How it works
From a few answers to a plan you can follow.
Seven questions go in. Every listing is scored in the open. Out comes an ordered plan with a backup for each free stop, and an honest note about what we do and don't know.
Illustrative stock photography.
The flow
Questions, scoring, plan, backups.
Four stages, each shown with the real interface running on one sample household: two people, $18, two days, transit and walking, a full kitchen, dairy-free.
Stage 1: Questionnaire
Only what the plan needs.
One question per screen, about two minutes in total. Every answer changes what comes back, and none of them asks you to explain why you need food. The today route is shorter still.
- Roughly where you areA neighbourhood is enough
- Who you're feedingAdults and children
- What you can spend$0 is a fine answer
- When you need foodToday, or the days ahead
- How you get aroundWalk, transit, bike, car
- What you can cook withStove, microwave, kettle, none
- Any food needsPreferences, not medical advice
- Never asked: income, immigration status, SIN, banking.
Stage 2: Scoring
Eight checks, out of 100, in the open.
Every listing is scored against your answers with fixed, published weights. The number only sets the order. On screen you see a match level and plain reasons instead, because “82” sounds more precise than the data is.
- Availability25
- Travel20
- Eligibility20
- Transport10
- Dietary10
- Kitchen5
- Cost5
- Freshness5
Reasons shown for Unity Community Dinner
- Open within your timeframe
- Within your selected travel range
- Accessible by transit
- No appointment or registration
- ID not required
- Dairy-free options often available
How Unity Community Dinner scored for the sample household
96/100Best match
Open when you need it
Posted hours inside the window you chose. Never live availability.
21 / 25 points
Travel time
Estimated for the way you get around. Long trips score lower, never zero.
20 / 20 points
Fewer hoops
Appointments, registration, ID and residency rules each add a step.
20 / 20 points
Getting there
Transit access, parking and step-free entry, depending on your answers.
10 / 10 points
Food you can eat
Whether the listing notes options for the needs you selected.
10 / 10 points
Food you can cook
Matched to a full kitchen, a microwave, a kettle, or nothing at all.
5 / 5 points
Fits the budget
Free always passes. Paid options are checked against your budget.
5 / 5 points
Fresh information
Recently checked listings score a little higher. Reported changes score zero.
5 / 5 points
Stage 3: Plan
Arranged in time, then filled in.
The best-fitting free places go on the days and times they are listed as open. A grocery stop then fills the gaps, priced against your budget and limited to what you can prepare.
The plan says: Built around a budget of $18, 2 people, 2 days to cover, transit and full kitchen.
Sample plan $18 · 2 people · 2 days · dairy-free - Tue10:00 AM
Harbour Community Pantry
Pantry pick-up · 20 min away
Backup Eastgate Community Hub Food Bank
Free - Tue10:45 AM
Thrifty Basket Grocery
7 staples, 18–27 servings · 3 min walk
~$15 - Wed6:00 PM
Unity Community Dinner
Hot meal, no registration · 4 min walk
Backup Eastgate Morning Table
Free
2 free stops · 27 min travel in totalSpend $13–$18Stage 4: Backups
A closed door becomes a detour.
Pantries and fridges run out. Each free stop is paired with the next-best place open around the same time, preferring the same day, and the plan explains the switch in a sentence.
Planned stop
Harbour Community Pantry
Tuesday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
If it can't help
Backup
Eastgate Community Hub Food Bank
If Harbour Community Pantry can't help today, Eastgate Community Hub Food Bank is listed as open until 5:00 PM today, about 30 minutes away.
Match levels
What the labels mean.
Three labels from fixed score bands. A best match is the best fit in our listings, not a promise about what you'll find.
- Best match
85 and above
Fits your timeframe, your transport and your kitchen with little or no friction.
- Good match
68 to 84
A solid fit with one or two things to plan around, like a longer trip or an ID requirement.
- Possible option
Below 68
Worth knowing about. It may need an appointment, a longer journey or a call ahead.
Planning rules
Rules that keep plans realistic.
A bag of lentils only helps if you have a stove. A pantry only helps if it is open when you can get there.
Illustrative stock photography.
- Kitchen access shapes the food
- Dried beans are a great resource if you have a stove and forty minutes. If you told us you have no cooking equipment or a kettle only, the plan leans on prepared meals, community fridges and no-cook staples instead.
- A $0 budget is a real plan
- There is no grocery stop. The plan uses free places only and adds more ready-to-eat options. Separately, it shows what a small amount could cover, in case that becomes possible. No judgement either way.
- “Today” means today
- A shorter set of questions and a one-day horizon. Anything not listed as open today drops sharply, and the plan favours no appointment, no registration, and food you can eat right away.
- No dead ends
- If your filters leave nothing, the planner relaxes them and tells you that it did, instead of showing an empty page.
Verification
What the check marks mean.
Every listing carries a verification status and a last-checked date. Here is exactly what each one does and doesn't tell you.
- Verified
- Checked directly with the organisation, or confirmed by a partner. Still not a guarantee of food on the shelf.
- Recently verified
- Reviewed in the last few weeks against posted information. Treat hours as likely, not certain.
- Needs review
- Not checked in a while, or something is unclear. It still appears, ranked lower. Call ahead if you can.
- Community reported a change
- Someone reported a change to hours, location or eligibility. Never a first choice until reviewed, but it can appear as a backup with a warning.
You will see
“Open according to posted hours”
The organisation's published schedule says it should be open. That is all it means.
You won't see, yet
“Confirmed available”
Only shown if real availability data exists for a listing. Today none does, so it never appears.
Boundaries
What Platepath does not do.
Being clear about limits is part of being useful.
Give medical or nutritional advice. Dietary options are filters, not health guidance.
Claim live availability. We show posted hours and when a listing was last checked, never “confirmed available”.
Require an account. Your plan works without one and is kept on your device.
Ask about income, immigration status, SIN or banking. None of it is needed to plan food.
Learn from you, or rank anyone higher for paying. The weights are fixed and published on this page.
See what fits your week.
About two minutes. No account needed.