Dumpster Diving

share your tips, stories, suggestions, etc.

I've recently come to love the art of dumpster diving (or dipping as some call it).... lots of great food and other things to be had... just got to be willing to take a chance... and not get too grossed out by the contents of some dumpsters....

 

I'd never eat anything from a dumpster, no way. But I did find this huge Indian beaded collage of purple elephants. It's on my wall, the pride of my home

 

people that eat from dumpster are gross. they also attach claims of being anarchists or other isms. this furthers shits on the bad reps of some of these isms they claim to be. stop diving fucking dumpsters, and actually get into action.

 

I hear stealing copper makes for better fun...

 

you know what is gross to me?

how much perfectly good food American grocery stores throw away...

that's what it gross to me...

 

scabies are gross to me, so are genital warts, but I have affection for herpes...go figure

 

wow....i wasn't aware that i was having sex with the dumpsters when i was jumping in there... better wear a condom next time just to be safe...

 

penetrating a dumpster with your body is indeed considered sexual contact, double that shit up....god only knows who else they've been hosting

 

I admire freegan's quite a bit. Power to ya.

 

I have recently become interested in adopting a freegan lifestyle for several reasons. One is that I make minimum wage and have a hearty appetite, this will cut out a large chunk of expenses. Also, the outrageous amounts of food and other resources that get thrown out is the result of a consumer based economy destroying the planet, and if there is a way to survive without feeding into that system, I want to learn how. Dumpsters are a good bottleneck of the system, that if utilized in a freeganistic matter at this point of time, will offer a means of leverage for countering the demand-input the system needs from us in order to continue.

 

Fine tuning the art of dumpster and trash pit diving provides a lot of great items for nothing. Food, though, you really have to give it a call on inspection. Tracking times when local produce/meat markets throw away day rotation goods makes great use of scraps and ripened fruit and greens. Knowing how to cook what you find is a good key too, to make sure to kill all the germs that could be bad or contaminated. Vinegars work well for veggies in germ killing, fruit.. well.. cut out the bad immediately. Another good tip is getting in a good bond with fast/convenient food store clerks.. I've had folks that knew I was street living double bag the good food from the bad food so that I could come claim it.

Now of sitting and analyzing of garbage goods.. I don't think I've paid for a single piece of clothing or foot ware since around 2000. Finding garbage dates of any town is as easy as locating the local thrift stores.. some amazing stuff gets turned down due to a tiny stain or rip that can be patched or dyed. Hell.. even my dyes came from a dumpster. The thrill of an adventure through a towns useless goods.. one mans trash is another mans treasure.

Stealing copper is good cash too.. though, you can get into serious trouble with it too. Specially in Florida, trespassing and theft for it.. felony crap... seen a few people go to jail over copper. I'd stick to just wire on the side new electric panels and poles.. most of it is old and has been left for trash due to being replaced. Makes great copper for wire art and jewelry.

Loving all,
Sand Dollar a.k.a. rhetorical pink blanket

 

Yah and how many starving people are out there... its fuckin ridiculous
Its horrible how much food we throw away
I really dig the freegans lifestyle I think its great their willing to take responsibility and try to work towards a better future.
One mans trash is another mans treasure

 

I've have not been working for 2 years now, just traveling and living of dumpsters.. and i am healthy as a nutshell! And I have met lots of other divers who are really fit indeed.

Dumpsters are not gross... its usally a big metal bin with lots of black bags in (in these you can find the good stuff) and veggies and bread scattered everywhere.. Just follow your instincts and senses on what is eatable or not (fuck the best before dates, they mean diddly squatt, your nose will reveal if you can eat it or not)

What I have found in a dumpster:
40 liters on vanilla yougurt (we had a good week of yougurt drinking, we can digest anything now haha)
53 packets of organic tortillas
29 packets of taco dinner kits ( we threw a party!)
10 packets of chicken fillets
27 packets of salami
BIG bag of cherries (they were on their way to going manky, so we dried them in the oven and had them in our porridge )
Lots of eggs (packet of 6 eggs, 1 breaks, they throw it out, we get 5 eggs yay)
Bananas, always find bananas haha (and they are perfect with brown spots on the outside, so nice and sweet on the inside)
25 Packets of chocolate chip cookies

Apart from food I have found leather sofas (that i skinned and used the leather for belts and bags), shit loads of clothes (that we used to decorate the inside of our VW), kitchen Knife sets, set of teflon saucepans and frying pans, printers, faxes, computers, you name it, you can find it in a dumpster =)

I hate this society of over consumption.. and for some reason we learn that people are starving cause there is not enough food ? Please, visit your local dumpster and find out what really goes on in the interest of kapitalism ....

Also we organize food not bombs. where we make soups and simple foods from the dumpster, and hand out to people on the street for free, and enlighten them on how much food gets thrown away, most people are oblivious. We need to inform people!

I have been living virtually without money the past 2 years, finding everything i need in dumpsters.
I value my freedom high, and my goal is to live of the lands, but im still young and need to learn more skills first...
But in the cities i can survive, I am a first rate dumpster diver =)

If anybody has any questions on tips and tricks, dont hesitate do ask me =)

Bless!

 

my friend jumped into a dumpster looking for food and he landed on a bunch of broken mirrors, he went to the emergency room and got something like 600 stitches...

i dont recommend it, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

Well, i don recomend people taking the term "dumpster diving" to literally....
Always use comon sense and be carefull.. good shoes, and gloves if you feel the need.. Head lights are great too. =)

 

I'd love any tips. Right now I have about 13$ to get me food for the next 2 weeks. Normally I can rely on my family, but since I've become a veggie my house is tacking food I can eat (My mom takes all the fruits and veggies in her lunch) I have maybe 2 or 3 pieces of fruit left.

I plan to hit the local market and maybe the Walmart dumpster. So if anyone can hele me get started I would love it. ^^

 

Local markets and WinneDixie are great. Publix and Wal-Mart always seem to have trash compactors so you won't find sqwat. Albertsons has been a 50/50 mixup for me, the newer ones seem to have trash compactors, and newer as in built in the last 10 years. Older ones are still back to the normal workings of dumpsters. You're local produce places, are the best.. they always have dumpsters due to being small businesses, and sometimes if you ask the manager of the stores if they have any rotten food or stuff they can't sell, they'll give it to you. Sometimes, depending on the owners vibe, ask em if they got any extra work you can do for them for some food.. usually it's garbage or washing a few dishes from their prep room, but it's worth it for a sack of potato's and oranges.

Wild Oats, trash compactor... no go.

Also go to you're local soup kitchen's for food, they usually have something a veggie can eat. If their a big enough branch they will have bread and fruit to give away too so you have provisions later on in the day.

Biggest tip, ha.. remember.. everything is WASHABLE and should be washed. Be it you're hands and arms to the fruit you pull out. Just cause there's a barrier of goo on the side of the bag that has what looks to be a grapefruit hiding in it, it's still worth the goo trip. Some of the crap I've had to clean up in my life makes dumpster diving look like child's play.

Best of luck with diving, don't get discouraged if you find nothing for a day or two, eventually you'll come upon a starving mans dream.


EDIT - Also, for a bit of vandalism tip, the local punk kids have told me if you fill the trash compactor locks with super glue, they'll only replace them a few times before they say "fuck it" and call in dumpsters. It's a trick that works, but it wasn't my doing.

 

I'm going to ask around and see if any of my friends want to hit a dumpster or two with me. I may get one person to come with me.

Is it best to wait till it's darker out? And I'm not worried about the dirt and grime. None of that has ever really bugged me. It all washes off. I say the same thing about my feet. Dirt comes off.

 

Well I make my first trip to the local market's dumpster tomorrow. So excited. Have one friend going with me, the only friend I will tell. He's a cool, open minded person. Will let everyone know how it goes.

On another note. The garbage people in my city are on strike. Is this a good or bad thing?

 

Let us know how it goes!

On strike... wow, you could be in for a real treat...there might be a few days worth of good stuff..... lets just hope that there was not alot of fish and meat thrown out the past days haha, puuuew