Fare for All is a food co-op affiliated with food shelves here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I learned about it from my trailer court newsletter. Anybody can shop there, no matter their income. They buy fruits, veggies and frozen meats in bulk, this is how they can offer this food to the public at very reduced prices (up to 40% off grocery store prices). All proceeds go to local food shelves. The warehouse is located in the New Hope area (8501 54th Av N)
I decided to go see what they had to offer. I was impressed. The whole place is run by volunteers, and is awesome. The selection, mind you, is not grocery store great, there is a limited selection of meat and produce, but it all is very good quality.
The ambiance is kind of warehouse/dollar store, but the food is good. Potatoes, onions, apples, grapefruits, pears, carrots, celery, butternut squashes when I went in there yesterday. Also, they have a shelf with canned goods and dry goods (big sacks of beans and brown rice). They are very committed to the concept of organic/nutritious food. They have many handouts with nutrition information and other useful information.
If you are having food issues because you don't have any money, but aren't quite poor enough to qualify for food stamps, this is the place to shop. Although they do accept EBT cards too. Everything except personal checks - cash, credit cards, debit cards, EBT cards.
The prices are really dirt cheap. I don't know what kind of organization they are, they seem to be affiliated with the food shelf organization which is right next door in the warehouse they operate from.
I went to their warehouse sale day, which is every other Monday, they also do other sales all over the Twin Cities, but those days are not so scheduled, you have to look on their website to find the days. They also accept online orders, from what I can tell on their website.
I saw a lot of people shopping there, some of them actually very posh looking. Fare for All is cool with that, their motto is "the more the merrier" as it all goes to help local food shelves.
Here is their website:
www.fareforall.org
I just wanted to give these people a plug, and put everybody in the local area onto another way to get some good food for cheap. And also it's your chance to support your local food shelf, as all the profits go to supporting those.
The warehouse is on one bus line (755), and very wheelchair/handicapped friendly - it is all on the ground floor and easy to get in from the parking lot.
I just thought I'd like to give a heads up for these fine people that are doing this great work.