Snacks at the Red Cross “Canteen”

Its Friday and my mind is wandering.
After receiving several annoying phone calls during the past few weeks from the Red Cross (they always seem to call in the middle of either Jeopardy or the hockey game), reminding me that I am eligible to donate, I finally found the time to make another blood donation yesterday. When finished I was directed, as usual, to the “Canteen” for snacks. Why do they call it a canteen? The only canteen I’m familiar with was the quart bottle I carried on my belt in Vietnam. Anyway, the selection of snacks have been pretty much the same for the past 30 years. I never buy any of these items in the store and I always choose the same ones, the first two and apple juice. The choices are usually:

Fig Newtons
Cheese crackers with peanut butter
Lorna Doones
Oreos
Brownie
Cookie – chocolate chip, oatmeal or molasses
Coffee
Juice

Are the choices the same in your area and what do you choose?

We usually have Cheese Itz (sp.), canned juices and pretzels in addition.

I give blood every time I can, and when I do, I always drive the Phlebotomists crazy as I have made it a contest to see how quickly I can sneak out the door. I'm always in a rush to get back to work, and it always takes longer than I think, so I never hang around.

I also don't take any snacks or sugared drinks. In addition to a service, I consider giving blood a great way to lose weight (it must take at least 1K calories to replace a pound of blood!) it would be a shame to waste such excellent dieting on some Oreos...

Joe,

I take the opposite tack: when is is possibly more appropriate to eat a densely caloric snack. Surely getting rid of that many calories via lifesaving blood is the noblest of reasons to eat an Oreo.

I'm a fainter, so I usually have plenty of time to enjoy the ubiquitous snacks. The only thing that they sometimes have is fresh donuts. Yum!

Walt

P.S. The guy in the canteen is named "Bloodgood." I get a kick of that name every time I see him.

Our place has a pretty nice setup with plenty of different kinds of juice and soft drinks. There's a movie theatre style popcorn machine, so there's always plenty of that. The types of snacks vary but usually include a variety of very basic cheeses, crackers, cookies, doughnuts, and even homemade cookies once in a while.

I used to go there after work to give blood and have supper.

Mike

Our place has a pretty nice setup with plenty of different kinds of juice and soft drinks. There's a movie theatre style popcorn machine, so there's always plenty of that. The types of snacks vary but usually include a variety of very basic cheeses, crackers, cookies, doughnuts, and even homemade cookies once in a while.

I used to go there after work to give blood and have supper.

Mike

Hmmm...Maybe I should move to Sacramento just to give blood! A couple of years ago our donation center moved. In the old one they had one of those drink machines that pumps the drink to the top of a clear plasic cover. One of those was always filled with loganberry, making me wonder what they really did with the blood they collected.

[Jenise]

Howie, our word 'canteen' is derived from the Italian word cantina, which originally meant wine cellar and then 'place to buy and drink wine'.

Howie, our word 'canteen' is derived from the Italian word cantina, which originally meant wine cellar and then 'place to buy and drink wine'.

Thanks Jenise. I never put wine in my canteens - just water, and some of that was pretty awful stuff.