Eat well at home

If you are not able to get a lift from someone you know, you have options to get to the shops, you can get a bus or a lift from volunteers or consider booking community transport from your door. When you are 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

You can order your food shop on the internet from supermarkets and some local shops.

Get online and order your shopping by:

• asking for a volunteer to help you to use a computer
• finding out which shops do food deliveries

You may be able to find a volunteer for one-off help with shopping in an emergency 

• Shopping support in an emergency
• Call Age UK to ask about their emergency support 01305 269444 

Phone Sainsbury’s on 0800 328 1700 or Morrisons 0345 611 6111, you could also 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

Ready prepared meals are a way to eat a balanced diet. Some local companies will deliver meals for you to heat up, others will deliver a meal that is warm and ready to eat.

Find where you can order:

• hot meals to be delivered to you at home
• meals to be heated up at home 
  • Oakhouse Foods
  • Wiltshire Farm Foods
  • Parsley Box
• food from other places across Dorset (Help & Kindness)

Lunch clubs are a way for people to eat well and meet others. 

Find a lunch club near you.

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.

If you have a 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. 

You could purchase simple aids and equipment to support you with food preparation and cooking. Sit while you cook or chop vegetables, easy grip knives and forks or cook and eat more easily with:

• suggestions of kitchen equipment for preparing and cooking food
• kitchen equipment designed to support with eating and drinking 
• tips to cook safely 
• easy-to-use appliances 
• 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

You could visit our independent living centre in Dorchester to discuss your requirements with an Occupational Therapist, view and try items that could support, to book phone 0333 003 0010 or email milifegreenwood@millbrookhealthcare.co.uk

If you do not have enough money to feed yourself or the whole family, you are not alone and support is available across Dorset. Not all food banks require a referral:

• find a food bank near you
• contact Citizens Advice on 0800 144 8848 or email a local office
• consider accessing a community fridge for donated food to stop it going to waste 
• find your nearest community food shop for food and grocery shopping that is more affordable