Where to find free and low-cost food in Brighton & Hove

If you are struggling to afford food in Brighton & Hove, start with the food access team at Impact Initiatives. Call 01273 322950 or email food.access@impact-initiatives.org.uk. They can talk through your options, and help the same day if you live in the city or have been placed in accommodation by the council.

The city’s Food Support Network has 60 project locations, including food banks, pantries, community shops and meals-on-wheels services. The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership^1,2,3,4, which facilitates the network, keeps a directory map of them on its website. It is not a food bank itself and can’t give out food or vouchers.

The projects don’t all work the same way. Some only serve people in their area; others cover the whole city.

Food banks

Food banks are for a crisis, and most need a referral. That means a trusted organisation contacts the food bank for you. You can ask Impact Initiatives, your doctor, a support worker, your or your children’s teacher, a money advice charity, the council or a faith leader.

You then get an appointment to collect a bag of food, usually enough for three days and sometimes with toiletries. Most food banks can support you for up to six weeks.

Community fridges and pantries

Anyone can go in and choose from what has been donated. You might find them in a community centre, school or students’ union. Stock depends on donations, and whatever you take is often food that would otherwise be thrown away.

The Weald Community Fridge at 5 Cranmer Avenue, Hove, is stocked with surplus from the 400 allotment-holders on the Weald site, plus local supermarkets and food businesses. It is open to the public with no referral, and a basket of food costs £2. It opens on Thursdays from 10am to midday and on Sundays from noon until the food has gone. Check the directory listing before you go, as times can change.

Affordable food clubs and shops

These are membership schemes. You pay a small fee to visit regularly and pick the food you need, often including fresh fruit and vegetables. Some deliver a veg box.

Community cafés and meals

Street kitchens, community centres and faith centres serve anything from tea and cake or soup and a roll to a hot cooked meal. Many are free or pay-as-you-can. Some are for particular groups, such as older people or people who are homeless.

If you are housebound or find it hard to cook, East Brighton Food Co-op runs affordable meals-on-wheels, delivering twice a week.

Young people and students

The YMCA DLG Youth Advice Centre runs a weekly Food Market for 16 to 25-year-olds, with a suggested donation of £5 for 12 grocery items. Toiletries and cleaning products are free, and staff say anyone who can’t afford it should come and talk to them.

At the University of Sussex, a vegetarian or vegan hot meal costs £2 at Eat Central in Bramber House, weekdays from 12 noon to 2pm. University of Brighton students can use BSU Essentials on the ground floor of Mithras House, with no appointment needed.

Families and money

Children whose parents get certain benefits are entitled to free school meals. The council’s Free School Meals Team is on 01273 293497. Healthy Start vouchers help with milk, fruit and free vitamins if you are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four, and claim certain benefits.

If you get, or could be entitled to, a DWP benefit, housing benefit or council tax reduction, you can apply to the council for a crisis payment. The partnership’s advice is that people who use food banks and affordable food clubs “more often than not” can also raise their income with help from the city’s advice services, whether by claiming benefits they’re missing, managing debt or cutting bills.

Want to help?

There are many volunteering opportunities at food projects. Find one in the directory and contact the project directly. The Weald fridge, for one, needs people on Wednesday mornings from 9.30am to about 11.30am to sort its delivery from FareShare.