NWR: Eat Trash

JCWhitey · January 2012

I posted about this a bit on the post about the bridal shop spray painting wedding dresses, but FI and I watched this documentary called "Dive!" which is about a group of people in LA who dumpster dive for their food. FI is pretty fascinated and after watching the documentary, I kind of am, too. They throw out food that is still days away from the "sell by" date sometimes and they double bag everything before tossing it (at least, it looks like Trader Joe's does.

So tonight FI wants to drive around and see if we can find any unlocked dumpsters. Seriously. I'll report back on how it goes.

For the record, I have no intentions on diving into any dumpsters... mostly because I'm one-armed and can just see myself getting trapped in one! But if FI wants to go in, I have no issues with eating trash! Especially if it's eggs or peal-able fruit. Is it sad that I'm REALLY hoping we find some fruit because all of ours went back while we were on vacation and I'm having a really strong fruit craving?

w+c3 · January 2012

I think I saw that episode your speaking of! It is kind of crazy the stuff that places have to through out just because it is passed the "sell by date" however I can't get over the idea of eating food from a dumpster even if it was a package of crackers that was inside a box. or a dented can of vegetables.

Just can't do it.

brittandjp · January 2012

You can't be serious..

[Deleted User] · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_nwr-eat-trash?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:e2060dca-21fb-44d6-b60a-5a581c4cca41Post:429e2027-cfcc-4d8d-b654-5b0e2d46da92">Re: NWR: Eat Trash</a>:
[QUOTE]You can't be serious..
Posted by brittandjp[/QUOTE]
I think she just might be :-) <div>I don't think I'd do it, but I'm curious to see how it goes</div>

w+c3 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_nwr-eat-trash?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:e2060dca-21fb-44d6-b60a-5a581c4cca41Post:429e2027-cfcc-4d8d-b654-5b0e2d46da92">Re: NWR: Eat Trash</a>:
[QUOTE]You can't be serious..
Posted by brittandjp[/QUOTE]

You'd be suprised the legitimacy of this. If you saw the show you would understand. We're not talking half eaten sandwhiches. We're talking whole boxes of unopened cereal that look brand new. And cans and cans and cans of vegetables. There are fresh fruits and veggies but that grosses me out. However there are TONS of perfectly good food that gets thrown out all the time by stores. People who do this sort of thing don't pay for food all year and all that money goes in their pockets. Its pretty amazing.

That being said I still wouldn't do it.

elidellio · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_nwr-eat-trash?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:e2060dca-21fb-44d6-b60a-5a581c4cca41Post:4a6248d1-f03d-4799-91a2-c39a5e9e9561">Re: NWR: Eat Trash</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: NWR: Eat Trash : I think she just might be :-) <strong> I don't think I'd do it, but I'm curious to see how it goes
</strong>Posted by harmony0417[/QUOTE]

<div>This! I've heard of this and I REALLY want to be on board with it but I just can't get past the fact that it comes from a dumpster. I'm really interested to hear how it goes for you guys, though.</div>

w+c3 · January 2012

here are some examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uJ3po4KFFY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEcK3Klygic&feature=related

Those will show you a good idea!

JCWhitey · January 2012

O.... M.... G....!

You won't believe what we found!

OK, first of all, my town is very "green" so the big chains all had these bins that get sent to a compost dump instead of a regular dump so those were a no-go. They are locked. But then we went to this smaller no-name grocery store... we found DOZENS of unopened tubs of yogurt (that expired today) and DOZENS of unopened bags of corn tortillas (the expire today), and DOZENS of unopened containers of potatoe salad (that expire TOMORROW!). And this was just one dumpster at one grocery store.

We opted to leave the potatoe salad (not even I can do that!) but scooped up the yogurt. I feed my dog half a cup of yogurt a day in his food because he has digestion issues and this was the exact brand I bought him. WE ARE SET on yogurt for at least two weeks (yogurt is good unopened 7 days past the sell by and another 5-7 days after opened)! The tortillas we could use but I don't like corn tortillas so they are going to be treats for the ratties!

The other one we went to had a bunch of fresh produce that wasn't bagged. But I have pet rats that love that stuff and really don't care where it came from so we snagged that up as well and they are currently having a fresh veggie feast! I'd never eat that stuff personally, even if cleaned because it wasn't bagged, but it made the ratties happy. I did clean it all really well even for them and it honestly looked fine, but I just couldn't get over where it came from.

All in all we went to two places within a few blocks of our house and I saved myself probably $15-20 on food for my pets. Which is $15-20 we can now spend on ourselves.

Nothing at all like what they found on that show. We didn't find items nicely bagged like there were, no fresh eggs, no fresh still in the package produce with one bruised tomato or whatever, but I was still shocked by what we were able to find. Such a sad waste!

JCWhitey · January 2012

Oh! And I forgot the best part. At the first place we also found an entire dumpster full of those white plastic drawer sets. You know, the ones you have in your dorm room in college or whatever? Probably 10 of them. They seemed in perfect condition and we couldn't figure out why they were just sitting in the dumpster. We didn't take any of them because, well, I have absolutely no need for them. But FI was really upset that we were driving away with them still in the garbage and I'm thinking later he might go dig them out and clean them off and donate them to Good Will or something. But they look brand new. Makes no sense!

firechick83 · January 2012

Sounds like you guys had quite the treasure hunt last night! Congrats on saving so much $$! I didn't realize that anyone else in this world gave their dogs yogurt...guess I should check my grocery store's dump for that!

rebeccaa12 · January 2012

I saw this on Taboo (Nat Geo Channel). There are people who dedicate ALOT of time to this. Cool you got to experience it. I admit, I do waste alot. I have a family member who was a hoarder, so I'm obsessed with organization and clutter free spaces and ALWAYS throw stuff away. Sad, really. I gotta work on that!!

brittandjp · January 2012

I'm sorry, I would never do it. I don't care if it's still in a can or unopened box. To be honest, the unopened cans and boxes don't necessarily freak me out, it's just that they were in the dumpster and it's just gross IMO. However, I seriously don't understand the dairy, veggies, fruit, or any produce for that matter. It's disgusting. As for the produce, you eat the outsides of those items. Dairy, I can't eat anything that's dairy even if the expiration date is tomorrow. I wouldn't feed it to my dogs either.

Just my opinion.

NWR: Eat Trash

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