Unless you have a mum like mine. I asked her for help to keep my phone connected (I lost my job and am looking for another) and her solution was just to contact the 50+ employers I've applied to and give them my neighbour's number. Then when they call, my neighbour can just walk across the street and let me know! Fortunately my Dad is sensible and paid the phone bill, I'm paying him back at $20 per week.

You're totally right, I would be devastated that my daughter has the feeling she needs to hide her problems from us, and even more that she feels she can't just come for dinner and go back with a bag full of food and money in her pocket!! Regardless of the reason why she's broke. That can be discussed later. I would never want my child to suffer hunger and even less to have to lower herself to anything in order to get money or food from someone else! This makes me so sad I almost have tears in my eyes.

I'm with #11 - it's awful that the OP felt she needed to do this just as much as it's awful that she actually did. My kids aren't old enough to move out yet but I hope they will always realise that there is a bed and a good meal for them at their parents' home, whatever the circumstances.

90% + of the stuff at the food banks where I live is well past expiry, and is a little too sketchy to eat. I understand they want to save money and preserve food, but that's just nasty. The people they serve don't deserve to be served moldy bread and curdled milk for gods sake.

Also, you can only go to the food bank once a month, and it is far less than a "week's worth" of food given. However, it IS free, so I guess you get exactly what you pay for.

That sounds like a local issue, and definitely isn't par the course. In fact, I'm pretty sure that distribution of unsafe food is illegal, and that it needs reported before they kill someone. The average food bank tends to set a YEARLY limit- the ones where I live set it at 3 times in 12 months- but also give food sufficient for 2-4 months. Many food banks DO get food from stores that didn't sell, but there are regulations about it, and the things that they give to food banks that they can't sell tend to be things like baked goods, which have a very fast turnover rate. So, you may want to look into reporting whatever food banks you got spoiled food from. It was illegal in ye olden days, it's illegal now.