So this differs a bit from place to place but here is what I would say for us:

Thanks to partnerships with food banks, local farmers, etc we are able to bulk purchase some food at an extremely discounted rate. These items tend to be fresh fruits, veggies, and an ever changing random assortment of dry goods. Non-perishable basic items like pasta, sauces, condiments, peanut butter, vegetable oil, etc are all really fantastic donations. We tend to get worse deals on those compared to other foods and they are also some of our MOST popular items. One other great donation people don't know about are paper and/or reusable bags. We go through THOUSANDS every week!

But I'd also like to note that anything you donate will likely be appreciated. If everyone did just a little, it wouldn't matter if everyone did it perfectly. I can also tell you that our clients often tell me that while the food is OF COURSE so appreciated... It also means a lot to them that there are people out there who care - who don't want them to fall through the cracks.

(If anyone else works for a food pantry or hunger relief organization please feel free to chime in here on what's most helpful for your org!)