryl Schondek: Our volume of food distribution does increase during the November and December holiday season. But to say that we have an excess of any one item, I can’t put my finger on that.

The need is incredible, and hunger is such a big problem. The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger relief organization in New England. Every item that we bring in leaves the building, whether it is produce, protein, dairy, peanut butter, cereal, rice, beans or canned vegetables.

HA: What item goes fastest at food pantries?

CS: Clients continue to ask for more healthy food, and the number one requested item right now is coming out of our dairy cooler, and that is eggs. Dozens of eggs. We purchase about four truckloads of eggs a month, and we need to increase that to eight truckloads a month to meet the need for the 600 community partners.

HA: Is there anything people should not donate?

CS: We are a food bank that has a nutrition policy. We do not go out and purchase items that don’t offer a high nutrition content. If they get donated, I think it’s OK. We prefer the most nutritious food you can get. Thirty percent of the food we distribute is fresh produce. Ask your local pantries what they don’t want distributed or dropped off. Anything in moderation, if you ask me. That would be a pantry preference.

HA: Speaking of local pantries — how can folks find one near them?

CS: If you go our website under the “need food” segment, we have a tremendous tool anyone can use.

Key in the zip code where you live, where you work, anywhere you are closely associated with, and it will give you information about the food pantries, the meal programs that are right near where you are. It also will give you the hours of operation of those pantries.

HA: What other online tools does the Greater Boston Food Bank provide?

CS: There’s another segment that I use and anyone can use; it’s called “click and cook.”

One-point-nine million residents in our state are food insecure. One in three adults in Massachusetts has experienced food insecurity. Those folks may come home after work or school, and find that they have a limited amount of resources in the pantry or in the refrigerator. If you go to “click and cook” and key in what you have, it will give you a recipe on how best to utilize what’s in your pantry.

HA: Besides donations, how else can people get involved?

CS: When you’re at your holiday gathering, talk about food insecurity. Get your friends involved. Get your family involved. Learn more about what the need is in the commonwealth. And if you can, volunteer in your local community or at the Greater Boston Food Bank.

P.S. — We want to know which Thanksgiving dishes make you smile. Is it something you’ve prepared for decades, or something you haven’t tasted in years? Share your story with our Cognoscenti team here for a chance to be featured in a future roundup.