Step 4: Determine budget

Print a current list of your inventory to evaluate during these prompts:
• Compare what you serve to each client/household to the food bag guide.
• Take note of where you are currently exceeding, meeting, or providing less than the suggestions.

• For the items you are meeting/exceeding, great job!
• For anything you are providing less than the suggestion, reflect on why. (We will share ideas for ways you may be able to increase inventory of those items and thus the number you can provide.)
• Looking at your list of items, note which food groups are best represented and which are missing.
• Review each food group and see how much variety are you offering?

The goal is to offer as much variety from each food group as possible.

If by the end of this step you are still not ready to completely change to client choice for each food group, you can still offer some client choice by doing one or more of the following in any of the food groups:
• If you are serving each client two cans of green beans and 2 cans of tomatoes, could you give them a choice of 4 vegetables? (The same can be applied to fruits.)
• If you are giving each client a jar of peanut butter, could you give them the choice between peanut butter, beans, and tuna?
• If you are giving each client a box of pasta, could you offer a choice between the pasta or rice?

Keep thinking about what you could offer clients to choose from and how you can slowly expand to the whole pantry.
To get started with this next part, you need to know how much food you have the ability to give each person. Let’s review.

The ideal amount of food:

• Did you know? On average a meal is approximately 1.2 pounds.

• If you want to make sure each individual has enough food for three days, that would be about 9 meals.

• If each individual leaves with food for 9 meals at 1.2 pounds per meal, they would have 10.8 pounds per person.

  9 meals x 1.2 pounds = 10.8 pounds per person

Does that not seem realistic for your pantry at this time?

• You could make sure to offer food for 3 main meals per person in the household.

• If each individual leaves with food for 3 main meals at 1.2 pounds per meal, they would have 3.6 pounds per person.

• 3 meals x 1.2 pounds = 3.6 pounds per person

Here is the formula to figure out the total number of pounds needed each month for 3 days worth of food:

• 10.8 pounds per person x the number of individuals served each month

• Example: 150 people served a month x 10.8 pounds = 1,620 pounds of food

Here is the formula to figure out the total number of pounds needed each month for 3 primary meals:

• 3.6 pounds per person x the number of individuals served each month

• Example: 3.6 pounds x 150 people served a month = 540 pounds of food

You now have a range you can work within that helps you know how much food a household may need to be nourished.
Do you have the ability to get and store that amount of food?

If storage is an issue, maybe you change up your shopping schedule. If budget is an issue, you could choose to give every household the same number of items to choose based on what you currently have the ability to share and over time increase the amount you offer as you get creative with some of our tips and tricks we share.

The following are two examples of food bag guides that include the number of items to offer from each food group. You will see a chart at the bottom of the page that shares what “1 item” equals. This guide is in line with the pounds of food per meal an individual should get.

If you know how many individuals you serve each month, you can use this guide to determine the number of items from each food group you would need to have on hand.

• These guides were created using the dietary guidelines (MyPlate) that state the number of servings an individual should get of each food group each day to ensure a balanced diet.

• The guide includes suggestions for 9 meals or 3 days of food based on number of people in the household as well as a guide for 3 primary meals per person.

• These are just suggestions. It is not intended to be followed exactly. Some pantries may not have the ability to supply every item, and some may be able to offer more. Be as generous as your inventory allows, especially with fruits and vegetables.

• Download and save for later use.

1. Download and save a copy.
2. Type the number of people you serve each month into the first box.
3. Add the average number of items you can offer for each food group in the column titled # of items.
4. The column on the right will automatically calculate approximate how many items you would need.

If you convert your items by weight using the equivalents at the bottom of the printable food bag guide from above, it ends up being close to the total pounds you would need if you were providing each client with three days’ worth of food!

We know that was a lot of numbers. The goal is that you now have an idea of the amount of food you need to stock your client choice pantry. Next we will go over budgeting for this amount of food.