No. Unlike most emergency food services, we do not operate solely on a third-party referral system, instead, you can self-refer. You can request help directly for a food parcel and access to longer-term support. Simply call our helpline and our trained team will help you 0300 303 4933.

Our food parcels are packed with a minimum of three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable (ambient) food. A typical parcel includes items like cereal, soup, pasta, rice, pasta sauces, tinned beans, tinned meat, tinned vegetables, tinned pasta, tinned tomatoes, tinned fruit, tinned fish, baked beans, rice pudding/custard, tea/coffee, biscuits, and long-life milk. You can claim up to 6 parcels per year and after this we will advise you on further support via our Top up shops (link) and Beyond Food advice service (link).

Yes, we supply Kettle Packs which contain 2/3 days’ worth of easy cook items like noodles, instant mash or sweetcorn, rice pudding/custard, pot noodle, tinned fish, tinned meat, beans, cup a soup, tinned fruit, uht milk, small boxes of cereal, cous cous, tea/coffee, crisps, cereal bars, juice/water. Plus, we provide a cup, bowl and spoon – all tinned items are ring pull or similar. Please request this when calling our helpline.

We do our absolute best to accommodate dietary needs, such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, halal, lactose intolerance or specific food allergies. Just ask when you call to request a food parcel voucher and we will advise.

After you’ve spoken with our helpline team, they will advise where you can pick up your parcel from. We have 12 serving centres who distribute parcels for us, details are on our I need Help page (link). Unfortunately, we do not do deliveries.

The Top up shop is a service run by MK Food Bank and is designed for anyone who lives in Milton Keynes who is in financial hardship. We have a variety of store cupboard items and household essentials available to buy, plus fresh fruit and vegetables! We have 8 Mobile top up shops and 4 in-store Top up shops, all details are on our Mobile Top up shop page (link).

Beyond Food is our new advice service set up with MK Money Lifeline to help people in MK with longer term issues, like debt housing and benefits. You can find our more about this service and how to access it via our Beyond Food page (link).

MK Community Fridges are located across Milton Keynes and offer free surplus food to local residents.

Where the food comes from
Items are donated by supermarkets, local shops and members of the public. This may include food that is past its best-before date but is still safe to eat.

How we work together
We sometimes receive fresh produce or suitable items that are close to, or just past, their best-before date. We pass these to the community fridges so they can be shared rather than wasted