free food out of supermarket bins ?????

jenniewb

They did have a big food party thing in Trafalgar Sq in London some time in December last year. I did't go as I was busy somewhere else but it was basicly all food that was not pretty enough to make it into supermarkets.

I think they should do this every month and tour it around the country. They could get people to volunteer- a variety of people so many can witness theres no harm in ugly veg and also have a big community event that many could attend. It would also be a great way to advertise home cooking and for families to have something to do. They could even sell some ugly veg at the end of the event.

I keep hearing supermarkets promising to sell ugly looking veg but never actually see it in store unless you count the slightly differently looking value ranges which from seeing what real fruit and veg looks like (my grandad grows his own veg, I used to pick my own fruit) its not as natural as it could be!

[Deleted User]

dehaani wrote: »

My ex found £3000 once in a brown paper bag, hidden in some bushes. She handed it into the police.

Turns out it was the proceeds of a Post Office robbery. She got no reward, but she was cited as a witness in the case against the armed robbers.

Sometimes it's better just to pretend you saw nothing.

If I was lucky enough to find £3000 in a bag, I would certainly not pretend not seeing it. I would pocket it and enjoy spending it.:cool:



An earlier thread on the subject here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1167967


When I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark from May until September, I buy very little food as I find lots in supermarket bins. I haven't done any dumster diving here in the UK.

onlyforboards_2

mrbrightside842 wrote: »

I wouldn't have honestly thought there was much for the taking for Freegans. Plus I wouldn't eat anything that had been in the bin.

A tv show a few years ago showed a group getting tens of chickens and a freezer to keep them in! They fed the homeless.

I have not bought full price food (without a reduced sticker) from supermarkets for decades! I have never seen a supermarket without locked bins though.

Good to hear mrbrightside that some supermarkets do not waste.

chelms38

I would imagine with the hot weather spells we have had in the last few weeks you have to be very careful with some of the food stuff you decide to take.

[Deleted User]

Here in London, all bins are locked up on the supermarket's premises and with at least one CCTV camera trained on the bin!:(

[Deleted User]

fijiflowers wrote: »

with 7 kids myself i was quite tempted to nip down my local supermarket after dark :rotfl::rotfl:

Last month, on one of my supermarket bin raids while in Denmark, I met a bloke already going through the contents of a bin. Meanwhile, his wife or girlfriend was waiting in the car park, in their smart 4-wheel drive car, for him to finish. He told me he had himself, partner and 4 kids to feed and now he spends very little money on food. I just do it for myself. (Plus my neighbours and friends!) I supply the food for free and they do the cooking. Can't complain; this way everyone's happy.:rotfl:

J-Man_4

Everyone has different circumstances for raiding bins, for some it may be a desperate need in order to survive (as the economic climate really hasnt helped many familes and a lot have lost their houses through no fault of their own) or it may be something someone does like the 'freegans'. I dont have a lot, but if theres someone in more need than me then by all means they can have the lunch ive just bought myself and shouldnt be judged unfairly. The supermarkets should be ashamed in a way, but i suppose the rules are rules regarding waste. I knew a woman who often raided M+S bins and found some good stuff but then again, it was either do it, or go hungry.

Taken from freegans website

9) What are the legal ramifications of such things as dumpster-diving?
Raiding bins from the back of supermarkets is a legally grey area. If supermarkets want to be difficult, they could charge you with trespassing, or even with stealing, in certain cases. It is ironic to hear a store manager claim “Hey, you can’t steal our rubbish!”

We have heard that, legally-speaking, if you take something which someone does not value then it is not stealing. It makes sense that if we throw something away, we relinquish ownership of it. It should then become automatically available for anyone to make use of.

The real ‘crime’ is the (technically legal) stealing of the land by governments and corporations away from local communities, especially in developing countries; the importing of goods half way round the world at great expense to global ecology; and then the needless discarding of often perfectly usable goods and resources back into the ground or atmosphere, leading to pollution and the emission of harmful gasses.

To our knowledge no one has ever been charged in the UK with stealing rubbish. It is likely that this is because supermarkets realise that prosecuting someone for recycling waste would open up an ethical can of worms.

[Deleted User]

J-Man wrote: »

.

To our knowledge no one has ever been charged in the UK with stealing rubbish. It is likely that this is because supermarkets realise that prosecuting someone for recycling waste would open up an ethical can of worms.

The few times I've been challenged by supermarket staff, I just calmly drive off on my bicycle total ignoring their shouting at me. I never argue with them. What's the point? I'm sure staff's been informed before being hired, never to stop a bin-raider physically in case that person's some knife wielding maniac.:eek: The other reason like J_Man says, is supermarkets are very unlikely to report incidents as they'd do anything to avoid publicity over food wastage.

kr15snw

Our local Sainsburys donates all waste food to the local animal park for them to eat Tigers don't mind if the meat is slightly off, lol.

zenseeker

I have more dignity than most, so would never reduce myself to raiding supermarket bins, risking cross contamination and food poisoning, just to act like a hobo.

And don't give me some smug "never gotten ill" type crap, just because you haven't yet, doesn't mean someday you won't..and if you poison your family, you only have yourselves to blame.