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Dumpster Diving

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Switchblade:

--- Quote from: ThePQ4 on 15 Mar 2008, 17:41 ---If you're really looking for a deal, talk to people at the supermarket. Chances are you can get deals on "nick and dent" items or near-date produce and bakery items.

--- End quote ---

Actually, a lot of supermarkets do that regardless.  ASDA and Tesco both do "damaged produce" shelves - anything with damaged packaging gets sold at a discount off those shelves. In the build-up to Easter, it's the perfect source of chocolate - all of the damaged easter eggs go on that shelf.

also good for esoteric things like porridge mix, breakfast cereal, hair gel and hand soap.

a pack of wolves:

--- Quote from: bicostp on 15 Mar 2008, 16:55 ---I'm sorry but eating out of the trash is probably the most idiotic thing you could do to yourself. You'd have to be really desperate for that to be a viable option (that is, you've been banned for life from the soup kitchens). Remember, it doesn't have to be moldy and soaked in dumpster juice to carry e.coli or other diseases. (And yes that is a definite possibility; especially if they previously threw any undercooked or raw red meat in there.

--- End quote ---

Untrue. The food you'll find in the bins of large food shops will be tied up in bags, so you won't find raw meat rubbing up against apples. I don't know a single person who's gotten ill from eating food from bins and I know a very large number of people who've been eating freegan on a regular basis, in many cases for well over ten years. You're much more likely to get sick from eating a home cooked meal by a meat eater who doesn't pay proper attention to raw meat than you are eating some cream doughnuts or a box of mushrooms that have been thrown away. I've fed large numbers of people using food like that before with Food Not Bombs and the like and there have never been any problems.

Jimmy the Squid:
I used to work at a liquor store that was attached to a supermarket owned by the same corporation, we shared their loading bay and also their trash compactor. When they threw things into the dumpster in the trash room they just threw it all in, vegetables, meat, dairy, everything. There were some things in bags but they were usually from the bins in the breakroom or from the bins in the offices. Some of the stuff they threw out was not yet out of date and some of it was just "faulty" but it was all in together and even if I didn't find dumpster diving to be really fucking disgusting (keep in mind I don't like getting dirty and I wash my hands almost compulsively if I ever touch anything I find gross), I still wouldn't have touched anything in that particular dumpster.

Besides from what I heard the manager say when he was yelling at someone who forgot to lock the dumpster at night if the food is deemed "unfit for sale" and someone eats it and gets sick, even if it is still within date then they can sue the supermarket for negligance or something, though I'm not sure how true that is.

cupcakeonastick:
I've never had the urge to dumpster dive, but as a waitress I would often be tempted to take food from the plates I was busing from the abandoned tables. People leave copious amounts of food on their plates when they eat out (due to the huge portions) and many of them don't bother with doggy bags. It used to really bother me and if there hadn't been the risk of getting fired for such behavior, I would have put it in a container and eaten the leftovers myself.


But then, I've never been very scared of risking uber germs in situations like that. The general public doesn't usually walk around with terrifying diseases jumping from their bodies/fingers/mouth onto their plates.

But dumpsters .. who knows what the heck is in there or has been in there.

KvP:

--- Quote from: 'Jimmythesquid' ---Besides from what I heard the manager say when he was yelling at someone who forgot to lock the dumpster at night if the food is deemed "unfit for sale" and someone eats it and gets sick, even if it is still within date then they can sue the supermarket for negligance or something, though I'm not sure how true that is.
--- End quote ---

I'd assume there's some kernel of truth to that. At least here, that's why we can't just take just-expired food and hand it out to the homeless. But here there is an organization that you can donate your expired-but-not-eaten food to and they'll give it to poor families, who are informed of all the risks and agree not to pursue action if something goes wrong, which rarely happens. A lot of things are still good past their printed expiration date.

I personally can't stand to dumpster dive, but I'm also one of those people who compulsively washes their hands after doing anything remotely dirty. I'd probably vomit if I ate something I knew came from the trash.

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