Posted on 02/01/2009 5:26:12 PM PST by Libloather
For anyone who is hungry or eating poorly, I have a secret to share.
Here is some advice for those who are hungry:
My partner and I don't have enough money to eat well and neither do our friends. But we have a little secret I'd like to share with you--on one condition--you have to share the food you find with others and also use good judgment. This works best if you live in a suburb or a small city. (Those in NYC and LA might want to ignore this advice.) I live in a city of about a million people.
Find the area-wide warehouse distribution center for any of the national upscale grocery stores in your region. (I'd rather not name names, but I think you can figure out which ones I'm talking about). There will be an area where trucks are loading massive amounts of new food into the warehouse. Because these stores cater to upscale clientele, they will throw out pallets of food if some items have superficial packaging imperfections (i.e. dented but intact hard plastic, etc.) Because sales are low, they are also throwing out food that is 'less new' but perfectly edible. For example: if new produce arrives, unsold produce will be discarded en masse, even if it will stay good for another 10 days.)
Over the past few months, we have found boxes of whole wheat pizzas, boxes filled with organic frozen dinners (we took about 6 boxes containing 200+ dinners, left the rest), bananas, about 300 pounds of soy nuts, enough baby organic spinach to feed hundreds of people, cookie dough, dips and sauces of all sorts (hundreds of containers), hundreds of boxes filled with organic yogurt, expensive sparking water, pounds of nuts, organic baby mixed greens, etc. We feed many families with what we find.
Here are some tips:
1) Go after 10pm and before 3am.
2) Don't go to STORES themselves, they tend to throw garbage on top of their dumpsters and may even throw poisons on top to keep animals away. You're only likely to find a few busted yogurts with paper and coffee grinds thrown on top of them. Only hit the distribution centers.
3) You will be more successful at high-end stores with a picky clientele. At the regular store they can sell foods in dented packages at a discount. They won't do that at stores that have the aura of health and purity.
4) Use good judgment when dealing with unpackaged and unboxed food. Most of what I find is double and triple boxed food (food in plastic, in a box, in a larger box, inside a huge box all still sealed).
5) Use good judgment in dealing with expired foods. If it is straight out of deep freeze, we've found the "best if used by" dates to be pretty irrelevant. My entire community of friends has eaten on frozen food even 2 months past the "best if used by" date. If the crates of food are still hard-frozen, you're very likely to be AOK. Open one item and do a smell test. Throw away anything that doesn't pass your muster. Use common sense.
6) Always read up on massive recalls of a type of food. If the gov't is saying some tomatoes have salmonella, you might want to think twice about tomatoes.
7) Be careful with children, the elderly, and the immuno-compromised. Have the healthy people eat first as a precaution.
8) Wear comfortable shoes, protective clothing and bring a flashlight.
9) Be aware that your attempt to feed yourself may be trespassing or even illegal. Or it may not be a big deal. Our theory is that upscale 'holistic' stores are less likely to be brutal to foragers because it wouldn't be good advertising to refuse poor people your garbage (or advertise how much they waste.)
10) I'm personally most suspicious of dairy items. Toss anything that doesn't taste PERFECT. But don't worry, you'll find a hell of a lot of perfect tasting food.
11. Share.
If you're germ-o-phobic think of it this way: people touch your prepared foods at restaurants all the time.
Good luck. Please kick this if you think it will help someone.
It's a way to get a balanced meal for all and enjoy each other.
We might play penny-ante poker afterwards.
One of my favorite memories is making a roaster pan of popcorn, a pitcherful of koolaid - after we mother's had come up with $1.00 - the price of a station wagon full of kids and adults for a drive-in movie.
One dollar was not a pittance back then.
“I swear half the population doesn’t know how to even COOK anymore....except to put it in the microwave”
OK. I’ll bite on that. New item: microwavable nail soup. ;>
About 10 of my friends and I average 3 times a month through the year doing this. Great fellowship!
A while back KFC had a buy-one-get-one-free bucket of chicken deal. I only needed 3 pieces for my family but I’d buy the bucket, get one free, take out the three pieces I wanted, then I went to the local park where homeless people hang out and leave it. They got it while it was still hot!
It just seemed a shame not to take KFC up on the deal and help others out at the same time.
That is working in the ministry. Though, it should apply today for all.
We rarely find large cans of food that aren’t dented in Sam’s. We quit buying there, anyway, because of all of those phony “fair trade” signs on products with jacked-up prices (products that have nothing to do with trade exchanges or tariffs).
20 1950s sized candy bars and 2 to four Saturday matinees.
I AGREE!
Now, how about you fine specimens take that sign up in the mountains and read it loud and proud to the bears. ;)
Apparently, you or your folks didn't have to survive through the Great Depression; that experience imprinted a different outlook on frugality...
I’ve seen whole citrus groves of perfectly good fruit left to drop and rot because it wasn’t the “right” size, meaning too big. And no one could pick up a single orange for fear of arrest for theft.
Waste? Most don’t know a fraction of what takes place.
Great fellowship!
I agree! We have a Bible study twice a month at someone’s home. Each couple brings food. We are always trying new things and each time the menu is really varied. There are no leftovers!
It's not like FReepers to do the latter -- FReepers generally believe strongly in respecting private property.
My husband and I look for work around our home for out-of-work people. So far, we'e gotten beautiful custom valances, new cabinets and countertops in our laundry room, and a lot of odd jobs around the house done that we really needed help on.
We were born into the Great Depression and know how such situations are both degrading and humiliating. What makes me extremely angry is that it was all avoidable - then and now.
Sorry, at first I thought this was sarcasm, now I realize it was not. Soon we may all be doing the same.
Very nice of you!
I looked up the recipe and reviews and it must be delicious. I have never had it. Think I should try it for the group?
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