Eating enough of different types of food helps you to stay well.
Ask people you know if you need help getting food. You can also:
- get food shopping delivered
- get equipment to cook easily
- get meals delivered to you
- have a meal while meeting people
- get help if you do not have enough food
Get a lift to do a food shop and get help in store
Make getting to the shops easier. If you are not able to get a lift from someone you know, you have options.
You can get a bus, a lift from volunteers or book a community transport bus from your door to the shops.
And at the supermarket, some stores help you get your items and pack.
Get to the shops by:
- planning your bus journey
- asking for a lift from community volunteers
- finding a community transport scheme
- booking a bus with:
- NORDCAT (north Dorset) on 01258 472 164
- PlusBus (for towns across Dorset) on 01258 287980
- SEDCAT (south east Dorset) on 01202 534 027
- Wareham Hopper on 01258 473 154
And get help when you get to the shop by:
- asking a supermarket if staff can help you in store, call Dorchester Tesco on 0345 677 922 or Wareham Sainsbury’s on 01929 498 700
- finding your nearest supermarket that has staff who can help you in store
Get your food shopping delivered
Order food shopping online
You can order your food shop on the internet from supermarkets and some local shops.
Get online and order your shopping by:
Order food shopping over the phone
Phone Sainsbury’s on 0800 328 1700 or call a local shop:
- Abbotsbury: Chapel Lane Stores
- Beaminster: Hogshill Stores
- Bishops Caundle Community Store
- Castletown Stores
- Cattistock Village Stores
- Cerne Abbas Stores
- Charmouth Stores
- Corfe Castle Village Stores
- Iwerne Minster Village Stores
- Mosterton Village Shop
- Okeford Village Stores
- Shaftesbury: Fontmell Magna Stores
- Shillingstone: Lifestyle Express
- Skilling Stores
- Wareham: Lookout Stores
Get a volunteer to shop for you if you are ill
Find a volunteer for one-off help with shopping in an emergency on community website Help & Kindness.
Call Age UK on 01305 269 444
Cook more easily with equipment to help you
Make cooking easier with equipment and aids to help you. Sit while you cook and chop vegetables quickly. Move meals and hold knives and forks more easily.
Cook and eat more easily with:
- tips to cook safely from not-for-profit Which?
- easy-to-use appliances in a Which? guide
- a perching stool so you can sit and cook
- an aid to make chopping less work
- a movable tray to take your meal to eat
- easy-to-hold knives, forks and spoons
- aids to help people with dementia
Look at things to help you cook at centres to help people live independently in Dorchester or Wimborne. Book to go on 033 300 300 10 or milifegreenwood@millbrookhealthcare.co.uk.
Or find out in our video about cutlery that is:
Learn in our video about cups:
Get meals delivered to you
Get a good meal with less work. Ready meals are a way to eat a balanced diet. Some local companies will bring you a meal for you to heat up. Some will bring the meal ready to eat.
Find where you can order:
- hot meals to be delivered on local site Help & Kindness
- hot meals from local pubs such as Langton Arms (near Blandford), The Dorset Solider (Wimborne), The Half Moon (near Bridport) and The Royal Oak (Bere Regis)
- a meal to be heated up delivered anywhere in Dorset:
- food from other places across Dorset (Help & Kindness)
Have a good lunch and meet people
Share a hot meal every week or month for a few pounds. Lunch clubs are a way for older people to eat well and meet people.
If you cannot get a lift from someone you know, you can take a community transport bus from your door. Or some lunch clubs come and get you.
Choose a lunch club near you, in different parts of Dorset:
- Blandford and north Dorset
- Dorchester and nearby villages
- East Dorset
- Purbeck
- West Dorset
- Weymouth, Portland and nearby
If you have a severe disability, check if you or someone who can drive you to a lunch club might qualify for a Blue Badge.
Check your bus journey to go for a meal at a lunch club. Or find a community transport scheme to take you.
Get help if you do not have enough food
You do not have to go without food. Get an emergency food parcel or food donation.
You need to first tell Citizens Advice you are in crisis. You will then get a food bank voucher that gives you food to meet your needs for 3 days.
Contact Citizens Advice. Call on 0800 144 8848 or email a local office.
Find a food bank near you:
- Beaminster Food Bank
- Blandford Food Bank
- Bridport Cupboard Love Food Bank
- Dorchester and nearby food banks
- Ferndown Food Bank
- Gillingham Food Bank
- Lyme Regis Food Bank
- Sherborne Food Bank
- Wareham Food bank
- Weymouth and Portland food banks
Help yourself to food that is there to be shared in a community fridge. See a list of community fridges for you to use – no need to apply or get a voucher.
Get cheaper, good, nutritious food by joining a community food shop run by volunteers. Find your nearest community food shop.