Resource list: where to find free or discounted food, healthcare, and other necessities

by Rebecca Lobo

With the US government shut down, small businesses struggling to stay open, the cost of health insurance rising, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) halted, and the holidays approaching, many of us, especially the elderly, sick, disabled, and poor, are scrambling for our basic rights.

So I decided to put together a list of resources we can use to support each other.  Investing in basic rights, such as proper nutrition and healthcare, for all helps us collectively.  It’s not just a matter of public policy, its a matter of public health.  

Food is essential to life.

It’s the fuel your body uses to function properly, repair, and grow.  It nourishes us physically, emotionally, and socially.  

Hunger doesn’t happen in isolation. 

When healthcare and food assistance disappear, people use rent money to eat and stay healthy.  Then come evictions and homelessness.  

You are what you eat. 

Food is anything you eat or drink that contains nutrients.  Nutrients are essential building blocks your body needs to generate energy, repair, and grow.  Examples of nutrients include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.  Bioavailable nutrients are nutrients in concentrations and forms that your body easily recognizes, digests, and can use appropriately.  We all have different nutritional needs and there is no one-size-fits all diet.

Food is medicine, it affects your health and well-being.  

The quality, quantity, and type of nutrients in a food determine how well that food supports you.  Food also is poison, it can impair, injure, and kill (ask anyone with a gluten intolerance or a peanut allergy).  Food changes the structure and function of our bodies and can be used to prevent, mitigate, and treat disease.  Food, like any other drug, can be used, misused, and abused. 

Food can be weaponized. 

Food insecurity affects one of our most primal survival needs: whether or not we will have access to adequate energy and nutrients necessary to sustain our existence.  Food insecurity not only causes malnutrition and affects physical health and learning, in many cases, food insecurity creates intense psychological distress that is identical to traumatic stress. 

Reasons why one might experience food insecurity, or need help of some other kind, include, but are not limited to: chronic illness, divorce, death in the family, loss of income, fixed income due to age or disability, housing loss, emergency expenses, natural disaster, starting over after abuse, and medical emergencies.  

If you’re in a position to help: donate time, money, or goods and share resources and awareness within your community and around the world.  Use the resource list below for ideas of where you can be supportive.  Buy from small businesses.  

If you’re in need, know that you are worthy of shelter, food, healthcare and support. 

Use the resource list below to find free and discounted food, healthcare services, and other types of support. 

Food

  • Freedge | Davis Co-op | UCD Memorial Union | 1221 Eureka Avenue, Davis
    Freedge promotes equal access to healthy food through the installation of community fridges (public refrigerators) that are used to share food and ideas at the neighborhood level.  Freedges are located all around the world.  
  • Davis Night Market | nightmarket@freedge.org | Instagram @davisnightmarket
    Redistributes recovered food to the community, no questions asked.
    Open Monday–Friday, 9–11 pm at Davis Central Park (4th and C Streets).
  • Empower Yolo | (530) 757-1261| 441 D Street, Davis
    Walk-up food distribution on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 10 am until supplies last.
    Offers counseling, housing referrals, therapy, and support for survivors.
  • Short Term Emergency Aid Committee (STEAC) | (530) 758-8435 |1712 Picasso Ave, Suite D, Davis
    Holds weekly food distributions out of the STEAC Food Pantry for Davis residents who may be experiencing food insecurity. Clients can visit once a month and receive a mix of perishable and non-perishable items enough for three meals a day, for five days, for each member of the household.
  • Yolo Food Bank | (530) 668 - 0690 | 233 Harter Ave, Woodland
    Yolo Food Bank provides food assistance to any Yolo County resident through their distributions and network of partner agencies.
  • Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services | (916) 456 - 1980 | 3333 Third Ave, Sacramento
    Provides CalFresh application assistance, food assistance, nutrition education, legal services, and adult education.
  • NorCal Resist | (916) 382-0256 | norcalresist@gmail.com
    Hosts a monthly food and diaper distribution event, open to all members of our community. These are free, mutual aid, community-driven events that don't require any verification or personal information. Come take what you need, no questions asked. Visit the webpage to sign up for text alerts to receive an alert when they are distributing groceries and other free supplies.
  • California Association of Food Banks | Call 211 for help
    Find any food bank in any county 
  • The Emergency Food Assistance Program
  • Fresh Text
    A free service that informs you about nearby food distributions via text message. To opt in, text the keyword for your community to 888777.

    Keywords:
      • Davis - TOMATO
      • UC Davis Students - AGGIES
      • Woodland - OLIVE
      • West Sacramento & Clarksburg - GRAPE
      • Winters - ALMOND
  • Too Good to Go
    A mobile app that connects users with businesses like restaurants and grocery stores to purchase "Surprise Bags" of unsold, surplus food at a discounted price.
  • Doordash Emergency Food Response
    Doordash Customers receive $0 delivery fee and $0 service fee on orders placed at select SNAP-enabled stores on DoorDash. Offer valid from 11/01/25 through 11/30/25.

Restaurants in the Bay Area providing discounted and/or free meals to SNAP recipients:

Free or reduced cost healthcare, legal services, housing, conflict resolution, etc.

  • Remote Area Medical
    Provides free dental, vision, and medical care
  • 2-1-1 Yolo
    Dial 2-1-1 for a 24/7 multilingual database of services available in Yolo County.
  • Findhelp.org | 1-800-5-hungry
    Find free or reduced-cost resources like food, housing, financial assistance, health care, and more.
  • Legal Services of Northern CA | (530) 662-1065 | 619 North Street, Woodland
    Free civil legal services including housing, public benefits, health rights, consumer rights, and civil rights for low-income individuals in Yolo County.

 

A version of this blog post is published in my local newspaper, The Davis Enterprise.

Read other articles on Bexi's Blog.

Shop Bexi's skincare products. 

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

Back to Bexi's Blog