Free Food: 6 Ways To Easily Get Food For Free

This post is part of the Eating on a Budget series, which includes the essential tools, tricks and tips that underpin eating on a budget, and a collection of recipes to put those tools into practice.

You can find free food almost everywhere — if you know where to look.

From herbs and vegetables growing in your back garden to (cheekily) the food sitting in your friend’s pantry, if you’re willing to put in a little effort you could plenty of free food and save a small fortune on your shopping bill.

My girlfriend and I are currently travelling the world. We’ve travelled around Europe, India and now we’re in New Zealand — and our budget is ludicrously tight.

We’ve saved a fortune (and given the cost of groceries here in New Zealand, I mean a fortune) on our shopping by taking full advantage of the food sources that I’m about to discuss.

Without further ado, here’s 6 ways to get totally free food.

#1: End-of-the-day at the market

My girlfriend and I stayed in Lyon for a month. While there, we discovered that fresh produce markets are a great place to find free food and ingredients — a lot of it.

By “produce markets,” I’m talking about a market that usually takes place one or twice a week with different vendors selling fresh produce including fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy, as well as other odds and ends, like flowers or books. (Sorry, this guide won’t get you any free books. Try Project Gutenberg, instead).

These markets are a common sight across France, as the country is passionate about fresh produce, but they’re definitely a thing in other parts of the world, too. We saw a lot of them in India and Germany. There’s also a thing in the UK, though the produce there is usually much more expensive than its supermarket counterparts.

The vendors who sell at these markets have a single goal: to sell everything they’ve brought before the end of the day. The more they less, the less they have to take away. And because produce is always deteriorating, the longer they keep the produce, the higher the likelihood that it will rot and become unsellable.

But the vendors rarely manage to sell everything.

Often this is because some of their produce is simply no longer fresh enough to sell. The produce sits on the market stall all day, so naturally at least some of it is going to ripen and rot as the day goes by.

Instead of wasting their time and effort loading it into their vehicles, the vendors often simply leave the produce behind after they’ve packed away — and once it’s left, it’s up for grabs.

We read about this source of free food online, and absolutely couldn’t believe it. We read a blog post by a woman who posted a photo of a full crate of fresh vegetables, which she claimed she’d gotten for free. It seemed too good to be true.

But after lurking around one of Lyon’s many markets until close, we quickly realised it was true. Even before closing time, many of the vendors had already packed up and had left in their wake boxes upon boxes filled with the less desirable of their produce — this was food that was (mostly) perfectly fine to eat, but had blemishes or had been damaged, meaning they couldn’t sell it.

We left that day with so much food — avocados, fresh greens, potatoes, turnips, melons, tomatoes, spring onions. The list goes on. We scoured the markets a few times while in Lyon, and we always came home with bags full of produce.

Find out what time your local market finishes for the day, and head there 20 minutes before that. You may be surprised what free food you’ll find.

#2: Local herbs

Fresh herbs at the supermarket are rarely cheap. In the UK, a small bag of fresh herbs often costs around £1.00.

That’s quite a lot of money for something so small — and for something that you can get for free.

If you have your own home, you can easily grow your own herbs. In the garden, on the balcony or even on a small windowsill, you can grow most herbs: basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc.

But if that luxury isn’t available for you (because if you’re, say, travelling New Zealand in a banged up Toyota Ipsum), then don’t worry: you still have access to free herbs.

While travelling, we’ve found herbs growing all over the place.

They’re a common feature on campsites. One campsite we stayed at had a whole herb garden with sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives and more — all of which they encouraged us to take. At another, they had so much rosemary growing that you would have thought they were weeds.

Have a look and see what’s available near you.

You can also find herbs in the wild, if you know how to find and identity it. Which brings us nicely to the next point.

#3: Foraging

Herbs in the wild are just one of the many, many edible foodstuffs you can find in nature. Is there a better source of free food than mother nature?

Foraging is the process of finding edible produce in nature, and it’s an action our ancestors were well versed in — and for good reason.

The fresh produce we purchase at the supermarket is only a sliver of the edible food available on earth. The stuff there is only the food that is available through agriculture.

But there are a lot more edible plants and fruits available in nature that we haven’t yet been able to cultivate and grow on farms.

There’s the obvious stuff: blackberries, strawberries, mushrooms and the like.

But then there’s stuff you wouldn’t expect. There are many leafy plants and flowers that we consider weeds, which our ancestors would have considered food.

The dandelion is a common sight across the world, and is largely considered a weed. But the leaves are edible and used to make dandelion soup.

Nettles are another “weed” which has historically been edible. This plant is in the lamiaceae family, the same family as mint, and is perfectly edible. You can boil nettles to remove their sting, and you can even find nettles used in food products at the supermarket. The Northumberland Cheese Company, for example, produces a Nettle cheese, which is a typical cheddar-style cheese with nettle running through it.

But a word of caution — there’s also a lot of stuff out there that can literally kill you. Foraging is something that requires education and certainty.

You need to know what you’re looking for in advance, and when you do find something, you need to be certain it is what you think it is.

“If in doubt, leave it out” is the expression I’ve heard being tossed around.

To learn about foraging, I’d recommend picking up a foraging field guide that covers the local fauna growing in your area. These guides have photos, diagrams and descriptions of various wild plants and flowers. A good field guide will explain the attributes you need to know to identify any given plant, and tell you whether it’s edible, and (critically) whether it’ll kill you.

But even that might not be enough. Consider seeking out a professional if you’re in doubt.

In short, foraging can be fun and rewarding, but almost extremely dangerous, so proceed with caution. Free food isn’t worth giving away your life.

#4: Free food at your accommodation

If foraging doesn’t seem worth the risk, then don’t worry. You might be able to get free food without ever stepping food outside of your “home” — if you’re travelling.

Hostels, Airbnbs and campsites across the world typically offer a shared kitchen space for people to cook alongside other travellers.

One typical feature of these spaces is a “free food/stuff” rack — a space for people to share ingredients and other bits and bobs that they don’t need. No-strings-attached. You see a thing, it’s yours to take if you want it.

These things are a lifesaver when you’re on a budget. We’ve managed to nap a bunch of free food and other useful stuff while travelling, including pasta, flour, instant mash potato, soy sauce, sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil, butter, mustard, apples, baked beans, jarred tomato sauce, oranges, bread and even wine.

If you’re staying at a place with a shared kitchen, have a look and see what you can find — and if you’ve got excess stuff yourself, donate it!

This approach means you don’t control what ingredients you get, but my suggestion is to not be afraid of unknown ingredients. If you see something on the shelf that’s new to you, take it, research it and see what you can do it with it. You might discover a cool new meal.

#5: Friends and family

This one’s a little cheeky, but it’s useful if you’re not travelling (and if you are). Your friends and family are invariably a great source of free food.

I’m not suggesting going door-to-door and begging for free food. But I am suggesting being mindful of how your family and friends use (or don’t use) their ingredients.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

Before we came travelling, I was in a cycle with my parents. It went something like this: they (for some reason) bought some random ingredient which they’d never use. It sat in their cupboard for a few months. I came round to visit and commented on it. They told me they didn’t want it, and then it became my random ingredient which I did use.

In the same vein while travelling, we’ve stayed with people such as distant family, friends of friends, etc. who had pantries full of food they didn’t want.

All we have to do is ask if they have anything they don’t want, and we always come away with something. Once or twice, we’ve been sent away with literal bags full of free food.

The same logic applies here as per point 4: you have to be open to unknown ingredients.

Ask your friends and family if they have any food they don’t want. You might feel rude or embarrassed for a moment, but the meal that you’ll cook with their free food will help numb your shame.

#6: Ask in-store for free food

If you’re uncomfortable asking your friends and family for free food, you can try asking businesses instead

Bakeries and cafes are a good place to start. They often have a lot of food at the end of the day that they have to get rid off: breads and other baked goods go stale.

The staff usually have the option to take excess food home, but it’s often the case that there’s simply too much (imagine taking home 20 loaves of bread, for example).

That means that bakeries and cafes often willingly give away their goods to customers at the end of the day.

Occasionally, if you stay at a coffee shop until closing time, they may offer the leftover items to you. Failing that, ask for something yourself. Shy bairns get nowt, as we say in my hometown of Newcastle. I’ve had success getting free food with both approaches.

Bakers are also often willing to give away yeast for free. If you’re looking to make your own bread, yeast isn’t expensive, but bakers yeast is free and better than the dried supermarket stuff.

In short, there are many ways to find free food. You may need to be bold and ask for it, or it may be sitting right under your nose.

Regardless of the approach you choose, these tips will help you save money on your groceries.

I’ve written a longer-form guide to eating on a budget, which I highly recommend if you’re interested lowering your food bill.