700+ Places for Free or Low-cost Food in Vancouver
November 21, 2018
Are you having a hard time finding the money for food? These handy resources can help! We’ve compiled a few ways that you can get access to food when you’re having trouble making ends meet.
The Vancouver Food Asset Map lists over 700 resources for free or low cost food. We also have a number of programs here at Urban Native Youth Association where you can get food or a delicious meal to help nourish your body, mind, and spirit.
Vancouver Food Asset Map
The Vancouver Food Asset Map lists resources in Vancouver where you can find free or low cost meals, groceries, community kitchen programs, and more.
There are almost 800 resources listed. Because this is a lot to go through, they’ve provided a map legend to filter the results. You can use this map legend to filter the map and view only what you’re looking for. Categories include free or low cost meals and grocery items, community kitchen programs, community organizations, and much more.
In addition to this, icons on the map tell you what kind of resource is at each location. At a glance you can tell what each location provides, whether that’s grocery items, kitchen access, or community gardening.
Once you find a resource in your area, click on the icon for more information. This information will tell you what days and times it’s available, who it’s for, how to contact them, and much more.
The Vancouver Food Asset Map shows you where to find free or low cost meals, groceries, community kitchen programs, and more.
The Vancouver Food Asset Map shows you where to find free or low cost meals, groceries, community kitchen programs, and more.
Don’t forget to also check out our program calendar here. Through many of our 21+ programs, UNYA provides food resources for Indigenous youth, and all of our programming is FREE!
Most of our programs will have healthy snacks available, and some of our programs provide access to groceries or a meal, like our Aboriginal Youth Worker’s cooking program, and our Native Youth Learning Centre’s food pantry.
Cooking Program with UNYA’s Aboriginal Youth Worker
Our Aboriginal Youth Worker Tashina runs a weekly cooking program for Indigenous youth.
Our cooking program menu changes every week, so check the schedule to see what we’ll be making. To see what’s on the menu this week, visit our calendar here. Or just show up for a surprise! Every week is guaranteed to be delicioius, healthy meal, and you won’t be disappointed.
If you love cooking, or if you want to learn how to cook, you can also pitch in and help Tashina with preparing the meal.
If you’d like to learn more about what Tashina does as our Aboriginal Youth Worker, visit her program page here.
Food Pantry at the Native Youth Learning Centre
Our Native Youth Learning Centre has a food pantry where Indigenous youth ages 15 to 30 can get non-perishable goods.
The Native Youth Learning Centre food pantry includes items such as pasta, pasta sauce, rice, and couscous. In addition to dry goods, we also regularly have canned goods, such as canned salmon and tuna, veggies, and broth. Occasionally we’ll have other items available, such as frozen meats.
We get our food donated from the Greater Vancouver Food Bank every Monday. Because food arrives on Monday, this is the best day to stop by (after 1 pm) for a good selection of items.
If you can’t make it on Monday can stop by to get some food anytime the learning centre is open, which is after 1 pm on weekdays. On select dates throughout the month, we’ll have employment training certification courses happening in the learning centre, such as First Aid and Food Safe, so it’s best to confirm learning centre hours on our website. You can check our calendar here to confirm when the learning centre is open.
The items we get changes week to week, so drop in or get in touch with the learning centre to see what is available. Call 604-254-5620 or email [email protected].
For more info on the Native Youth Learning Centre, visit our program page here.
What else?
Most of our programs at Urban Native Youth Association will have free snacks to share with you when you come to programming. You can view more info on our programs, including a calendar of daily activities here.