Comments on: Freegans Say No To Waste By Dumpster Diving http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/ challenging politically correct nutrition Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:31:12 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Salt Lake City Caterer http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-4489 Salt Lake City Caterer Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:14:36 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-4489 That is pretty crazy that 50% of good food is wasted. I think the problem is that most people wouldn't know where to take the food to give it away or are too lazy to take it somewhere. -Jack That is pretty crazy that 50% of good food is wasted. I think the problem is that most people wouldn’t know where to take the food to give it away or are too lazy to take it somewhere.
-Jack

]]> By: Jen http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2721 Jen Sat, 23 May 2009 15:22:07 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2721 Christina, I recently purchased some Garden Of Eatin Blue Corn chips from my organic delivery service. I couldn't see the ingredients online before I bought them (although I probably could have found them at the company website). They're made with organic blue corn, so I think that's fine. However, they do contain canola oil and/or safflower oil, and/or sunflower oil. They are mechanically expressed oils, so no chemicals. The bag also states that there are no GMO ingredients. What concerns me though, is that "spices" and "natural flavor" are ingredients, and we all know what that probably means... MSG. Yuck! I won't be purchasing them again. Christina, I recently purchased some Garden Of Eatin Blue Corn chips from my organic delivery service. I couldn’t see the ingredients online before I bought them (although I probably could have found them at the company website). They’re made with organic blue corn, so I think that’s fine. However, they do contain canola oil and/or safflower oil, and/or sunflower oil. They are mechanically expressed oils, so no chemicals. The bag also states that there are no GMO ingredients. What concerns me though, is that “spices” and “natural flavor” are ingredients, and we all know what that probably means… MSG. Yuck! I won’t be purchasing them again.

]]> By: EcoYogini http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2719 EcoYogini Sat, 23 May 2009 13:14:25 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2719 While living in Montreal one of my grad student friends began dumpster diving- she called herself a "freegan" and there was an entire group organized in Montreal that did that. I think it is interesting that while the media is going on about low food supply, world hunger, huge corporations are throwing out perfectly good food. My fiance worked for a huge supermarket chain in BC, and he said that they threw out TONS of fresh produce and perfectly good food. They weren't even allowed to donate this food to homeless shelters or food banks. Honestly, I think legislation to stop this kind of huge corporate waste would be helpful- perhaps requiring that food be sorted and donated to homeless shelters or food banks with only the truly "bad" food being composted. Unfortunately, despite being provincially mandated that Nova Scotians must compost (we have a compost pick up system) by law, larger corporations are exempt. Those that could make the most difference don't have to abide by recycling and composting laws. It's so frustrating. <abbr><em>EcoYogini While living in Montreal one of my grad student friends began dumpster diving- she called herself a “freegan” and there was an entire group organized in Montreal that did that.

I think it is interesting that while the media is going on about low food supply, world hunger, huge corporations are throwing out perfectly good food. My fiance worked for a huge supermarket chain in BC, and he said that they threw out TONS of fresh produce and perfectly good food. They weren’t even allowed to donate this food to homeless shelters or food banks.

Honestly, I think legislation to stop this kind of huge corporate waste would be helpful- perhaps requiring that food be sorted and donated to homeless shelters or food banks with only the truly “bad” food being composted.

Unfortunately, despite being provincially mandated that Nova Scotians must compost (we have a compost pick up system) by law, larger corporations are exempt. Those that could make the most difference don’t have to abide by recycling and composting laws. It’s so frustrating.

EcoYogini

]]> By: Walter Jeffries http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2715 Walter Jeffries Fri, 22 May 2009 23:00:06 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2715 Fortunately many companies are doing something with their excess. This week we got 800 lbs of butter from a local dairy. We get about 1,400 gallons a day of whey from a cheese maker. We pickup 800 lbs a week of pressed apples from a local cider maker. Last month I got 30,000 lbs of cottage cheese. An ice cream maker gave us two tons of out dated peanut butter - as if peanut butter ever goes bad! Fortunately they called us instead of paying tipping fees to dump it in the dump. We're happy to get it and it is great food for our pigs. Our pigs eat about 90% of their diet by dry weight from pasture in the summer and hay in the winter. About 7% comes from local dairies and the remaining 3% is good stuff like excess pumpkins, beets, turnips we grow and good stuff like the peanut butter and apple pomace. It's not waste, it's a resource! Cheers -Walter Sugar Mountain Farm in the mountains of Vermont http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/ http://HollyGraphicArt.com/ http://NoNAIS.org Fortunately many companies are doing something with their excess. This week we got 800 lbs of butter from a local dairy. We get about 1,400 gallons a day of whey from a cheese maker. We pickup 800 lbs a week of pressed apples from a local cider maker. Last month I got 30,000 lbs of cottage cheese. An ice cream maker gave us two tons of out dated peanut butter – as if peanut butter ever goes bad! Fortunately they called us instead of paying tipping fees to dump it in the dump. We’re happy to get it and it is great food for our pigs. Our pigs eat about 90% of their diet by dry weight from pasture in the summer and hay in the winter. About 7% comes from local dairies and the remaining 3% is good stuff like excess pumpkins, beets, turnips we grow and good stuff like the peanut butter and apple pomace.

It’s not waste, it’s a resource!

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

]]> By: Christina http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2710 Christina Fri, 22 May 2009 19:13:12 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2710 Cheeseslave, I agree with you that there's not MUCH real food at Kroger's, but ours here does have a health food section with a few things and tons of produce (both organic and conventionally grown). For some reason, the majority of what our Kroger's throws out in abundance is the perfectly-good produce. My family member who's a dumpster-diver is not into health food, but had to buy an extra fridge/freezer and a juicer just to process all the produce he gets. And our family gets the rest of the real food (mostly produce). :) He keeps all the processed junk he finds and shares it with others who don't care what they eat. And because the health food section at Kroger's has little traffic, many things from there get tossed as well because they expire before purchased. Last week it was a load of Garden of Eden blue chips along with all the perfect produce at Kroger's (which I have tried to research to see if the blue chips are reasonably healthy as an occasional treat and can't come up with anything online about "blue corn" -- anyone know?). P.S. We had a gathering at our house a while back of about 25 people. My dumpster-diving family member brought a large gorgeous fruit platter to go along with the meal. I looked at him and said, "Wow! That's really pretty." He whispered back at me, "Dumpster." ;) It's become the family joke. We heart dumpster food. Well, REAL food from the dumpster anyway! Cheeseslave,
I agree with you that there’s not MUCH real food at Kroger’s, but ours here does have a health food section with a few things and tons of produce (both organic and conventionally grown). For some reason, the majority of what our Kroger’s throws out in abundance is the perfectly-good produce. My family member who’s a dumpster-diver is not into health food, but had to buy an extra fridge/freezer and a juicer just to process all the produce he gets. And our family gets the rest of the real food (mostly produce). :) He keeps all the processed junk he finds and shares it with others who don’t care what they eat. And because the health food section at Kroger’s has little traffic, many things from there get tossed as well because they expire before purchased. Last week it was a load of Garden of Eden blue chips along with all the perfect produce at Kroger’s (which I have tried to research to see if the blue chips are reasonably healthy as an occasional treat and can’t come up with anything online about “blue corn” — anyone know?).

P.S. We had a gathering at our house a while back of about 25 people. My dumpster-diving family member brought a large gorgeous fruit platter to go along with the meal. I looked at him and said, “Wow! That’s really pretty.” He whispered back at me, “Dumpster.” ;)

It’s become the family joke. We heart dumpster food. Well, REAL food from the dumpster anyway!

]]> By: Vin | NaturalBias.com http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2704 Vin | NaturalBias.com Fri, 22 May 2009 13:07:23 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2704 As I become more aware of what it takes to provide our food, especially animal products, I've become very conscious about waste. And not just food. <a href="http://storyofstuff.com" rel="nofollow">The Story of Stuff</a> provides a pretty good example of how we're wasteful with <em>everything</em>. I do my best to not contribute to waste, but dumpster diving? Yikes! I think it's awesome that people are taking advantage of the opportunity. Regardless if there motive is to simply survive or to save some money, they're reducing waste. Personally, I'm appreciative of having the means to not have to dumpster dive myself. Perhaps I should have included dumpster diving in my post about <a href="http://naturalbias.com/cant-afford-organic-food/" rel="nofollow">making organic food more affordable</a>! lol! I suppose if I couldn't afford organic food, I'd consider hanging out in the back of the local health food store. :) <abbr><em>Vin | NaturalBias.com As I become more aware of what it takes to provide our food, especially animal products, I’ve become very conscious about waste. And not just food. The Story of Stuff provides a pretty good example of how we’re wasteful with everything.

I do my best to not contribute to waste, but dumpster diving? Yikes! I think it’s awesome that people are taking advantage of the opportunity. Regardless if there motive is to simply survive or to save some money, they’re reducing waste. Personally, I’m appreciative of having the means to not have to dumpster dive myself.

Perhaps I should have included dumpster diving in my post about making organic food more affordable! lol! I suppose if I couldn’t afford organic food, I’d consider hanging out in the back of the local health food store. :)

Vin | NaturalBias.com

]]> By: Motherhen68 http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2703 Motherhen68 Fri, 22 May 2009 12:44:40 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2703 Not only is the waste shameful, but these companies who use compactor dumpsters SPECIFICALLY to foil the dumpster diver's attempts to get the food. There's not a grocery store in my town that doesn't have a compactor. Even the Goodwill compacts stuff and sends it to the dump. It's horrible. <abbr><em>Motherhen68 Not only is the waste shameful, but these companies who use compactor dumpsters SPECIFICALLY to foil the dumpster diver’s attempts to get the food. There’s not a grocery store in my town that doesn’t have a compactor. Even the Goodwill compacts stuff and sends it to the dump. It’s horrible.

Motherhen68

]]> By: Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2699 Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship Fri, 22 May 2009 10:46:58 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2699 What an interesting post. I don't think I'll be a dumpster diver, but I sure hate to waste food. Here's a post on the stats of America's food waste, if you're interested: www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/02/28/food-for-thought-americas-food-waste/ Thanks for educating us! <abbr><em>Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship What an interesting post. I don’t think I’ll be a dumpster diver, but I sure hate to waste food. Here’s a post on the stats of America’s food waste, if you’re interested: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/02/28/food-for-thought-americas-food-waste/

Thanks for educating us!

Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship

]]> By: Kimbrah http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2697 Kimbrah Fri, 22 May 2009 05:07:03 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2697 Some friends of ours turned us on to the fact that Trader Joe's was dumping a lot of stuff so we started going behind their store and found neatly wrapped plastic bags of meats, still cold from the case that had either that day's or the next days' expiration date, among other great things like in the video. Recently our Trader Joe's store has taken measures to prevent "freegans" by placing rows of shopping carts in front of the dumpster and having a guard posted there to keep folks from looking. Its disheartening to see that they would rather truly waste all of that food than share it with folks who may need it and would never dream of suing them for any reason. :( <abbr><em>Kimbrah Some friends of ours turned us on to the fact that Trader Joe’s was dumping a lot of stuff so we started going behind their store and found neatly wrapped plastic bags of meats, still cold from the case that had either that day’s or the next days’ expiration date, among other great things like in the video.

Recently our Trader Joe’s store has taken measures to prevent “freegans” by placing rows of shopping carts in front of the dumpster and having a guard posted there to keep folks from looking. Its disheartening to see that they would rather truly waste all of that food than share it with folks who may need it and would never dream of suing them for any reason. :(

Kimbrah

]]> By: KristenM http://www.foodrenegade.com/freegans-say-no-to-waste-by-dumpster-diving/#comment-2695 KristenM Fri, 22 May 2009 04:33:52 +0000 http://www.foodrenegade.com/?p=868#comment-2695 Yeah, I shared the Trader Joe's video b/c the haul in the CNN video wasn't really appealing to me as a lover of Real Food. But most of the stuff from Trader Joe's was organic. And even though it wasn't necessarily locally or ethically grown, it's not like you're paying money for it and supporting Big Food with your hard earned cash. And from a nutritional standpoint, it's decent compromise food. That said, I've only ever rescued furniture and other household items from the trash. Any freegan food I've gotten has been through gleaning or foraging, not dumpster diving (although I have shared in my friends' dumpster diving bounty on occasion). What really gets to me is just how much waste there is. It's a tell tale sign of how inefficient our system is, and how so much of this talk about "feeding the world" is just platitudes. That's the biggest reason I shared these videos. Yeah, I shared the Trader Joe’s video b/c the haul in the CNN video wasn’t really appealing to me as a lover of Real Food. But most of the stuff from Trader Joe’s was organic. And even though it wasn’t necessarily locally or ethically grown, it’s not like you’re paying money for it and supporting Big Food with your hard earned cash. And from a nutritional standpoint, it’s decent compromise food.

That said, I’ve only ever rescued furniture and other household items from the trash. Any freegan food I’ve gotten has been through gleaning or foraging, not dumpster diving (although I have shared in my friends’ dumpster diving bounty on occasion).

What really gets to me is just how much waste there is. It’s a tell tale sign of how inefficient our system is, and how so much of this talk about “feeding the world” is just platitudes. That’s the biggest reason I shared these videos.

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