Help for families with food over summer holidays in Wolverhampton

Summer holidays can present real issues for parents worrying about how to feed their children, so the City of Wolverhampton Council has put together some tips on how to make it easier on your pocket.

The council’s main offer is our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme through the ever-popular Yo! Wolves

The HAF Programme provides eligible children and young people with free holiday activities and food in the long school holidays. The council delivers the scheme through a network of providers at a wide variety of venues across the city.

Find out all you need to know here and book soon as demand is always high Home | Wolverhampton Young Opportunities (yowolves.co.uk)

There’s also our network of community shops across the city, which exist to help all Wolverhampton residents and on average can save households £30 a week on their food shop.

There are currently six community shops with more on the way. They are based in the heart of communities for easy access, including one in the city centre at The Queen’s Building near the bus and railway stations in Victoria Square.

They offer a great range of food with seasonal offers and promotions. Find out more and where to find your nearest one here Community shops | City Of Wolverhampton Council

Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Simkins said: ‘We know summer holidays always present real challenges for parents financially and food can be a particular worry and is still a real concern with the cost of living continuing to bite.

‘As a council we try to do all we can through the successful Yo! Wolves programme and I hope these other tips to access free or discounted good quality food can also help our residents this summer,’

Residents can also still access direct support for food from the Household Support Fund, which is distributed on a needs basis rather than being means tested.

Council housing tenants should contact their relevant managing agent to apply and private tenants and homeowners can apply through our website for a standard payment of £25 per adult, £50 per couple and £15 for each child in the household. Those in temporary accommodation can also access this support. 

Just visit Household Support Fund | City Of Wolverhampton Council for all the details.

There’s also a number of organisations providing food across the city at discounted prices, such as Hub for grub, which provides hot meals on a "pay as you can" basis at various locations at lunchtime from Tuesday to Friday.

It’s open to all and pre-orders can be placed the evening before. All locations and menus for the following day are publicised on the Facebook page Hub for Grub | Facebook

There are also apps like Too Good to Go and Olio, where free or bargain deals on food are available. Too Good to Go offers bags of food for around £3 from retailers such as Greggs, Pound Bakery, Aldi, The New Bridge (Tettenhall) and The Nickelodeon (Bentley Bridge). They can be collected from various locations across the city on a daily basis.

Olio is a local food sharing app, where free food can be accessed. This is usually in the evening, items are collected by volunteers, from supermarkets and then uploaded to the app. It can be collected from the volunteer’s home.

And don’t forget all major supermarkets offer deals where kids eat for free or at greatly reduced prices in their restaurants, it’s worth checking out their latest promotions for the summer holidays.

There’s also still a network of foodbanks, soup kitchens and food pantries across the city. These often require a professional referral and are not usually able to provide a food parcel on the same day as the request. Find out more:

Food banks and soup kitchens | City Of Wolverhampton Council

And read all about our wider cost of living support on our dedicated web pages www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/cost-of-living-support