You will find items containing a “best before” date in your hamper. Best Before dates are set up by the manufacturer and are really about freshness, not food safety. Packaged food such as crackers, cookies, cereals and canned foods can be safely eaten long after the best-before date. Details about food and date labelling are available on the Health Canada website and Food Banks Alberta Safe Food Handling procedures. Expiry dates are not the same as best-before dates. They only apply to certain foods with strict compositional and nutritional specifications, such as baby food, infant formula, meat and milk. Our staff and volunteers are trained to check labels on all food items donated to the Pantry.

Yes. To be able to serve all of MacEwan’s students, we have a few limits on what this looks like. We have limits set up per item within the product description. Please do not select more than what is listed as the limit. You will only receive the limit. There is also a one-hamper limit which is a little more difficult to judge when ordering online. Volunteers are trained with this in mind and will remove items that are requested in multiples where possible if the order can not fit in one bag.

Currently, we are unable to supply students with perishable items such as meat, eggs, or fresh fruit and vegetables.

If you do not pick up your hamper within three business days, then volunteers will cancel your hamper and place your items back on the shelf. This means that your hamper will no longer be available. This is to support food waste. Many students use the SAMU Pantry, and this process also helps circulate our stock.

Once you have ordered your hamper and received an email that your hamper is ready to be picked up, hampers can be picked up at the Support Hub (SA-223, the door is down the hall that is beside the vending machines on the second floor of the SAMU building between building 8 and 9).