How to find food banks and access free and low cost surplus food near you.
More ways to access surplus food and household items
There are lots of free resources to help you connect with your community to give and receive excess food and possessions. Many of these resources also provide recipes, tips on saving money, ideas for reducing waste and more.
Food waste apps
Food waste apps are a great way to connect with local people and support small businesses while saving yourself money at the same time.
Here are a few examples we’ve found.
- Olio supports you to give away and receive spare food, share household goods and more.
- Kitche can help you save money and reduce food waste.
- Too Good To Go enables you to search for unsold food near you.
Best before websites
Best before websites specialise in surplus and short-dated food that's either near or just passed its 'best before' date. This allows them to pass on huge savings to customers.
These kinds of websites are usually more cost effective when you bulk buy between neighbours as delivery can be expensive. Remember to check prices against standard supermarket prices too.
Here are some websites to help you learn more:
- Motatos sell surplus or short-dated stock that would otherwise be thrown away.
- Company Shop Group is a social enterprise that distributes surplus food and household products.
- Low Price Foods specialises in clearance food, close to or slightly past its Best Before Date.
Freebie websites
Freebie websites offer lots of free samples, free trials, prize draws, competitions, discount codes and money off vouchers.
Some of the examples below are a good place to get started:
- Magic Freebies has lots of free offers from big brand names.
- Free Stuff offers free vouchers discounts on food and household items, as well as restaurant offers to receive money off meals out.
- Latest Free Stuff categories include free books, health and beauty, household and free computer equipment.
Free second-hand websites
If you’re looking for pre-owned items, the following websites are well worth a look:
- Gumtree is the place to find second-hand items in your area. Just type ‘free’ into the search bar and a wide range of free stuff can be found on the website if you’re happy to hunt around.
- Freegle began as an spinoff of Freecycle, and it works in a very similar way – claiming to be ‘like online dating for stuff’. There are apps for both Freecycle and Freegle as well as the websites.
- Facebook Marketplace has lots of free items available, including clothes, furniture, food and jewellery.