I visit my local food pantry regularly, so I think I have some perspective.

There’s a state run mobile food pantry that makes up boxes of shelf stable foods to give out. It’s wonderful, but it’s always pretty much the same things every time-- canned corn, peas, tuna, fruit, spaghetti sauce, beans. They are clearly buying staples in bulk to give out, which makes sense for their process.

When I go to my local pantry, which gets a lot of direct donations, I can find a much wider variety of products. Canned chicken, nice soups, ravioli, artichokes, diced tomatoes, etc. It makes for a more varied and interesting diet.

Donating money is great and versatile, but donating canned goods can be valuable too.

Do you have a brand and model you’d recommend? I’m always open to a better set up.

It’s not for everyone, but the subscription model works well for me. I don’t print a lot each month, but what I do is mostly very ink-heavy images. I was spending a lot more when I bought my own cartridges, plus I had to go to the store and hope it was in stock. Now they mail me a new cartridge when I’m running low.