Freeganism – dumpster diving for dinner

Have you ever considered getting your dinner from the dumpster? Did you know you can find tons of fresh produce, bread, and more from inside those big huge bins?

You can – and a lot of people do! These people are called freegans. Freegans are a large group of people who salvage food and other goods from the trash.

Most of the food that is found is still in the original packaging. Things like bagels, muffins, cookies, cereal, crackers, cheese, and even meat. Most of it is either just slightly past the sell-by date or nearing the sell-by date.

Items such as cartons of eggs are thrown away just because one of the eggs in a carton is broken, even though there are 11 other good other eggs inside. Fruits and vegetables are often thrown away because they have small dents. Grocery stores throw away this perfectly edible food mainly for cosmetic reasons, which is a shame.

I do have some concerns about safety while dumpster diving and if it is even legal (I’m sure in some areas it isn’t).

I’ve been watching some videos and reading articles about this topic over the last few days and am absolutely shocked at how much perfectly good food is thrown away. In one video, someone found 8 packages of corn on the cob that was bright yellow; perfectly fine! I would totally eat that. This same person also found an entire crate full of perfectly good fresh parsley. Crazy!

I’m starting to re-think whether or not I would actually dumpster dive for food!

Freegans don’t only go ‘shopping’ for food. They also look for things like office supplies, furniture, clothing, and books. They often find it, too. Often in excellent condition. It’s amazing what people will throw in the trash.

Are you a freegan or would you ever consider being one?

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