How to Feed Yourself For Free in Seattle

With SNAP Benefits running out of funding, layoffs and furloughs across the city and prices rising all the time, affording the basic necessities isn’t a given. More than 900,000 Washington residents — including 300,000 children — receive SNAP benefits, state officials said. Fortunately, Seattle is full of resources to help feed our community. This guide includes community fridges, mutual aid, food banks and places to get a hot meal no questions asked. Share it widely and also, look at your local Facebook groups or other sites to find a way to help out. Community, Seattle! All we have is each other.

This resource includes a network of 30 local food banks that offer free groceries. Some of these locations may have other items such as clothing, diapers, and pet food available, along with community resources like housing, child care, job assistance and personal finance. 

Seattle Community Fridge (SCF) has a map of free community fridges that are stocked with individual servings of food and sometimes other pantry staples. SCF is a mutual aid group that provides fridges and fresh food directly to communities. The group was created in July 2020 and is composed of community members.

Put together by the two Seattle artists behind Color Therapy, this guide lists places where hot meals are available each day of the week. The guide also includes details about each community fridge at SCF and the kinds of items each location is frequently stocked with. The list includes meals from groups like:

Long Haul Kitchen (LHK) provides mutual aid including food, cold weather clothes, batteries, Narcan and menstrual supplies for unsheltered and homeless folks in Georgetown and SoDo. They also do a weekly propane exchange on Thursdays in Georgetown.

Plant Based Food Share is a community organization that gave out their first plant-based food boxes on March 30, 2020 at Cafe Red. Since then, they have given out over 50 - 65 boxes a week that include fresh produce, pantry items, recipes, prepared foods, and hygiene items like masks and hand sanitizer. They also partner with, The Beet Box, to distribute soil containers, vegetable starts, and seeds.

Seattle Pay-It-Forward Programs

Restaurants throughout Seattle have on-going or newly started neighborhood tab programs:

Rootstock Northwest is a Washington-based non-profit that aims to nourish our community by connecting people in need with fresh, locally grown produce from nearby farms. They offer free grocery delivery to people in need.

This resource includes a list of food banks and pantries throughout the county, what each location offers and whether or not they deliver to homebound residents. The map is searchable by location and includes contact information for each location.

Have more resources you want us to feature? Let us know!