If you do not have enough money to buy or cook food, there are organisations that can help.
Emergency Food
If you have no income from benefits or work, you can access ongoing support with small food parcels. You do not need an appointment or referral and you do not need to bring proof of your financial circumstances.
List of the venues and the times they are open are here:
Emergency food venues and opening times
Food drop-ins
You can get free meals at several venues around Leeds, on different days of the week. You do not need a referral or appointment, you can just turn up.
You can find a list of venues offering food on the Leeds Food Aid Network website:
Trussell Trust foodbanks
The Trussell Trust foodbanks can provide food parcels in an emergency to help with a short-term crisis (but it cannot provide long-term support). If you have no right to benefits and need food on an ongoing basis, please see the information above called “Emergency Food” and “Food drop-ins”.
To use a foodbank, you need to get a voucher first, which you exchange for a food parcel. You can get a voucher from your local Community Hubs and the staff there can tell you where to go to collect a food parcel. Find your local Community Hub:
You don’t need any documents to collect a voucher from your Community Hub. You will need to take the voucher with you to the foodbank to collect your food.
Food Pantries
Food pantries operate by enabling people to pay approximately £3.50 a week to receive approximately £15 of fresh food each week.
Other useful information
If you are a refugee or asylum seeker you can find out more about organisations that can help you on the Help in Leeds website:
