Where to donate used picnic/cooking stuff in LA

April 26, 2024 6:52 AM

We'll be travelling from Seattle to LA in July-Aug, as per this question. Where in LA should we donate the gear we'll be buying for the trip and can't bring back to the UK?

My ND kid finds eating out quite challenging so I'm aiming to book places with some self-catering options for the most part. That means we'll probably need basic cooking/eating equipment and a way to store food on the go. We're flying from the UK with a small baggage allowance, so I'm thinking a trip to eg Target before we set off to get a cooler etc, but I don't want to just junk all that kit before we fly out. Where would be the obvious kinds of places to donate this kind of thing before we leave LA?

posted by melisande to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

The obvious answer, perhaps, is Goodwill. I am sure they have multiple LA locations.
posted by spitbull at 7:17 AM on April 26 [2 favorites]

Honestly, the kind of stuff you are talking about getting, I would take to a kitchen for the unhoused.

The kitchen itself is unlikely to need such things, but many kitchens also have a pantry from which unhoused people can draw equipment and non perishables. This seems to me the fastest and most direct way to fulfill your desire to see your purchases find good new life after you and your family leave.
posted by Vigilant at 8:01 AM on April 26 [3 favorites]

Best answer: If you're flying out of LAX, there's a Goodwill extremely close to the airport, that you can stop into just before you drop off your rental car: Exit the 405 on Howard Hughes and you'll be routed right by it on your way to rental drop off or the airport itself.
posted by bluesky78987 at 8:18 AM on April 26

Best answer: I live in LA, and would be happy to post it on our local Buy Nothing group - advantage is that even things that Goodwill normally trashes may likely find a new home in our Buy Nothing community and (if you want to and choose to) you can meet some of the community members who will be using your gifts.
posted by arnicae at 8:32 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

If you are booking with AirBNBs, you can usually get by without buying much extra. You can grab some cheap to go containers for on the road. Rather than a cooler, you should be able to find a cheap reflective freezer bag in the frozen food section. It's a bit of a more trash/less hassle tradeoff, but that's sometimes the price of travel.
posted by advicepig at 8:47 AM on April 26 [1 favorite]

Believe it or not, it took me some time to grasp this: in LA, there's a cultural practice of placing items on the curb. The implicit message? "If you can use this, it's yours." Within an hour, someone is likely to swoop in, repurpose it, and give it a new lease on life.
posted by bkeene12 at 9:53 AM on April 27 [2 favorites]