If I were homeless and starving, I probably wouldn't worry so much about where my mashed potatoes came from. Maybe that's just me, but I don't think so. I've given my dinner leftovers to homeless people on the street and only once did someone ask me questions about it and then decline the offer. Usually, they were pretty pleased about it. Still, there's something less shady about walking out of a restaurant and passing off leftovers, vs. driving around looking for vagrants and jumping out of my car with gladware.

But anyway, thanks for a judgmental and unhelpful answer!

Actually it's a legal issue why shelter only ask for packaged items. If someone gets sick because it wasn't ccoke right or some nutjob decides to poison it. You might try contacting some non state run food banks like food not bombs and ask what to do but most places have to say no. You can probably go and hand it out yourself but you can't just park the food at a shelter and call it done. Most likely it will end up in the trash if you're just a random person they've never met Dropping off cooked food There is a reason everyone asks for packaged food, its harder to tamper with. It's pretty standard and I've never seen a place that accepts cooked items. It's hard to even donate produce before it's cooked to most places. Call around and if you do find a place that accepts it post it back but you're probably gonna hear the same info from the places that make food for anyone. They're liable if there's a problem. It's lame but they can't afford to feed people if they get a lawsuit thrown in their face and a little less food to serve is better than none at all. It not an unhelpful answer it's the way things are and if you look into the rules before hand you can find ways to help people next year

I realize it's a legal issue. I just thought there might be places that overlooked this or specific camps that people knew of or whathaveyou. I just thought your phrasing was a little harsh and it's unhelpful to answer an earnest question with suggestions about what I should have done or should do in the future instead.

That's why I suggested food not bombs. They should know if there even are places that accept things ( they won't want your turkey since they usually do veggie stuff but may know of places that do) and personally I think knowing what you should do next time is a good thing. It's called learning and what should be done in any situation instead of just assuming that because you want something to be one way to appease your food guilt that it works that way. In the future it helps to research this kind of stuff before the fact instead of wanting to break the rules that are there for very good reasons. If that doesn't work with your world view fine, take the food and hand it out yourself but don't expect other organizations to bend the rules because you didn't think about it in advance. And since were in the holiday season you don't have to wait all year. Use this info when you're preparing your next feast ( or maybe only make what you actually need)

Yeah, I will, thanks. And for your information, I didn't even cook most of the food. Just hosted a pot luck for 14 people. I'll be sure and organize better next year, but I can't take all the blame for making too much. Obviously, I'm not against learning from mistakes. But I shouldn't have to defend myself to a stranger on the internet when all I wanted to do was to do something good.

There is something wrong with you people! Here is a woman trying to do what's right and she gets lectured! WAKE UP! It's more important to help the ones that are trying to help, than feeling good about yourself for saying "I would have never done so".

Good for you Jessica, I hope you find a place to give this away. I have the same problem. I expected 8 people, only 4 were present, tons of food going down the drain that I wish to give to people who are hungry. Too much legality is making our society a worse, not a better place. It's such a shame that people who could get fed will not, because of the fear of a lawsuit. Anyway... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I told ya the people to contact twice. I'm sorry but the normal shelters are probably gonna say no. But you know what you can still contact them. And as I said in my other posts repost if there are some that do say yes. But don't get angry at me because six years ago I tried to do this and couldn't find a place that would accept the food. Maybe things have changed. But the legal reasons places can't accept food haven't as far as I know. Again try contacting food not bombs and seeing if they know of places that will accept them. That is a much better use of time than getting angry at me because there is a system in place to fight foodborne illness and crazy people ( which we've already seen the upswing because of mental health services being cut) yes it sucks. But I can relate to why it's there and it protects people who have limited acess to health care if they do get sick.

I was the original answerer, Jessica, not Sublevelthree, so you should direct your anger at me. Sorry you thought my response was judgmental and unhelpful - I honestly wasn't trying to be, but I can see why you took it that way.

I said "you'll have to get disgustingly fat" as a joke because you said that was the only other option. Ha. Anyway, I guess that didn't come across. As for my recommendation to cook less food, I apologize. I've been dwelling too much on our culture's overconsumption and the irony of Thanksgiving being about overindulgence. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you.

My basic response, which is based on personal experience working in shelters, was that I didn't think anyone would accept the food for health and safety reasons, and still think that is true. I also think that in this case it is an appropriate policy (that is, not just a response to over-litigation). The shelter worker just doesn't know who made what and when. Maybe a better example would have been egg salad, or turkey, not mashed potatoes. Was it made the weekend before and frozen? Who knows? How much time passes between when you take out of the fridge and it gets stored at the pantry. Could it give someone food poisoning? There's enough risk in such a case that I wouldn't want to vouch for it as a worker, and I wouldn't want to feed it to my kid if I were in need. (I will just add that although they may lack good, nutritious food, most people who are homeless are not starving; they would probably rather skip a tasty looking meal than risk getting sick).

This ends my second and final "lecture" of the day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Look, dude. I heard you. I was merely trying to explain why I thought your answer was a bit on the harsh side. I was mostly looking for outside-the-box answers on this one and questionland is usually helpful. Anyway, I came up with a solution on my own. There are always Real Change people outside the Whole Foods near me. Usually 4 people, one on each corner. So I divvied up the food and brought it to them and they were happy. That is what I will do when faced with this problem again. Not trying to get into an argument here. I just hate it when I turn to the internet for an idea and am met with (what felt to me like) criticism. NOT the part where you gave me suggestions. That was not criticism and I thank you for it. I felt like your comment about hindsight was uncalled for but if you didn't mean anything personal by it I apologize. As I said, I was just trying to do something good with food I knew we wouldn't be able to eat. That is all. Can we please move on?

Ah, I see now that there were two different people answering. The html was broken in my email and it looked like it was the same people. Anyway, sorry for mixing up the two folks and the misunderstanding and thanks for the suggestions.

"There is something wrong with you people! Here is a woman trying to do what's right and she gets lectured! WAKE UP! It's more important to help the ones that are trying to help, than feeling good about yourself for saying "I would have never done so"."

It's not lecturing to advise what the policies are for reliable nonprofits, it's setting expectations properly. Homeless shelters are very particular about where they get their food from, and how it can be prepared prior. If you volunteer more, you'll get to understand how they work, and how strict they are about food preparation. It's important to not be wasteful, but it's also just as important to protect the homeless from well-meaning but potentially harmful gifts.