Customer FAQ

We are open to anyone in need of food, regardless of where you live.

No appointment is needed for Drive-Up or Today’s Harvest.

Open Cupboard (8264 4th Street North, Oakdale, MN):

Drive-up Market Hours:
Thursdays 2 pm – 5 pm
Fridays 10 am – 2 pm

Today’s Harvest Market Hours:

Monday-Friday 10:30am-6pm

Saturday 10:30am-2:30pm

You don’t need to bring any ID’s or documents with you.

For Drive-Up service we will just ask a few simple questions about your household, then load the food in your car.

For Today’s Harvest you will only need to provide your household size and zip code.

Open Cupboard, which has Drive-Up and Today’s Harvest Market is located at 8264 4th Street North Oakdale MN 55128.

You are welcome to use our Drive-Up Service program (Thursday and Friday) every week.

You are able to visit Today’s Harvest Market every day.

Descriptions of all our programs are available here.

Drive-Up is designed to be a weekly amount of groceries. Think of it as a way to stock your shelfs. You will receive produce, deli, dairy, meat, bakery, nonperishables and cleaning/hygiene. You will also be able to pick out choice items, which are culturally specific, as well as diapers, pet food, and pads/tampons.

Today’s Harvest is intended to be a 1-2 day shop. Most of the food at Today’s Harvest is rescued from local grocery stores and has a shorter shelf life. You will be able to shop for produce, deli, dairy, meat, and bakery.

Yes! You are welcome to use both programs. You can use our Drive-Up Service once a week and Today’s Harvest Market once a day.

A household is considered to be who is currently living with you and who you share your food with. For example, if you are living with your spouse and 2 kids, you would be a household of 4. On the other hand, if you live with a roommate but no do share food with each other (you make your own meals) you and your roommate would each be considered separate households.

Yes, service animals are welcome at any Open Cupboard programs as long as they follow our policies. You can view our service animal policy here.

At our both our locations, we are no longer requiring masks indoors. However, our policy is subject to change.

If you are not feeling well or have been exposed to someone with COVID, please stay home. You can request a delivery to make sure food gets to you.

You will find the most up-to-date information about our services on our Facebook page. You can access the Facebook page here.

We also provide a monthly customer newsletter which includes information about upcoming programs and opportunities outside of Open Cupboard. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

You drive through the line and our intake volunteers will ask a few simple questions about your household. Then we will put the food in your trunk. Make sure there’s room in your trunk or backseat for the food you’ll be receiving!

You don’t need to bring any documents or schedule an appointment.

You are welcome to use our Food Market program every week. We also offer inside shopping at our Today’s Harvest locations. You can learn more about our programs here.

Yes! You are able to pick up food for someone else outside of your household. For every adult in the car, they are able to pick up for 2 households. You will need to know the other household’s information in order to pick up food for them.

You can still receive food if transportation is an issue. You can have someone pick up on your behalf; they will need to provide us with information about your household.

We also offer a once a month food delivery to certain zip codes. You can learn more about our delivery program at https://opencupboard.org/needhelp/delivery-program/

We try to remain open, but because our services are Drive-Up, we might close or change our hours for lightning, heavy snow, or extremely cold temperatures.

We will post an update to Facebook anytime we are closed for weather.

You can now sign up for text notifications from Open Cupboard for any weather related service changes or program updates. That way, if we have to close a distribution or shorten our service time due to weather, you will be notified right away by text. To receive our text notifications, text ccefs to 651-571-5848 or click here.

Today’s Harvest Market is a free market that allows people to shop inside and pick out meat, dairy, produce, and bakery 6 days a week. To learn more about Today’s Harvest, you can visit our website.

You arrive at our stores and grab a cart. If we are busy, we may hand you a pager that will buzz when a cart is available for you to use.

Once you have a cart, you can follow our signs which will tell you how many items you can take from each location. If you have any questions about what to take, please ask our volunteers.

When you are done shopping, you will roll your cart onto our scale and follow the prompts on the tablet. We will ask for your household size and zip code. You can optionally provide your phone number to save your information for your next visit.

After you are done weighing your cart, all you need to do is bag your groceries. It’s that easy!

The pagers we hand out will let us know where your spot in line is. When you come in, if we are busy, we will hand you a pager. Once you have a pager, you can go back to your vehicle and wait. The work like a restaurant pager and will vibrate and ring when it is your turn to shop. When you return, please hand your pager back!

The best time to visit Today’s Harvest is in the later part of the afternoon. We receive food for our market throughout the day and continuous restock, so no matter when you arrive we will have food for you. 

Yes, shoppers who want to pick up food on behalf of another household are welcome to do so. After the first shopping trip is complete, shoppers can wait in line to choose items for the second household. This policy is the same at both Today’s Harvest locations.

If you use Metro Mobility or a similar program to visit our Today’s Harvest market, you can use our special shopping hours to help reduce your wait time and get to your bus on time. Metro Mobility users are welcome to come shop at 10:00 am on Thursday and Friday mornings, along with our Harvest Express shoppers to create an easier experience. You can still visit Today’s Harvest using Metro Mobility during other days of the week, but there may be a longer wait time. 

Open Cupboard’s Delivery Program is designed for people who are unable to make it to our in-person location due to issues such as lack of transportation or disability/mobility issues.

Open Cupboard offers deliveries once a month to those in need who live in the one of the zip codes below.

You can request a delivery once a month.