Where you can find local food pantries
Chilltown and otherwise
By Chilltown Blues
The Trump administration said yesterday it will partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), after federal judges ruled it was unlawful to stop funding it during the government shutdown.
As of the morning of Nov. 4, it is unknown how much the partial funding will add up to or when it will be issued to people’s accounts.
California’s attorney general said yesterday it would take the state about a week to issue benefits to cards once the funds were received, as reported by the Associated Press.
ABC News reported yesterday that a top USDA official told a federal judge in a sworn court filing that using emergency funds to pay for the benefits could take “a few weeks to up to several months.”
SNAP benefits in N.J. can be checked at www.connectebt.com/ebtconnect/recipient/NJ or by calling 1-800-997-3333.
Below, find links to listings of food pantries in north Jersey and throughout the state as well as databases to find pantries in the U.S. nationally.
Hudson
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/hudson_county_food_pantries.html
In Jersey City, the BITE Food Distribution & Resource Center has a new location at 2163 Kennedy Blvd. They give out food every Saturday except for the third one in a given month — check https://www.facebook.com/BITENewJersey where they often post a heads up about the upcoming Saturday. Time seems to generally be 11 a.m. One of their notices said that extra large shopping carts or wagons are required, but that may be due to them giving out a lot. Email NJBITE@gmail.com for more information.
Essex County
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/newark_food_banks_and_pantries.html
Note that Chalkbeat has a particularly comprehensive list of Newark food pantries in addition to NYC ones:
https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025/10/31/free-food-and-meals-in-nyc-and-newark-nj/
Bergen County
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/bergen_county_food_pantries.html
Other NJ counties
Needhelppayingbills.com has pantry listings for other NJ counties and other states in addition to the ones above. They can be found via https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/food_banks.html#Food-banks-pantries-near-you by clicking on the state and looking for the county you reside in — like Camden, N.J.:
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/camden_county_food_pantries.html
Or Passaic:
https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/passaic_county_new_jersey_food.html
Statewide, NYC and national
Also of note is NJ social services entity Coalition for Food and Health Equity and their Rapid Response Hunger Relief Program. The program provides fresh produce to those in need. Call 1-800-943-1752 to learn about eligibility and/or apply. Learn more about the program at https://www.coalitionequity.org/emergency-food-programs.
The Community Food Bank of NJ’s website is very comprehensive. Just put in a zip code: https://cfbnj.org/find-foods-services/
On both local and national levels, we’ve found Foodpantries.org to be one of the more comprehensive databases meeting that criteria:
https://www.foodpantries.org/co/nj-hudson
The aforementioned Chalkbeat post also has comprehensive NYC offerings:
https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025/10/31/free-food-and-meals-in-nyc-and-newark-nj/
The WhyHunger database is also a solid option: https://networks.whyhunger.org. Their hotline to find local emergency food provisions and support services is 1-800-548-6479, and people can also text their zip codes to the number for those purposes.