The coffee is actually quite good, a bit strong caffeine wise, but tastes fine.
I am still trying to figure out what, precisely, they expect me to do with the onion.
Onions are used in cooking, soups, stews, etc. They are also sometimes fried and used as an accompaniment to meat inna bun. They can also be used sliced in meat or cheese sandwiches. They haven't supplied any meat, cheese, pulses, or anything to make soup/stew from. They haven't supplied any actual cooking ingredients - a lot of which keep forever so perishability isn't why, so, as person who normally uses over a kilo of onions a week, I am a little stumped as to what use it would be if my total food supplies were what they have sent.
Oddly, if they don't think people can cook so don't need ingredients, they also haven't supplied any ready meals - what they have supplied is some form of halfway house that, on it's own, won't actually result in what are conventionally referred to as 'meals', unless additional ingredients are used.
This is not the only puzzle - it looks like the specifications for what should be in such a box were arrived at by someone who doesn't cook, or even eat, at home.
A good 2-3 weeks worth of carbs, with very little else. A portion of rice is officially around 70g, so 500g is 7 portions, same with the pasta, and unless making a cottage pie or similar the potatoes are over a weeks worth as well - and such a thing can't be made as there is no meat.
So, it's heavily processed carbs for breakfast, dry toast with beans and/or soup for lunches, and basically just bare carbs for tea - yes there is a pie which is officially 3 portions, but have you ever tried one of those pies when it's been cooked, part used and left in the fridge for a day, let alone 2? Not nice.
Same thing with the pasta bake thing. It's one jar, it needs to be cooked as one thing, once cooked these things do not work well reheated- and even if they did it's basically white pasta, sugar, and some artificial flavourings. Calories but very little nutrition. Not suitable for a diabetic.
These food parcels are not, despite what the 'advertising' says, suitable as the only source of food, for anyone, let alone someone who is ill. They make a 'pretty' pile, and look reasonably substantial, until you look at what's actually in them and try and figure out what could be made from it, with nothing else.
Until you actually try and plan meals for a week.
This doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it, I do, they will be very helpful, as I do have the other bits needed to make meals out of what they have supplied, but as a sole source of food, a poorly thought out effort.
ETA - for example, with the addition of a mere 500g of mince, using half the onion, some of the carrots, and the potatoes (with the addition of around 2 spoonfuls of flour) could make 4-5 'generous' cottage pies, which is tea for 4-5 days, and the mince would be roughly the same price as the 'chicken' pie. Most people, with google, could manage to make a cottage pie (fair enough not everyone, but not everyone can make a pasta bake, or successfully cook the 'chicken' pie either)
ETAA - looking on a government website for what these boxes are supposed to contain it appears my box was a little light.
from
https://deframedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/04/02/nutritional-content-of-the-government-food-parcels/
While the contents of the parcels may have slight variation (depending on stock), they contain long-life items such as tinned vegetables - as well as tinned tomatoes - tinned fruit, multipacks of soup and baked beans, and a jar of cooking sauce. Other tins will contain meat and tuna. Store cupboard staples such as pasta, rice or noodles or cous cous, and potatoes are also in the box, along with cereal, bread and fresh fruit. Coffee, tea and biscuits can also be found inside, plus toilet paper and shower gel.
I did not receive the tinned meat, tinned veg, tinned fruit, or the 'multipacks' referred to (I have never seen a multipack of baked beans with only 2 tins in, and multipacks of soup are generally 4 packs ). From reading around it also appears that it is 'normal' to receive 2 jars, albeit probably smaller ones, of pasta sauce rather than one big (425g) one (which the cooking instructions on the jar state it requires to be topped with grated cheese halfway through cooking - which they don't supply).
Most of these omissions are irrelevant to me, as the pasta sauce will probably be given away, I do not eat heinz baked beans unless I have nothing else, I do not eat tinned fruit unless it's in 'natural' juice, and then very rarely, etc. The omission of a tin of meat and tinned veg however ....lol
It does sound like the contents list is being mucked around by people who don't understand, or care, about the purpose of the box, to provide at least 21 'balanced' meals for those with no other source of food. Things like 2 jars of pasta sauce (rather than one large one), tinned meat and veg, would all make it easier/more possible to make a weeks worth of 'fresh' meals from what's provided.
I have been looking simply due to curiosity (there's little else to do), the Bidfood page says these boxes are around 20kg, and mine was only just above half that. I know coz I had to carry it up the damn stairs, and I know how heavy 20kg feels in my current state of health, I doubt I could pick it up from the ground, let alone carry it up the stairs, so I was curious as to what the differences were.
https://www.bidfood.co.uk/2020/03/2...orces-to-support-the-vulnerable-in-isolation/
What is contained in the food packs?
These boxes weight around 20kg and will contain the same items, irrespective of whether they receive the delivery from Bidfood or Brakes. Examples of some of the products included are: coffee, tea, biscuits, breakfast cereal, two types of fruit, potatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, canned fish, canned vegetables.
Since we'd run out of some stuff, plus he forgot to order some stuff last week, he decided to keep the slot. 
Good thing we're not going for Memory Testing by GP! 
So there I was, taking up a delivery slot which someone else rather more vulnerable could have had, for very little reward