How to find free food assistance near you
Six-step guide to finding food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens, school meals, summer meals, WIC offices, FQHC health centers, and SNAP retailers near you. Free directory at Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) with 327,000+ verified locations.
Open feedam.org
Visit feedam.org. No login required. No fees. No personal data stored. Search is free for everyone.
Enter your ZIP code
Type your ZIP code into the search box. You can also search by city name (e.g., "Houston TX" or "Miami FL"). State filtering speeds up results 5x.
Choose a category
Five search modes: Free food (pantries, soup kitchens, mobile pantries, community fridges), SNAP retailers (stores accepting EBT), School meals (NSLP + School Breakfast), Summer meals (SFSP), WIC offices. Or browse all 327,000+ verified locations at once.
Sort + filter
Results show distance, hours, phone, and "open now / closes in N hours" status. Sort by nearest, open-now, recently verified, or A-Z. Filter to 5/10/25 mile radius.
Call ahead to confirm
Click the phone number to call directly. Confirm the location is open, has stock, and ask about any documentation requirements. Most pantries don't require ID or proof of income. Some may ask for a piece of mail to confirm address.
For 24/7 emergency help, call 211
If you can't wait, call 211. Free service, 24/7, multilingual. Routes you to nearby emergency food pantries that are open today. Also handles SNAP enrollment, WIC enrollment, and other social services.
What's available in the directory
- Food pantries — community-operated emergency food distribution sites
- Food banks — regional warehouses supplying pantries
- Soup kitchens — same-day meals, no documentation needed
- Mobile pantries — pantry-on-wheels visiting underserved areas
- Community fridges — 24/7 access free fridges in public spaces
- School meals — National School Lunch Program + School Breakfast Program
- Summer meals — Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) for children
- WIC offices — Women, Infants, and Children program (pregnant + kids under 5)
- FQHC community health centers — HRSA-funded sliding-scale medical clinics
- SNAP retailers — 130,000+ stores accepting EBT cards
Bilingual access
Feed America has full Spanish-language parity. Visit feedam.org/es for the Spanish version of every public surface — search, condition guides, federal-program guides, FAQ.
Specialty food-help guides
Feed America also publishes 50+ condition-specific food-help guides at /food-help covering veterans, college students, immigrants, pregnant women, seniors (Medicare), kidney disease, diabetes, dialysis, post-cancer, post-stroke, hypertension, fatty liver, Long COVID, chronic pain, and more.