[hubbertspeak7777777]

WIth rising food costs, have any of you tried dumpster/trash diving for food? I have and it's actually not that bad (what can I say I can be a pretty cheap bastard sometimes.) You'd be surprised at all the good food people throw away... pretzels, pizza, fried chicken, burgers. Of course the food is half eaten and kind of cold, but it's still good. I do it every once in a while when I don't feel like spending money on food.

Have any of you tried this or am I certifiably insane?

[I_Like_Plants]

I'd say be careful out there and go for it.

I once pulled a bunch of MREs out of the dumpster years ago, and they provided many a meal, electronics technicians are SO well paid in the empire!

I don't think my housemate would take to anything pulled out of a dumpster that's been opened, but sealed stuff, yeah, maybe. He's a cheap bastard, we both are

I'm not near any dumpsters out where I live, and I have a feeling the ones in town are well-explored. There are a fair number of hard-up types and I don't want to take a resource they may depend on, unless I need to.

[billg]

I know lots of intentional communities of the ecovillage orientation do a lot of dumpster diving. Bread and baked goods seem to be the most popular thing to score (I know Bodo's Bagels throws away huge amounts of food) but I've seen all kinds of scores. I would stay away from meat though.

Of course, food is not the only thing. When I was at Twin Oaks, I would participate in the annual dumpster diving bonanza at UVA-Charlottesville when students broke for the summer. College students will throw away all kinds of valuables in an effort to lighten their load before traveling.

As they say, one person's trash is another person's treasure.

Become a Freegan!

[blukatzen]

Personally, I would be very leary of eating food that's been thrown away. I don't think mostly anything in cans unless it's severly dented gets thrown out. (and then there are other spoilage concerns there w/canned food.) With perishables like rotten food, it's inedible.
There's a smallish local food market/greengrocer close by that I shop at (I don't shop at major chains), and he discounts food, very well, in fact he is famous for it.

A LOT of people buy these "gently bruised" fruits/veggies. He repackages things into things like a "almost gone" carrot, tomato, parsley, parsnip, et al into "soup stock starter" package for maybe 99 cents. FRESH instead of packaged soup stock.

Right now, I got half of a cantaloupe (for hubby, not me) and half of a pineapple (for me) for 99 cents each. He throws away very little, as he discounts at the drop of a hat, and it's fair to him and fair to the customer. I expect with any store selling perishables, there is waste, but he takes care to creatively discount things and he has a lot of customers, young folks, seniors, etc. shop there.

Where I "dumpster dive" (and I don't really"dumpster" dive per SE) but garbage pick is when folks throw away a good little table, or bookcases, etc. I use them in my garage, or my garden center stores, etc. I found a beatiful piece of marble slab in the alley that someone was throwing out. I don't even remember how I got something that heavy into my jeep, it was determination! It just seemed to slide in! I can't tell you HOW MANY customers wanted that little piece of marble, I used it for displays this Summer. (it sits in my backyard right now).

A neighbor down the way was having a new fence put in (he just moved in, had little kids, wanted a privacy fence for the backyard for safety). He was throwing out some very old cement decorative lengths one would make a tree ring from, and we put in around our old Maple out in front, and everyone says that it looks like it grew around the tree forever (not to worry it girdling, it is very wide). He didn't care, he just wanted it "gone". It is amazing to me what people throw out! I am also a hard-core thrifter.

Lots of people throw things out, college kids included, I am more likely to grab things like that. If it can be washed/sanitized, I have NO PROBLEM with taking things like that. With food, which is more questionable, I am hesitant on. I do not want a case of food poisoning, or Hepatitis. Yuch, no bargain there.

Blu

[blukatzen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('billg', 'B')ecome a Freegan!

[Blacksmith]

In our county the local recycling area, temporary garbage dumps have a “Take it or Leave it” building at which you may leave what you consider to be still useful articles. I think it’s a great idea for country areas, where you have to bring your own garbage to the recycling area.

[Pretorian]

This thread remind me of something. Long story short, my father didnt use the fridge that winter. And the winter in that region was kinda crappy, you have a few days of frost 15-25, then a few days 30-35, sometimes 40-42. So you have some snow, then snow melts, you getting nice cold rivers to soak your limbs into, and later it freezes again so you can get some free ice-scating training ( no wonder the best ice-scaters come from there)
So, my father brought a few bodies of home-grown hens from his village. And all winter from the late November to the middle of March dead birds were laying there untouched ( on the balcony ). In March ,apparently concerned with the Spring, he decided to finish'em off.
He started to boil it. The smell was , mmmm, pretty bad. Not of the broth, of course ( I couldnt get near ) but of all apartment, every damn last cubic inch smelled something like rotten flash. But, he, as a smoker of unfiltered sigarettes with 40+ years of expierence , couldnt smell anything, of course.

So, he ate it. He ate it all. And, quess what, didnt get himself even a case of shits. And you saying, open food, dented can..

[perdition79]

I've gotten plenty of furniture from dumpsters, but never food.

This topic gives me an idea: by making any of our food inedible before throwing it away, we can keep others from living off it. Do our little part to help the dieoff along by tossing some cigarette butts on the week-old meatloaf. It's the least we can do.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Can you say hepatitis A?

One of the neighbour kids was starting to teach one of my darlings how to dumpster dive. I caught them, threw them in the bath and gave them the scrub of their life. I don't think that's gonna happen again anytime soon.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'C')an you say hepatitis A?

One of the neighbour kids was starting to teach one of my darlings how to dumpster dive. I caught them, threw them in the bath and gave them the scrub of their life. I don't think that's gonna happen again anytime soon.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')mm.. I wonder what will you scrub when your darling will start to have sex. You can get any kind of Hepatatis through it, not just "A". With a much, much higher "success"rate

[Terran]

I used to live in a cooperative house where many of my roommates dumpster dived for food. I mean us college students was trying to cut cost. As long as you know what your doing, and not consume any meat, dairy products you'll be fine. You won't believe how many good products the stories toss away that's still perfectly good, and not even expired yet, still fully packaged and not even open.

I personally never ate dumpstered food, with the exception of unopened icecream that isn't even expired yet. Many of my room mates never got sick from consuming dumpstered foods. Certain places have plenty of food such as Whole Foods, or dumpsters of trader joes.

[topcat]

Had to read this thread after seeing the title.

I love diving, but am limited.

A nearby community puts out dumpsters every year, for several days. Folks hang out and try to catch the 'good junk' before it it tossed. And rummage through what does get tossed.

I call it 'The Dump Store.'

Hope I never have to eat out of one.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')mm.. I wonder what will you scrub when your darling will start to have sex. You can get any kind of Hepatatis through it, not just "A". With a much, much higher "success"rate

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')mm.. I wonder what will you scrub when your darling will start to have sex. You can get any kind of Hepatatis through it, not just "A". With a much, much higher "success"rate

[Novus]

I don't think this trend of dumpster diving will last very long. In good times people over consume and throw good stuff away. There was not much dumpster diving in the depression because for the most part people didn't throw anything away that was worth keeping or eating. Peak dumpster anyone.

[Ang]

Not for food, but just about anything else!! Just two days ago my boyfriend and I spied two gorgeous, solid wood doors with brass hardware that were practically new in a dumpster and I was ready to throw them into the truck even though we had absolutely no use for them. (We spent the better part of 5 minutes agonizing over what we could use them for and could only come up with firewood!) I'm still pissed we left them behind!!

Cheap is great, free is better!

[blukatzen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ang', 'N')ot for food, but just about anything else!! Just two days ago my boyfriend and I spied two gorgeous, solid wood doors with brass hardware that were practically new in a dumpster and I was ready to throw them into the truck even though we had absolutely no use for them. (We spent the better part of 5 minutes agonizing over what we could use them for and could only come up with firewood!) I'm still pissed we left them behind!!

Cheap is great, free is better!

[Loki]

I assume it's the same in other cities, but people here leave free stuff on the parking strips all the time. Good stuff will be grabbed up quick. I got a perfectly good vacuum cleaner that way, as well as plenty of furniture. I rarely see anyone put out food, but it happens every once in a while. I wouldn't touch it myself.

We have a lot of "collectors" come through my neighborhood, diving in my dumpster, mostly for cans and bottles. They're almost all middle-aged white men. I don't see any of them taking food, mostly just stuff they can sell or get bottle returns for. I did know some people who dove for food when I was younger, but I think they mostly stuck to bakery dumpsters.

I'd do it if I had to, but I see no reason to do it now, even with a shit income. Food is still cheap enough, and if you're that hard up, there's always food banks and food stamps.

And in a Great Depression kind of scenario, there won't be a lot of people throwing away perfectly good food, furniture, clothes, etc. Here in my neighborhood I imagine people would set up a little swap meet to exchange their unwanted stuff or sell off surplus garden produce. At least I hope so. I wish there was one now.

[I_Like_Plants]

I was a regular diver for my small biz, for packing materials.

Aside for those MREs all those years ago, I never dived for food.

I did pull out something like 100-odd bags of "gourmet" (flavored with hazlenut and shit) coffee, ground, in 8-0z bags which I sold for $1 apiece at the swapmeet. Did OK with that.

If I'd figured out how to stay in the Bay Area I kind of had a plan cooking that (a) I'd play music with the hat out every noon and non-swapmeet weekends and use the proceeds from that only for food. And that I'd befriend the sellers at the farmer's market and gather up odd/unwanted veggies and stuff at the end of the day and see if that would work for my veggie part of my diet.

Ah.... if I had the chops down on the guitar I think I'd have stayed in that area, and be sleeping in shelter by the time it got cold, have found a room or something.

And maybe done quite well getting to know some of the dumpsters well, with no more Ebay to take up all my time....

Best thing I got out of a dumpter: About $6000 worth of thermistors. Yes, that's a modest estimate of what I got out of them. Got about $250 for the IR beam-rotators I got along with the thermistors too. And this was done by bicycle, just me and my messenger bag.....