Dumpster Diving

Though it offends most people, I admit I have never had much passion for food and have often regarded eating as an interruption or a chore.  I derive a certain pleasure from foods that are nourishing and tasty, but not in the way that other people seem to do. Conversations about cooking, flavor and taste bore me severely.
 Where food is concerned, I am more interested in the ethics of production and how it can benefit my health – in that order.
This story is not about what to eat; there are no recipes attached and no dietetic advice here.
This is about dumpster-diving—obtaining food from the bin.
Beginning with the bins
Roughly a year ago I began dumpster-diving regularly. Needing to sustain my housemates and me, I wanted to gather as much stray food from bins of various supermarkets, bakeries, catering companies and restaurants.  I had a little car that was cheap to run and by spending between two and six hours per week driving to various bins and rifling through the trash of corporate food suppliers, I was able to feed the household of four hungry young men, usually with better or more food than we otherwise could have afforded. The bin always provided quality food and only on occasion was it a laborious process.
 
Becoming “Freegan”
At first the goal was to be completely “freegan,” to only consume food found in bins, not buying any food at all. Despite occasional small purchases, I soon discovered that this wasn’t difficult.  We lived in abundance, regularly eating steak, salmon, brie, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs and bread – lots of bread.

I would also go to a certain chain of convenience store to find “dirty treats” like meat pies, salami sticks and Krispy Kreme donuts. I knew the stores were contractually obliged to discard excess donuts and pies daily and so took advantage of this.
I considered myself ‘basically freegan’, but if a situation presented itself where I was socially obliged to eat food that wasn’t from a bin, such as at a friend’s place or a restaurant, I was otherwise vegetarian for ethical reasons. I had very little concern for my own health and made my choices regarding food consumption mostly on the basis of environmental sustainability, animal welfare and taste.
The goal was to subvert as much waste as possible, to take as much as I could out of the bins, rather than putting so much in.
This exercise educated me on the level of wasted food in my local area and I found it shocking and deplorable, especially considering the people going hungry in other parts of the world.
 
Wasted Energy
After a while I stopped bothering to check the bins at the convenience store. I realized I could feed my entire household without having to subject ourselves to what I found in those bins. Pies and donuts didn’t make us feel good and I began to question the benefit of eating them.

 That was when the word ‘waste’ changed for me. It seemed more of a waste to put that ‘food’ in my body than to leave it out.
 Now I have become more prudent with how and where I dumpster-dive.

 I get most of my food from the bins of gourmet supermarkets and usually only take what will be beneficial to consume.
 I no longer have a car which has forced me to be more selective about what I am willing to carry home.
 I usually find fruit and vegetables, bread, sometimes cheese and if I’m lucky some rice or couscous, and generally buy nuts, legumes and olive oil, as well as other odd luxuries.

I think it would be better for the environment to buy nothing at all and live from the scraps of a wasteful society, but eating processed cakes and low-grade meat is not beneficial. It feels like those ‘foods’ do more harm than good to my body and brain.
 
Finding Balance
Now I try to balance low impact living with sensible consumerism.  To buy something is to support the production of it. I could quite easily live without buying any food at all but I choose to buy certain products.
The goal now is to dumpster-dive as much good food as possible and, when I can’t find nutrients in the bin, to buy foods that are ethically sourced and healthy.
I still believe eating ethically should be the most important stipulation of sourcing your food, but I have also learned that some things aren’t worth putting in my body.
 
This fantastic food story was contributed by Eat.co community member, Nat Kassel.  To follow more of his daring dumpster diving tales, visit his blog at www.natkassel.wordpress.com
 
Inspired by this story? Do you now dare to dive into bins seeking the discards of perfectly healthy and nutritional foods or other valued items?  Let us know your conquests and experiences in the comments below.  Remember, one man’s trash in another man’s treasure!