Hard cheeses, like parmesan, keep well without refrigeration and can potentially be supplied in cheese packets (like you get at pizza places) or standard shakers in a small size (like 3 ounces instead of 8).
Babybel cheese is covered in wax, thus needs no refrigeration so long as the wax remains unbroken.
Butter does not actually have to be refrigerated. I sometimes bought a stick of butter, put the remaining butter in a ziploc bag and tried to keep my backpack out of direct sun. It did just fine for two or three days, though it sometimes got melty.
I used to fantasize about being able to buy a small squeeze bottle of ghee or clarified butter, no more than 8 ounces. Ghee or clarified butter keeps for up to two months without refrigeration, but in the US you currently need to make it on a stovetop or buy a glass or plastic jar that is more like 13 ounces and requires you to spoon it out.
You can nearly live on potatoes. They don't have enough B vitamins, so you also need like buttermilk, cheese, meat or seafood to supply some B vitamins, but they are the only staple food item you can nearly live on by itself. They would make an excellent staple item as a base for meals at free meal sites.
When serving something like baked potatoes, it would be better to give people a choice of toppings than to just go ahead and top it with whatever was planned. Even just putting the toppings on the side so they can decide how much of each to use would be better than how meal sites typically handle this.
If you are an individual wanting to help the homeless as an individual and reluctant to give cash, I recommend gift cards to grocery stores, e-gift cards to Walmart and gift cards to eateries like Taco Bell or Burger King rather than food per se.
Babybel cheese is covered in wax, thus needs no refrigeration so long as the wax remains unbroken.
Butter does not actually have to be refrigerated. I sometimes bought a stick of butter, put the remaining butter in a ziploc bag and tried to keep my backpack out of direct sun. It did just fine for two or three days, though it sometimes got melty.
I used to fantasize about being able to buy a small squeeze bottle of ghee or clarified butter, no more than 8 ounces. Ghee or clarified butter keeps for up to two months without refrigeration, but in the US you currently need to make it on a stovetop or buy a glass or plastic jar that is more like 13 ounces and requires you to spoon it out.
You can nearly live on potatoes. They don't have enough B vitamins, so you also need like buttermilk, cheese, meat or seafood to supply some B vitamins, but they are the only staple food item you can nearly live on by itself. They would make an excellent staple item as a base for meals at free meal sites.
When serving something like baked potatoes, it would be better to give people a choice of toppings than to just go ahead and top it with whatever was planned. Even just putting the toppings on the side so they can decide how much of each to use would be better than how meal sites typically handle this.
If you are an individual wanting to help the homeless as an individual and reluctant to give cash, I recommend gift cards to grocery stores, e-gift cards to Walmart and gift cards to eateries like Taco Bell or Burger King rather than food per se.