Cold weather has a way of making a household budget tighter than it looks on paper. A boiler that needs a little more gas, a child who has outgrown last year's coat, a payslip that arrives a week late — any one of those can tip an ordinary family into a fortnight of very careful meals.

That is where the Priory Food Bank winter collection comes in. Every year, neighbours across the town fill bags and boxes with tins, pasta, toiletries and small comforts, and every year those donations become the parcels that carry people through the coldest stretch of the year. Here is what is being collected, where to take it, and what the volunteers most hope to find in your bag.

How the Winter Collection Works

The collection runs alongside the food bank's normal year-round donations, but it is busier, and the aim is different. Instead of topping up a steady supply of the basics, the winter drive is designed to build a buffer that lasts from the first hard frost through to the end of February — the months when heating bills rise and work dries up for anyone on seasonal hours.

Everything you drop off is sorted by volunteers, checked for dates and damage, and then packed into parcels that go out through referral partners: schools, health visitors, housing officers, advice services and several churches. Nothing sits on a shelf for months. Most donations are on a family's kitchen table within a fortnight.

If you can only manage one bag, that is genuinely useful. If you can manage a box, even better. The volunteers would rather have a modest, well-chosen donation than an overflowing bag of things nobody can use.

Where to Drop Off Your Donations

There are collection points in most parts of town, and several of them take donations during normal opening hours rather than on specific days. Please check the noticeboard or the front door of each venue before you travel, as a few change their hours over the festive period.

• Priory Community Library — a trolley just inside the main entrance. The easiest option if you are already in town, and there is level access from the side street.
• St Aidan's Church Hall — crates in the porch, accessible during the day. Good for heavier loads, with space to pull a car up to the door.
• The Beacon office — a marked box in reception during weekday mornings.
• Priory Leisure Centre — collection bin beside the main desk. Handy if you are dropping children at a class.
• Northside Primary School — donations accepted through the school office during term time only.
• Harrow Lane Co-op — a small collection point near the tills for anything picked up on the way home.
• Priory Station forecourt — weekend collection, staffed by volunteers who can help carry bags from the car park.

If none of these are close to you, or you have a large donation from a workplace, community group or school, get in touch with the food bank to arrange a collection. Bulk donations from offices and congregations are one of the things that keep the winter parcels stocked.

The Items Most Needed This Winter

The list changes as the season goes on, but these are the gaps volunteers notice most often. If you are shopping for a donation, this is where your money goes furthest.

Cupboard staples

• Tinned meat, tinned fish and tinned stew or curry
• Tinned tomatoes, beans, chickpeas and lentils
• Long-life milk, custard and tinned fruit
• Pasta, rice, noodles and couscous
• Cooking oil, stock cubes, herbs and spices
• Breakfast cereal, porridge oats and jam
• Soup, instant mashed potato and tinned vegetables

Cooking oil is worth a mention of its own. It is one of the most requested items and one of the least donated, because people assume it is a luxury rather than the thing that makes a bag of rice into a meal.

Warmth and comfort

Food parcels are not only about food. A hot drink and a biscuit can change the shape of a difficult afternoon, so tea, coffee, hot chocolate, long-life squash and biscuits are always welcome. Treats matter too — chocolate, crisps and sweets are among the first things families cut back on and among the first things children notice missing.

Household and personal care

• Toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap
• Sanitary products and nappies in a range of sizes
• Shampoo, deodorant and shaving items
• Toilet roll, washing-up liquid and laundry tablets
• Pet food, for households that would otherwise share their own dinner

Things people forget

Ring-pull tins are easier for anyone with arthritis or limited hand strength. Small bags of rice and pasta suit people cooking on a single ring or a shared kitchen. Anything that can be made with just hot water — instant noodles, cup soups, sachets of porridge — is quietly invaluable for someone in temporary accommodation.

What Not to Donate

• Anything past its use-by date, or close enough that it will expire before it is handed out
• Opened packets, part-used bags or loose items decanted into other containers
• Dented, rusted or swollen tins, and any jar with a broken seal
• Alcohol, or food containing alcohol
• Medicines, vitamins and supplements
• Fresh and frozen food, unless a specific appeal asks for it
• Clothing, bedding and toys — these are welcome in separate drives but take up space the food parcels need

If you are unsure about something, ask. Nobody minds a question, and volunteers would rather tell you before you make the trip.

Packing Your Donation So It Helps

1. Check the dates as you pack, not after. It saves the sorting team a job.
2. Keep similar items together — tins in one bag, toiletries in another — so they can be shelved quickly.
3. Use strong, clean bags or a cardboard box. Double-bag anything heavy or glass.
4. Write the donation type on the outside if you have a marker. "Tins" or "Toiletries" speeds everything up.
5. Take it during opening hours. Bags left outside get rained on and have to be thrown away.

Buying a few extra items each week through the winter is easier on the budget than one large shop in December. Pick up one tin and one packet every time you do your own shopping and you will have a full bag by the end of the month.

If You Need Help, or Want to Help in Other Ways

Anyone can be referred to the food bank, and needing it is not a mark against you. Speak to a school office, a health visitor, a housing officer or an advice service, or contact the food bank directly and they will explain how a referral works. If your difficulties are financial rather than purely practical — rent arrears, benefits, debt — it is worth talking to a specialist advice service as well, because food parcels ease a week but rarely fix the cause.

Volunteers are needed all winter, particularly for sorting on weekday mornings and for driving between collection points. Cash donations stretch further than most people expect, since the food bank can buy in bulk at prices the rest of us do not get. And if you run a shop, café, workplace or club, a collection box by the till costs you nothing and brings in a surprising amount.

Before You Set Off: A Two-Minute Checklist

Check the dates. Check nothing is open or damaged. Put the tins together and the toiletries together. Confirm the drop-off point's hours, especially if you are travelling across town. Carry the heavy bag in the boot rather than in your arms.

Then drop it off, and know that somewhere in Priory, someone will open a parcel this winter, see a tin of stew and a bar of chocolate, and have a slightly better week for it.

Photo: Lagos Food Bank Initiative / Pexels