Little Vegan Pantry

@sleepypasture (IG) stewards this Dallas, TX, Little Vegan Pantry. In her project description submitted for the mini pantry map, she writes, “Vegans experiencing food insecurity often don't have access to plant-based options, so our pantry is a (tiny) way of addressing that problem in our neighborhood.”

All of us who give what we can can be mindful of the different dietary needs of our neighbors. In addition to our go-to items, we can shop with intention for items that support the following special diets:

In addition, if you live in ethnically diverse neighborhoods, add items that might be appreciated by your neighbors of another ethnicity. If you don’t know what those are, meet a neighbor and ask!

Why We Should Care About Food Waste

According to the USDA, in the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40% of the food supply.

Our first impulse is the thought, we should be ashamed. But Brené Brown says shame is unproductive. We aren’t bad, but our less-than-mindful behaviors around food—buying or cooking more than we need and throwing the extra out—are. We’re just as guilty as anyone.

We should care about food waste because:

  • Wasted food could help feed families in need

  • Save money

  • Conserve natural resources and

  • Reduce greenhouse gasses generated from food rotting in landfills

 

Let’s turn guilt into mindful action!

Photo of USDA Food Recovery Hierarchy

Many of us have in-date home pantry items we purchased to make dinner…but we ordered pizza. Don’t let these items be your pantry equivalent of “aspiration jeans.” Give them to your neighborhood mini pantry and feed hungry people! (It’s at the top of the USDA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy.)

Mini pantry stewards might also approach local businesses about donating usable food that would otherwise go to waste. Even if businesses do not partner, initiating the conversation will market the mini pantry movement and make business owners more mindful of their own food wasteful behaviors.

See food waste diversion partner letter

Rural and Urban Settings

From Queens, NY, to a country road in Arkansas, more than four years later, we’ve seen mini pantries executed in every context. Just today, we added this Chicago, IL, mini to our movement map.

We aren’t local experts. And on site experience really does differ at a hyper local level. Two minis a mile apart will be for different folks—both those who shop and those who stock.

Wicker Park Lutheran LFP

Wicker Park Lutheran LFP

So if you’re thinking about stewarding and looking for information about the project in your context, reach out to a steward in your hometown! Or if you’d be the first, reach out to us. With a little more info, we’ll connect you with someone stewarding in a similar setting.

Finally, it’s sorta true that urban supply matches urban demand and rural supply matches rural demand, but it’s also true that demand outpaces supply no matter where, and hungry folks everywhere will find and use mini pantries.

p.s.

The claim, “That’d never last here?” Go cheap and see.