Help buying or accessing food

If you're struggling to afford or access food our Helping Hand team can offer support and refer you to a local food bank.

View the Buckinghamshire Online Directory to find organisations in your area who can provide emergency food support, including local food banks. Many of these organisations provide food and meals during the school holidays.

A full list of non-emergency food support organisations is available on the Buckinghamshire Online Directory.

Example of organisations that can help include:

• community fridges – these provide free fresh surplus food
• community cupboards and larders – these provide free non-perishable food
• hot meal schemes

There are also courses, apps and websites available to help you budget for or access food, including:

• help making budget friendly meals - free courses to help making budget friendly meals with incentives for completing the course
• BBC Food £1 Dinners – budget recipes from the BBC, costed across 4 supermarkets at £1 a portion
• Meal Plans – free weekly meal plans to help feed your family for around £20 a week
• Olio – connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared
• Too Good To Go – lets you buy and collect food that would otherwise go to waste at cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops and manufacturers

Families on a low income can apply for free school meals for children.

We provide digital food vouchers to eligible families and households during school holidays.

For more information about the scheme see Free digital food vouchers for the school holiday period.

We've created a toolkit to help you cut down on food waste and save money on your food bills.

View the Toolkit: reducing food waste at home.

• Buckinghamshire Family Information Service: information about benefits and schemes to help families on low incomes
• Healthy Start: if you're pregnant or have a child under the age of 4 you could be eligible for help in buying food and milk
• Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme: eligible children and young people can enjoy free, high quality holiday activities and experiences, with each session including a free meal