I don’t think canned potatoes are a good thing to donate when the donor can clearly afford to donate more. I work at a law firm and we compete in a food drive against other firms in the state. You can give cash and it counts for a certain amount of food or you can of course donate actual food items. My firm matches any personal cash donations, so that’s a big part of why I give cash (and I give cash throughout the year). There’s a large firm in the area that literally figured out canned potatoes would give them a “bigger bang” at a cheaper price than cash so they literally went to the cut rate warehouse in our area and bought a huge amount of canned potatoes and had them delivered to the food bank because they wanted to win that badly. We still beat them. I’m glad I work where I do. The attorneys in our office donate an incredible amount of pro bono time to our area’s legal clinic as well.
The other thing many of us may not realize is how difficult shopping and food preparation can be for the poor. I take for granted the ability to get in my car and drive to a preferred grocery store (or several) to get the best deals. Buying as much as I need. Having space to store it. There was a time in my life I was pushing a stroller to the overpriced grocery in my neighborhood to buy what I could push home. Several times a week. Thankfully that was temporary.
If all you have to give are canned potatoes, picked onions, a jar of mustard, then by all means give those items. But if you have the time and/or inclination, go buy some peanut butter - the same kind you’d buy for your home.