Sometimes the only thing standing between a good festive season and a terrible one is a good meal or a bag of groceries; this is how you can support someone in need this year without too much fuss.
South Africa (17 November 2021) – The festive season is always brightened by being surrounded by friends, family, fun and food! For many, festive food is the best kind of food, and it is always a joy to share that food with others.
Unfortunately, these days, for some, even just basic food is a luxury. So we have come up with an idea to make sure every family gets to have a festive season and a guaranteed good meal.
Grocery prices are rising, so even the basics are unaffordable for people who have lost their jobs, taken massive pay cuts or simply cannot get their usual salaries to stretch as far.
We welcome the bag of groceries idea, and this is how we hope it will work.
Give yourself a budget, head to the store and purchase the ingredients for a good, wholesome meal that will fill a grocery bag (these days, you can even shop online or use local food apps), and then anonymously deliver it to someone in your community who could use the festive cheer.
Some affordable meal options include roasted chicken with potatoes and veg, spaghetti, vegan chickpea curry or a good ol’ faithful stir-fry. These meal ingredients will set you back anywhere between R100 and R300. What you can also do is write up the recipe along with a heartfelt message of support so they can share in your love of food too.
If you want to do more, you can add in a few staples that will help the family get through the dreaded January financial dry spell.
Finding a family in need can be the tough part; sometimes, people don’t like to share that they are struggling. All you need to do is reach out to your local church or charity and see if they know of any families you can support.
So let’s start a new festive trend and help each other have a very merry festive meal. Please share your affordable meal ideas in the comment section to help inspire others too.
If you are interested in more festive charity ideas, we will be sharing a few over the next few weeks leading up to the December break, so stay tuned!
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