Just took my first "Dumpster Dive"

After visiting a local grocery store. I noticed a lady picking certain peppers out of the bunch and throwing them in a bin behind her. They looked like perfectly fine peppers. I asked her what she is going to do with them? She answered with; "they're going in the trash".
Well, didnt I wait 2 hours and went back behind the store, located their dumpster and did what the name said and dove. Sure enough those same peppers were there. amongst other things. Packs of Tomatoes, with one spoiled. heads of perfect cabbage. Just thrown away.
I am a Restaurant owner, Parent and activist. and Am so amazed by what i stumbled upon(dumpster diving) I am now going to do this on a weekly basis. for my own consumption, and to give to people in need.
I know there are folks out there that do this. and I would love just to hear about some experiences, tips, and just how great this is! not only for one's-self but also for the world. Bless You! Namaste!

 

If you give that to people in need you had better tell them it was in the trash.

 

Here we've got a small-scale shop that sells "less than perfect" produce. It's called Mike's, and they never advertise so the only way you hear about it is via word-of-mouth. They get slightly-soft produce & dented boxes from the local grocers, and sell them for a song. You have to pick through because sometimes the stuff IS too soft to eat, but I have found tons of nice deals on produce! 25 cents for a pound of strawberries, 50 cents on peaches... it's worth it to me, to see if they've got anything good while I'm on the way to the grocery store anyway!
love,
mom

 

We own a vegetarian restaurant near Albany, New york. And yes, we do eat anything edible that is normally considered waste. We carry local organic farm produce and NO we do not get any food for our restaurant from garbage. Also to the previous question we would obviously inform anyone who wanted free produce where it came from. By the way this in no way has anything to do with our resturant.
keep the comments coming!

 

I'm thinking of trying this some time soon, was it tasty enough?

 

i'd very happily dumpster dive, doesn't bother me if it's been in the bin! I had a real argument in media over freeganism, I was the only person not to have a problem with it!

 

Yeah, in fact, if the weathers decent enough tomorrow, I may pop behind Marks and Sparks to see if I can find anything decent.

 

Marks and Sparks is the BIZ for sandwiches!! On Friday nights the drunken revellers go and raid the bins for them, and they're still in date! Also I think all of M&S stuff is packaged, so it's really easy pickings. The Tesco dumpster where I work is bloody guarded I think!

 

My mom has caught her local grocer picking out veggies for tossing a few times also. She's asked if she could have them for our guinea pigs. After talking to the manager, she was able to pick them up several times & has brought over so much produce that I've had to bring part of it to a nearby piggie rescue! Now it seems to depend on which manager is on as to whether she can pick them up or not, but I was rather giddy at not having to pick up spare peppers & lettuce.

You could always try asking. I seriously worry about the contamination of food from dumpsters.
love,
mom

 

its really strange to me that when it comes to produce that has been handled and exposed to germs and bacterias from when it was in the field all the way to when it was thrown in the dumpster,that people just draw the line on eating it once its thrown away..

do people not realize that the boxes things are transported in,the trucks,the hole process is just as dirty as that dumpster your pulling the food out of?

so its O.K. for every tom dick and harry to handle this produce with the same hands they wipe there asses with,sneeze on it etc. but god forbid i eat it after it was in a dumpster.. it makes no sense whatsoever to me...

i guess ya can tell i advocate dumpster diving huh?

 

Hehe yeah very true. Not to mention a quick rinse clears away most of it. I probably wouldn't touch any protein-y stuff that'd been there a while though.

 

I'm not a vegetarian, but I saw this thread and I'm a big time dumpster diver. I don't usually go for food, but you can find anything in a dumpster, enough to make a living by selling what you find.

 

Oh this is great! I am so happy more peeps are into this. It SICKENS me that there is world starvation, and i am finding ALOT of food. today i went again and found some more green peppers, a watermelon, and 2 lemons. the bin was close to empty. CPL Clegg-I bet you can find alot of stuff in different places! tell me about some of your best Scores.

 

the problem with dumpster diving as i see it most communities now require the owners to "secure" there dumpsters. what is being done here is all dumpsters now have a 8 foot fence around them that remains locked. on top of that i have heard of a ever increasing number of people being prosecuted for criminal trespass as well as theft by taking for dumpster diving..

the bottom line to that is,its not about public health,its about fueling consumerism..

so for those thinking of taking dumpster diving up as a hobby i would suggest getting familiar with the laws in your area beforehand,, otherwise it could prove to be one very expensive load of discarded produce...

 

Well, first off, I usually look for household type stuff, not food, so I prefer going through dumpsters in people's driveways when they are cleaning out a house, remodeling, etc. I usually do it when there are no cars in the driveway but most people don't really mind anyway, as long as you don't make a mess. In addition to dumpster diving, I pick through curbside trash, like when someone gets evicted, you hit a jackpot.

Common items I find all the time include, TVs, computers, VCRs, and basic household electronics and appliances. Also bikes, stereos, speakers, radios, records, lawnmowers, weed wackers, snow blowers, hand and power tools...I'm serious, if I go out and look, I can get this stuff every day, at least where I live.

What I consider the best stuff I've gotten is usually antiques, because they are valuable. I once found a 100 year old record player + records in my next door neighbor's trash, antique light fixtures, old transistor radios I've gotten, cigarette tins, cameras, a working megaphone once with a bullhorn and siren! umm...I've seen several flat screen televisions and monitors but I get all this shit on my bike so it's difficult usually to get TVs home. The other day I saw a piano and a welding machine getting thrown out but someone else took them. Can't wait till I get my liscense!

 

And I still live with my parents so they hate all the shit I bring home so I haven't gone out looking for a while. Right now, my shed is filled with shit I gotta sell...

 

HOLY SHIT,, dumpster molestation.. do ya gotta go on the sex offender registry after bein convicted of that??

 

I have no problem with freeganism! As long as everyone contributes to the sociaty then everything is good.
xo