Dumpster Diving For Food…

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Diane, a reader, emailed me over this interesting video. It really made me stop and think. One big word came to mind… Wasteful.

Would you dumpster dive for food? I’m sure at this point your answer is no… BUT you may think a little differently after watching this video. I’m not going to say much more, so go watch the video here and come back and let us know what you think.

Join The Discussion

Comments 292

  1. Mary Beth

    If I had to, I could dumpster dive . . . I’m just not going to do it voluntarily at this point. However I remember being in Walmart and asking about a pre-cooked chicken. The associate noticed that the time was 10 minutes past the “expired” time (I hadn’t noticed — the chicken looked fine), and he made me choose another. He explained that not only can’t they sell a cooked chicken past its time (and it had been cooked only earlier that afternoon), but the employees weren’t allowed to take them, nor were they allowed to donate them, because Walmart didn’t want to risk food poisoning. So perfectly good chicken got thrown away. Now THAT made me sick to think about it.

    (BTW . . . yes, I know it’s cheaper to buy a chicken & cook it yourself. I was late home from work & out of time.)

    • chris

      If on sale it is not always cheaper to cook the chicken if you have it in the oven for an hour and your time does count as you WORKED and there is more time for cutting copuns after eating that way.

    • Shelbybell

      I’m not sure when your interaction with the Walmart Associate was but Walmart has been donating to Feeding America Food Banks for more than a year now. In 2009 they donated 116 million pounds of food. There is an extreme amount of food that goes to waste in this country each year, estimated at about 157 billion pounds. While you all have valid points, what would be better is if you would contact the corporate offices of the stores that do not donate and encourage them to donate to their local food bank.

      Food banks have processes in place that allow for food to be picked up in a SAFE manner and then are able to distribute it to their network of agencies that help people in need. The whole freegan thing is just a little bizarre, why is it that people who eat of dumpsters out of necessity are considered dirty and people who eat out of dumpsters and call themselves freegan’s are being “frugal.” The liability that these people create for these businesses is huge. Don’t be surprised when you show up and the dumpster is locked. There is to much risk associated with letting people eat from the dumpster, many times that food is thrown away for good reason.

      To the Panera Bread mention they have a donation policy as well, all they need to do is find their local food bank and it can be donated. With more than 49 million people suffering from food insecurity and 157 billion pounds of food going to waste there is certainly is a disconnect. I have an idea rather than all of you going and digging through a dumpster behind a retail store why don’t you go to your local food pantry or food bank and volunteer to help pick up the food and get it back to people who are in need.

  2. Andrea

    Oh, I am SO tempted!!

    When I was in college, I worked at a rustic bakery that made their bread daily, and we used to put all the bread left over from the day in a big old garbage bag and donated it to the soup kitchen. Then the health inspectors said we couldn’t do that. So it all went in the dumpster after that. So sad.

    Why can’t these places set stuff out on tables or donate them to needy places? No one is being protected by expired foods being wasted.

  3. jen

    I will shop the pepperidge farm outlet store and buy bread, goldfish, cookies, etc that are past expiration date. I think it’s good to know that sell by dates do not mean something has “expired”. dumpster diving for food seems concerning to me. Have you ever seen the size of a RAT??? Gross. That being said, there is a problem with all the food that goes to waste when so many people in this country are starving. I’m not sure what the solution is, of course “sue happy” people make companies so afraid.
    Coupon dumpster diving…there’s got to be a better way. I just ask my neighbors before recycle day if I can go through and get their coupons. I have a couple who actually just pull them out and save them for me now because they can’t be bothered to use them. But I would not dumpster dive for food. I won’t eat something out of my own trash, never mind out a dumpster where the rats go every night!

    • Kendra

      lol. That’s hillarious! I’m ashamed to grab a couple extra coupon inserts from the trash! Perhaps I have a little pride 🙂

  4. Tisha in SC

    Gross!

  5. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    I just want to say that so many are down on the stores throwing away food (which is probably company policy and state laws) – there are health inspectors and rules. It may not make sense, but sadly we live in a society that is so riddled down with laws and sue happy people and you have to think worst case scenerio to protect your self/business. If I were selling baked goods at a grade school, I for sure would not be using anything I might even think is questionable for fear of getting anyone sick. Most of us would be fine with a bit of food poisoning, but for those that have weak immune systems, it can be very serious. No one should be starving in this country and most people are very generous with donating to help. I cringe at the fraud and abuse of our food stamp system. I’m sickened when I know people are taking advantage of the system because they feel entitled to a hand out and I’m even more disturbed by what people use their food stamp money on! I feel bad for the elderly who have no one to look after them and the people that have mental disorders and no friends/family to help – they may actually not know how to get food – but there are so many resources and giving people willing to donate time, money and food!

    I find it funny that she got potatoes out of the dumpster..uh, hello, they were on sale last week for .10 cents a pound! I’ve seen produce marked way down when the store has a lot and its beginning to rot – yes, I’ve seen moldy produce, bruised produce, wilted lettuce – all in the grocery store. I think going to the dump and finding old household items is quite a bit different than looking for food in a grocery stores dumpster and I also think if it was as simple as a food bank taking it off the hands of the grocery stores, it would be done – or if it can be, than the food bank needs to be in contact with the stores to get it. Just like the ARC calls my house about once a month to see if I have any old items to donate – which I usually do, and they come out and pick it up…well, I’m sure a food bank could do the same thing.

    Fresh, in season produce can be very inexpensive and I personally try to buy it a little at a time so it doesnt go bad in my fridge, I can’t imagine hauling away a bunch of tomatoes from a dumpster and being able to use them all up if they are already on the verge of being bad. And yes, she could have her own little garden and donate her extras to a food bank instead of pulling stuff out of dirty dumpsters to save a couple hundred a month – you can save more than a couple hundred a month by smart shopping/couponing and being frugal!

    OK – I’ll get off my soapbox now 😉 thanks for reading if you took the time – I dont usually go on and on like this, really!

    • Collin (Mrs. Hip)

      Ha, I hope she got some of the free antibacterial hand soap from bath and body works, LOL….and I wonder if she got the “I heart bacteria” t-shirt….did anyone get theirs? I never did 🙁 I may love the bacteria in my yogurt and sourdough bread, but not in a dumpster, heeehee.

      to those that said we didnt used to have expiration dates – my mom just told me they use to buy us kids applejuice and at some point it would ferment in the fridge and her and my dad would drink it for a little buzz…what? I didnt even know that could happen, LOL.

    • Brandy Langford

      The potatoes didn’t really bother me… I mean they did come out of the ground in the first place.

    • xyz

      for the last 13 years we have been combining “coupons & frugality” with dumpster diving and we saved enough to pay cash for a nice house 🙂
      p.s. and it’s not a joke

  6. Megan

    To Tawanda:
    I am very aware of how AIDS and HIV is transfered between people. With that being said I am also one of the people who have thrown out bags of Gargage that just came out of the restroom into our dumpsters at work, and when being thrown in I have seen used Pads (body fluid), used personal wipes (body fluid), vomit (body fluid), and many other items including used syringes (body fluid), diapers, tampons, condums, ect. that you would not think would be in most dumpsters, but they are. There is not a seperate dumpster for bathroom items, it all goes to the same one. I am not saying there is AIDS alive on all these items, but who knows when it was thrown in there, and when you come in contact with it. It is just to big of a risk to me to save a some $. Not saying that I like the fact that businesses throw so much out by any means, but I dont think it is worth the risk of something you could come in contact with from these places, there is a reason it is illegal in most states, is because it is such a liabilaty for people getting hurt, or sick (because they know people have before, and several times). Unless I was in total need, this is not the way I would ever consider getting food items especially. I will stick to my coupons, no boubt about that. God Bless.

    • chris

      WEll said and good points. Health first. Lets use our great minds to find a way to encourage the stores to not waste. Also..those things we have to many of why not host a mommy exchange party before they get old and trade some groceries???

      • xyz

        hehehe “health first” – and what country do you live in ?

    • Collin (Mrs. Hip)

      Yea, after reading your comment about the potential of body fluids – ICK!!!! If something was on top I might consider snagging it, but to get in an actual dumpstr I don’t think I could bring myself to do that unless we had no food at all. I get food & other items for next to nothing with coupons so I will stick with that. I wish these stores would have a little table or something that we could snag these items for free. That would be great! 😛 So wasteful seeing all that food in the trash!

  7. amanda

    I wouldnt say i would never do it, if it came down to it but as of right now am saving lots of moneu with coupons that we can afford to buy food. But i would never put someone down just because they dumpster dive. If thats how they save money or feed them self then good and least they are trying to help themselfs and not just take the free hand of food banks who have a ton of people to feed too. I used to work at walmart and it made me really sick to my stomach to know all the shit that they through away, Not just food items but clothes and toys and everything you can think of just becasue it didnt sell.

  8. Becky W

    yuck!

  9. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    There are actually laws in some states (like here in Oregon) that protects donors from getting sued if they donate food to food banks, etc. I think that is an awesome solution to throwing away food! It’s possible the food is thrown away cuz employees don’t know or care.

    • Mary

      As a fellow Oregonian, I’m glad we have our laws. Dumpster diving is a good thing and I would do it in a heart beat. Kudos to those who think about the earth and using what we have.

    • Dwagnfly

      Now if the rest of the country could get the same kind of legislation that Oregon has, that would be a good thing.

  10. Dianne

    I returned some perfectly good, unopened Special K cereal to Target since I had gotten the wrong flavor by accident. I was appalled to realize that they immediately marked it as “damaged” and threw it out. I asked if they at least donated that sort of thing to a local food bank and the person at Customer Service said that they weren’t allowed to. Sigh! It still bothers me that I was involved in causing the direct waste of perfectly good food just for the whim of my kids to have a specific flavor of cereal. Sigh…!

  11. Allison

    I hope she is not inviting people over for dinner!! That is a big health risk!!

    • S

      that food is so good…it’s all about restaurant INSPECTIONS!!!!

  12. Cali

    It IS sad that all that food ends up in the dumpster… HOWEVER… I am not going after that stuff!! I’ll pass.

  13. Valerie

    if you check out her web site (allisonburtch.com) she explains her reason for dumpster diving. it isn’t out of need; it’s because there is too much waste in our country and this is in an effort to stop that. i can get behind that. she explains that we raise and slaughter animals (in deplorable conditions) and import food from other countries only to throw a lot of it away. i think she has a good point.

    • Shelbybell

      Why doesn’t she become an advocate for her local feeding organizations, she could “pester” the corporate offices, they do listen to they “paying” customers. Why do you think Walmart finally decided to donate, yes there is the whole tax break reason, but their customers repeatedly told them they were tired of them being wasteful.

      • Valerie

        yeah, i guess she could do that, too. but she can also continue doing what she’s doing and still draw attention to the cause. i mean, obviously she’s self-sufficient and happy not contributing to the waste and (as evidenced here) she’s drawing a lot of attention to dumpster diving and the reasons for it.

  14. Meghan

    Wow, It really surprises me to see how many people are against doing this! Just think about all the boxed and canned foods you could get from a dumpster! I also saw this on Oprah like others have stated and I would love it if I could try it out for myself. I am a “curb shopper” every week. The evening before and the morning of trash pick up I drive around my neighborhood and check the curbs. I have found so many usable things this way. I also regularly participate in freecycle.org and craigslist (the free section) by picking up items to stop them from going in the landfill as well as giving away items I do not want to drive to the thrift store.

    PS Where can I find a list of states it is illegal to dumpster dive? Because if it isn’t illegal in my state, I am totally going to try it out!

  15. Stacey Bee

    I think all the waste is terrible. I would not want to dumpster dive though. I would certainly worry about germs and disease. I don’t think it would be that difficult for some of these stores to have a large metal shelving unit, that could be easily hosed down frequently with a water and disinfectant solution, placed away from the dirty dumpster area. They could then set the questionable items on the shelving and if it were picked up that evening, great, if not, then through it in the dumpster in the AM.

  16. Amy M

    I believe the dumpster diver in this vid mentioned she was a freegan…which is an anti-consumerist lifestyle. It doesn’t matter to her that she could’ve got the potatoes on sale or that coupons could save her a lot of money as she’s attempting to reduce overall waste. Freegans attempt to reuse anything that’s been thrown in the trash which can include food but can be ANYTHING that can be reused. I don’t think I’d ever get food out of a dumpster but back when I lived in an apartment complex there was a lot of people moving in and out all the time and every week there was new furnature & home accessories in the dumpter area…I still have a great working hair dryer and garage storage bins that I got from that dumpster 🙂

  17. thorninc

    my husband said if i made him a “dumpster salad” he would be very mad at me! lol!! i’ll pass.

    • Jill

      LOL!! This struck me very funny- thanks for sharing

    • rpfiduciary

      so funny, dumpster salad. Love it.

  18. S

    ok…watched the dumpster diving thing….owning two restaurants…there is a lot of waste….but……i’ve been trying for the past 7 years to give this food away to churches, donations, whatever…and they won’t take it….really…..as a restaurant owner you go through weekly inspections and if somethings not right they slap a HUGE fine on you….so we don’t take the risk…..i hate it…and i’ve been trying to give it away;…if anyone has an idea…COLLIN….let me know….im in the WEST PALM BEACH AREA AS WELL AS the LONG ISLAND NY….it really is a shame and it sucks…..

  19. C

    I could never do this. I have huge hangups about germs and disease. I don’t know… I think it’s gross all the way around. But while it’d be one thing to get these dumpster foods only for yourself, who else is she serving them to? Kids? Friends? Family? If I ever found out someone served me food that had been dug out of a dumpster, I would be livid. I do agree that there’s a lot of unnecessary waste… but this isn’t the way around it.

    • S

      HONESTLY C…..YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF FOOD YOU GET SERVED OUT OF A RESTAURANT….LOL

      • C

        Surely you’re not suggesting that most restaurants scour dumpsters for nightly special ingredients??

        • S

          not for nothing “c” but all the food unfortunetly that goes in the dumpster is so fresh i would go in there are eat it myself….its soooo sad but the way thAT NY HAS ITS INSPECTIONS…..whaht can i do……

        • S

          you never know….

  20. Aliviah

    I was amazed at the condition and ripeness of the foods she found, in boxes even! I remember a boss of mine making fun of one of our customers, because he’d seen him ‘dumpster diving’ behind our store. All he was doing was grabbing a perfectly good copy of a comic book catalog/guide book my boss had tossed just two hours before. My boss didn’t bother to try to recycle it or set up a recycling with the distributor at all; I told him I saw no problem with it.

    My uncle has dumpster dived for years, he has a real knack for turning someone else’s trash into beautiful treasure.

    If the store had just tossed everything that night/evening/afternoon, and it was only their products (not their restroom refuse) being tossed into that huge bin, then I say the more the merrier. Stop the waste, save your hard earned money and I’m sure everything can be washed thoroughly.

    • lindsey

      i completely agree! My dad used to get boxes of crackers and other things from dumpsters when I was younger. It never hurt us. With 6 kids, you have to find anyway to save money….it is a plus that he was able to save some waste too!

  21. Deidre

    I use to work at a grocery store in the produce section and we donated our bad/rotten fruits and veggies to a farmer who used them for compost. Our other fruits and veggies that didn’t look great or were bruised, expired, etc we donated to a local pet store for their animals, all in all it went to good use.

  22. S

    if anyone knows of anyplave in the north shore of long island area….or west palm beach florida area…..that i can give my stuff to../…..lmk

  23. Cris

    Certainly not for me. The thought grosses me out. I went to her blog and read her “manifesto” on the topic. I can appreciate the underlying principle of reducing waste, but surely there are better ways to go about it.

  24. Robyn

    HELLO–IT’S ILLEGAL!!!!! Dumpster diving in Washington State is ILLEGAL. You will be arrested. It is “stealing” since the business (or “apartment type complex” if residential) pays for the garbage service. I wouldn’t even try to dumpster dive.

    Here is Washington though, most of the grocery stores (small and big chain stores) donate their “gently damaged” -or not – produce and near expiration food to local food banks. I’ve visited enough food banks to personally expierience the lack of waste of a grocery store. Admittedly though, some waste does occur, and will continue to occur.

  25. Kimberly Harris

    Well the story about bathroom waste in the dumpster will sure make you think but if items is in a box it has not mixed with bathroom waste products. I think it could be safe to some degree but you would have to use good judgement. In my local gro. store many times I have purchased close to expire dates that was on sale. I love coupons but find no coupons on fresh products so this might not be a bad idea. As a child we always grew a garden and my grandmother would just cut off any bad area of a fruit or veg.. Would I eat food from a dumpster. YES I WOULD.

    • Kimberly Harris

      Guess it is all in what your morals are. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I had rather get stuff from a dumpster that has been throwed away then to get on government programs that STEAL from the working people like myself and my husband. If our governmant would stop supporting drug addicts and the sort maybe I would not have to be in a dumpster to help support our family. Just my views on the topic. I had a million times rather be in a dumpster then in a check out line with food stamps/ card, stealing all you folks hard earned money.

      • Latasha

        Why do you assume that everyone receiving food stamps is stealing? That’s so ignorant of a thought. If you’ve ever worked then you’ve paid into these programs by paying taxes. If you hit a hard time, you should be able to use the programs that you have helped pay for. I work for social services and we have people come in all the time who were just laid off from their job of ten plus years and with the economy being how it is, they can’t find a new job right away. I see nothing wrong with using a system you’ve paid for to help take care of your family. I was getting food stamps before I got this job. I am 23 and have been working since I was 15 years old. In October 2008 I was laid off from my job and a week later found out I was pregnant. Despite trying incredibly hard to find a job, no one was wanting to hire me since I’d be taking time off once my child was born. I was on unemployment (which I paid into while working) and then disability while my husband worked full time as a manager at his job. I luckily found a part time job when my son was 3 months old but then my husband was demoted from his ten dollars an hour position at 35 hours a week down to minimum wage ($8 in CA) and only 4 hours a week. We needed help to pay our bills and we live pretty frugally anyway- we’re all in a tiny one bedroom apartment and our only luxury is the internet but even then that’s only because I was taking classes online so I needed it.

        I am not ashamed to have used the help that I needed and qualified for in a time of need. I paid into the system and I used it for a short amount of time while I got back on my feet. I’m lucky to have a great job now that allows my husband to be home with our 8 1/2 month old during the day and we still live frugally because its something we’re used to. Coupons are a hobby of mine and I love seeing what great deals I can get.

        This may sound harsh but it is people like you who make those who need the help feel bad about needing/getting it. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes before being judgemental and realize that not everyone has your idea of a perfect life.

        • Barbie

          Amen, Latasha. My husband and I got laid off two weeks apart from each other and we needed this assistance for a few months to feed our family. I agree that some people abuse this program, but not all. It was a humbling experience, and we had healthy food for our family because of food stamps, and for that we will be forever grateful.

  26. Stacey Bee

    Thorninc, like Jill, I find that absolutely hilarious, “Dumpster Salad”! I just can’t get over that..hehehe…

  27. jill

    i was at a high end craft show towards the end of the last day. people were throwing away gorgeous fresh flowers that they had used in their displays. the flowers were sitting on top of the trash. i just picked out the good flowers from the cans on our way out. in one can, i peeked inside a brown paper shopping bag — there were 3 beautiful pieces of blown glass — 2 vases and a bottle. i took the whole bag. maybe they had flaws but we didn’t see them.

    i think i’d like to dumpster dive but probably not for loose food — sealed peanut butter, crackers & canned goods maybe. the dumpster in the video looked better than most i’ve seen. i don’t worry so much about the food being bad or even germs — examining, washing, peeling and cooking would take care of that. but what about poison? something toxic could get on in in the dumpster or could be the reason why it was thrown away. it’s not like i would think to label something i threw away, “don’t eat this it’s poison” — so i wouldn’t expect any one else to do that either.

    it certainly made me think about the waste. it also made me think, why should i trust a label more than my own senses as far as whether or not it’s good? i’ve certainly had things that should still be good, that aren’t. i’ve also accidentally eaten “expired” food that’s been perfectly fine. so rather than throw something out because the label says it’s expired, i think i’ll decide for myself.

    oh and for all you people that think dumpster diving is so gross – do you know anything about food processing at all? they still use manure to fertilize vegetables. feces, urine and pus gets into meat at slaughterhouses – often. you should consider treating your pristine little package of food from the grocery store with the same care (washing, peeling, cooking) as if it came from a dumpster.

    • rpfiduciary

      Did you know there’s even an established acceptable amount of bugs in our food products? Each of us eat a few pounds of bugs annually in our cereal, breakfast bars, bread etc. Yummmm

  28. ~Kendra~

    I bet she has a killer immune system lol.

    I couldn’t do this. I have a weak stomach. The smell of the dumpster alone would gag me. I wouldn’t eat out of the dumpster unless it was something pre packaged and unopened, like chips. My g-pa got some strawberries out of the dumpster once and brought them home, washed them up and ate them. My g-ma nearly died. She’s germaphobic. She pours boiling water over her freshly washed dishes, etc.They’re 78 and 76. PERFECTLY HEALTHY! People get overly worried about the smallest things nowadays. They’ve managed to live this long without a lot of the stuff we have and do now.

  29. Jan

    My son has worked at Panera’s Bread Co, and he said that the employees are not allowed to take home the extra bagels, etc., rather they are required to throw it away. I told my son that we ought to go back and get the items that are pitched — we’re talking about $100 in pastries and bagles thrown in the dumpster per night.

  30. Jan

    By the way — I would do this in a heartbeat, if I could find someone to go with me… Hubby says he’ll pass.

  31. Shannon Bryant

    For me this is just another example of how we waste things here in the US. We have hungry people all over the US that we could be giving these items to. Or as one of the women stated earlier, sit it out with a disclaimer (of course) and allow people who need these items to pick them up for free. Times are hard and people need every bit of help and savings that we could get. As a single mother, if there was such a place where I could go to pick up organic items for free I would. Even if it was just fruits and vegatables. There has be a better system in place.

  32. Cory

    I remember going into Krispie Cream doghnuts and they said that they throw away 4 40 gallon garbage bags of doughnuts that arent perfect every day. I always wanted to go back and get a bag sometime but never did.

  33. Norma

    It’s alllll about timing. If a store is emptying the bathroom trash and food trash at once, you’re gonna wanna pass.

    My little brother was a poor college kid (really uber poor) and ran with some homeless guy and he clued him into the “good” dumpsters to hit. One organic bakery got use to seeing my brother around their dumpster and started sealing up their baked goods in a double bag so he could find them easier and they’d stay clean. (A few times it was even double bagged and *beside* the dumpster.)

    I was visiting my brother one weekend and noticed he had a cute new bedside table. I asked him about it and it was bombay company, just thrown out because it had a leg broken. He reattached it and brought it home along with a food run.

    I think people really would be amazed.

  34. Nicole

    My husband and I compost anything that we scrape off dinner plates or produce that has gone bad. It is excellent for my garden. We have cut our trash to the landfills in 1/2. I also know there are farms that compost large quantities of food for restaurants, too bad we didn’t have more programs that did that. All that food could be used to make compost, and some of these farms actually use the compost for fuel at their farms.

    THESE are the things we need to see more of! but I doubt I could go dumpster diving. Probably more of a mental germ thing than anything.

    Nicole

  35. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    I didn’t have time to read all of the posts, but I was always told to stay out of the dumpster…for fear of maggots and other creapy crawlers. I am amazed at the great condition of what she found; however, I will not be diving myself unless I have to… My conscience would not let me eat what was in the trash. We really try to eliminate food costs and waste around here, (coming from a family that used to make our soul source of income in the food&beverage industry) Perhaps diving for charity…but then again, how could I donate what I would not eat myself?

  36. Latasha

    From the time I was 16 until I was 19 I worked for a grocery store. Toward the end of my time working there I worked in the bakery/deli but on saturday mornings I would stock all the liquor and then deal with the dairy load. If any of the dairy products were within 4 days of expiration, they had to be pulled. Milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, coffee creamer, everything. (we even pulled the orange juice and other juices that are kept in that area). If they expired tomorrow, they got tossed. If they were 2-4 days from the expiration, any employee that wanted them could get them for an extremely reduced cost. Never allowed to be sold to a shopper.

    In the bakery/deli we had to keep the hot food on a timer. If something was made at 1 p.m it had to be tossed at 4 p.m. and remade. So. Much. Food. Tossed. So much. It was sad. All the donuts made that day had to be tossed at night too. One night I asked one of the managers if I could buy the left over donuts for a reduced price and was allowed to. I lived in the college dorms at the time and would bring 2-3 of those pink boxes filled to the top with donuts whenever I could. The students on a budget appreciated it. I think that at first I paid maybe $5 bucks for all three boxes (way more than 3 dozen) and it got to where the manager only charged me a penny per donut. They were making money they wouldn’t have made otherwise and I was getting an amazing deal and making lots of people happy.

    It really is sad how much food gets tossed out. 🙁

  37. Bridget

    I think we, as a society, have a disconnect with our food. It may be considered gross to eat dumpster food, but animals that come from factory farms and hatcheries live in deplorable and inhumane conditions; it it wasn’t that they are pumped full of antibiotics more people would be getting sick. Well, we are getting sick it’s just a little later on. Unfortunately, a lot of the inexpensive meat, egg and dairy products one can get with coupons come from deplorable conditions.

  38. KellyJ

    Um.. yeah……… no… I also will not pick up my gum if it falls out of my mouth and put it back in after 3 seconds.

  39. Lenna

    Ok, the closest I’ve ever come, or will ever come, to dumpster diving is pulling the Albertson’s ads with doublers out of the recycle box next to the school paper stand at my local college. Paper out of a paper box, yes. Food out of a disgusting, dirty dumpster…Never! I hope those of you who do dumpster dive sanitize those items before you bring them into your home!

  40. Piper

    Very interesting and totally cool, just make sure you wear gloves if you decide to do something like that, because there could be broken eggs and you could get that bacteria into your skin, and get really, really sick, and possibly die. The skin is the largest organ of the body and needs to breath, and anything that gets on your skin, can go into your body.
    Sat Nam, **(-_-)**
    Piper

  41. Chandra

    I think this was just amazing! Maybe I am too prideful (what a sin and a shame that is in itself, huh?) to dumpster dive. I think I would be embarassed. If I were single, maybe as an experiment………but to feed my family……IDK………

    It is just a shame that all the food is dumped out like that, though. I never thought that quality of food would be just pitched because one or two items in the lot was bad.

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