FareShare South West delivers surplus food to organisations but there is a range of local and national organisations who provide food for individuals in need. If you need help getting food, take a look at the list below to find the service best suited to your needs.

Find food support near you:

The Trussell Trust operate the largest network of foodbanks across the UK. You can search for your nearest food bank via their interactive map.

Family Action has launched Food On Our Doorstep (FOOD) clubs to provide good-quality food at a low cost, while also reducing food waste. It costs just £1 a year for a family to become a member. Once you’ve joined, you can purchase a bag of tasty food items every week worth approx. £10-£15 for just £3.50. To become a member you must live or work within approximately 15 minutes of a club. Find your nearest FOOD Club here

IFAN are the UK network for independent food aid providers. They support and connect a range of independent frontline food aid organisations while advocating on their behalf at a national level. Click here to see their map of 834 independent foodbanks across the UK.

Local support – Bristol & Bath

A list highlighting food clubs and pantries available in Bath and North East Somerset provided by organisations offering affordable food or emergency food parcels for those who meet the qualifying criteria.

FoodCycle Bristol collect surplus produce locally from independent retailers by bike, and use these ingredients to prepare nutritious meals to be served to the community as a Saturday lunch at Barton Hill Settlement.

There’s no need to book, just turn up on the day!

The Wild Goose drop-in centre on Bristol’s Stapleton Road provides breakfast and lunch four days a week as well as shower facilities, clothing, a laundry service and toiletries for those in extreme poverty and need. The centre also serves as a hub in signposting to appropriate voluntary and council services.

The Bristol Methodist Centre in Lawrence Hill is open four days a week (Monday – Thursday), and offer free nutritious breakfasts and lunches to vulnerable people across Bristol.

In addition, they offer support skill support such as CV writing and computer literacy courses.

Local support – Gloucestershire

Cheltenham Open Door offer meals and food parcels to anyone who needs it, without the need for a referral. In addition, they have shower and laundry facilities.

Guests are welcomed on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays, 10.00 – 15.00.

Local support – Devon & Cornwall

Growing Links Street Food Project is a hot meal service that operates 7 nights a week, 365 days a year. This volunteer-led service was created to support Penzance’s homeless and/or vulnerably housed, as well as families and individuals suffering from poverty.

Based in Axminster, Project Food deliver free boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables and homemade frozen meals to people living in the South West, which complement traditional food bank support.

They can also deliver free recipe boxes to low-income families during the school holidays, which include all the ingredients you need to cook three full meals, along with simple recipes that your children can follow and cook with you.

National organisations

Feeding Britain are running a network of emergency food programmes across the UK to protect children and their families from hunger. Hot meals and food packages are being made available, through a combination of home deliveries and collection points in the communities in which they operate, to ensure families on low incomes can put breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table each day. You can find out more via their website.

OLIO is a free app allowing neighbours to offer perfectly good, unwanted food to each other. Everything shared on OLIO is for free. They have also developed safe sharing ‘no-contact pickups’ in response to COVID-19.

Mental Health

NHS Mental Health Help – Every Mind Matters 
Mind, for Better Mental Health 
Online Mental Health Support 
Mental Health Help & Support Services 
The Samaritans 
Sane – Mental Health Helpline 
Depression & Suicide Helpline 
Depression UK 
Rehab 4 Addiction

Money & Debt

Money Advice Service 
Debt and Money – Citizen’s Advice 
Step Change Debit Charity 
Free Debt Advice 
Money & Debt Advice 
Money & Debt Advice Scotland
Money Talk Team, Parents & Families

Housing

Housing Advice Centre 
Housing Advice 
National Homelessness Advice Service 
Housing Ombudsman 
Housing Advice Northern Ireland 
Housing Advice Scotland 

The Association of Charitable Organisations

The ACO represents around 120 charities that all provide grants to individuals in need of support. During the rest of this year they run a campaign called Here to Help to raise awareness amongst key referral agencies and members of the public of the support that could be available to them from grant-giving charities. As a part of this campaign they have also developed a short leaflet for individuals about the financial help that is available from charities and how to find support, and a poster for referral agencies to remind them of the help that could be available to individuals that approach them in financial distress.

The food waste hierarchy calls for food to feed people first

Food companies are legally obliged to use food to feed people before sending to anaerobic digestion or for animal feed. We help them do that.

Find out more about what we do