Ethics question

Westie · Apr 1, 2026 · 43 replies

In my life, I've gone from dirt poor, to normal poor, to middle class, now on the cusp of upper middle class. When I was dirt poor I went to the food bank. When I was normal poor I still went to the food bank, but I also donated to them sometimes. The thing is the scale of food banks means they can get food ridiculously cheap. My local food bank boasts that they can provide a healthy meal for $0.50. They have fresh vegetables, frozen meats, lots of good stuff. My ethics question is this. If one were to donate $20 a week to a food bank, it would provide 40 meals. But if that same person then used the food bank, getting 21 meals a week from it…the cost would be way cheaper than groceries, and the food bank would still be coming out ahead. So is it ethical to "buy" groceries from a food bank just to save money, even though you COULD buy them from a store?

Share on Facebook

Share on X

Share on Reddit

Share via Email

Copy link