Food from Skips......

mcculloch29

Reverbe wrote: »

TBH the Govt want us all to cut down on stuff we send to landfill and then the supermarkets throw food out instead of reducing it to a decent price level. Our Tescos RTC shelves are filled with items STILL cost several pounds.. it disgusts me

There's a great book by Kath Kelly, How I Lived For A Year on A Pound a Day (I borrowed it from the library; sadly it's out of print.).

Kath mentions RTC as being a mainstay, well, she couldn't have shopped at Tesco's. I seldom get anything reduced below 50% of the original price, I agree with you Reverbe.

The Moneyless Man is another good book that goes into dumpster diving and Freeganism in some detail.

From time to time in my life I've been desperately hard up and at such times I turned to books like the wonderful Pauper's Cookbook (Jocasta Innes; still in print, but I have the first and best edition). Shirley Goode's books from the Eighties are great as well.

3v3

OP: It's not legal. Do so at your own risk (be that legal or health). Oh and do be aware the rats often get there first and the diseases they can tranfere. My preferred route is to grow my own, but then I'm lucky enough to have a garden of note now (previously it had to be "patio" potted stuff).

roh105 - you are right, they could be prosecuted; however, times is 'ard Who knows what we would resort to if the need arose? Despite the threat of arrest/prison ... it doesn't deter hardened criminals; why would it deter people on the breadline striving to maintain a standard of life and feed their family - particularly if they have heard of others doing it and not being prosecuted? Then there is the ethical argument re: landfill/still usable food?

rgay1992 wrote: »

Im not sure if its true but i was told by a friend supermarkets used to give to shelters ect but one day one of the people got food posioning so they sued and won. So they dont want it to happen again-thus by making it trespassing if you sue your in the wrong.

I believe it is true.

When I went to college, the canteen was catered for by students on a catering course (actually, the college is well known as a celeb chef trained there). By the time I went, a former colleague of mine was also having a career change and doing a catering course. At the end of the lunch period, there would be loads of food left over. I asked him if he got to take it home, or if it was donated. Answer: pig swill! They were not permitted to either take it home or donate it due to Health & Safety legislation.

ukstuff_2

Loads of people on this forum collect receipts dropped in Asda or Tesco car parks(Wombling), if it's cheaper in a rivals store the supermarket give you a voucher for the difference + you could ask at customer services in Tesco to add any clubcard points not claimed on the receipts to be added to your account. I think you are very brave asking for help, hope all gets better for you soon. :beer:

pinkclouds

It *is* illegal to take anything from someone else's rubbish bin, including a supermarket's bins. You can and will be charged, if caught.

I agree that any local "church" will be willing to help and may either have or be able to arrange food parcels. Doesn't even have to be a Christian church and you don't even have to be religious. Your local Sikh temple will provide a free meal to visitors.

I hope your situation improves sooner rather than later.

mrcol1000

Geez if I ever get to the point where I have to steal food from a supermarket skip or go round picking up litter hoping one of them might be a receipt that I can have a whole two clubcard points from I will take some drastic action like.....I don't know.... get a second job?

Gigervamp

3v3 wrote: »

At the end of the lunch period, there would be loads of food left over. I asked him if he got to take it home, or if it was donated. Answer: pig swill! They were not permitted to either take it home or donate it due to Health & Safety legislation.

That's not allowed either now as it's illegal to feed catering scraps to livestock.

This also includes back garden chickens with household scraps, though that's pretty impossible to police.

CrazyCatLady

A friend of mine used to go round in her van with her lodger and pick food out of skips. She got some good stuff and never got into trouble. I don't see it as disgusting, it's not like picking a half eaten pizza out of a bin. The stuff in skips is still packaged up and is usually only a few hours out of date. I think it's a nifty way of saving money, and a way of helping the planet (stopping the food going to waste etc).

moneysavingkitten

Maybe you could try the smaller supermarkets in the centre of town or a city rather than the big out of town ones for this? They tend to leave their bins in places that are on or near to public pavements or car parks anyway, so I don't see how you could trespass there.

I would be a little thoughtful about this though, especially if you are housed at the moment(?) Some people may be worse off than yourself with nowhere to go and use these bins to survive, so I wouldn't take anything from there if your not 100% you are going to eat it, because someone else might be desperate for it.

We have a community group where we live, that works with people that have fruit trees in their gardens that they aren't going to harvest. They get volunteers to pick and use the fruit so it doesn't go to waste, which is brilliant since fruit is so expensive. Perhaps you could ask your local council if there is anything like that going on round you way?

3v3

moneysavingkitten wrote: »

.....
We have a community group where we live, that works with people that have fruit trees in their gardens that they aren't going to harvest. They get volunteers to pick and use the fruit so it doesn't go to waste, which is brilliant since fruit is so expensive. Perhaps you could ask your local council if there is anything like that going on round you way?

:money: What a great idea!! I have an apple tree which is groaning under its own weight in apples this year (last year it bore 6 apples only :rotfl:)

I'll have a look at my local council website and see if they have anything similar (and if not, I'll be asking why not!)

roh999

moneysavingkitten wrote: »

Maybe you could try the smaller supermarkets in the centre of town or a city rather than the big out of town ones for this? They tend to leave their bins in places that are on or near to public pavements or car parks anyway, so I don't see how you could trespass there.

I would be a little thoughtful about this though, especially if you are housed at the moment(?) Some people may be worse off than yourself with nowhere to go and use these bins to survive, so I wouldn't take anything from there if your not 100% you are going to eat it, because someone else might be desperate for it.

We have a community group where we live, that works with people that have fruit trees in their gardens that they aren't going to harvest. They get volunteers to pick and use the fruit so it doesn't go to waste, which is brilliant since fruit is so expensive. Perhaps you could ask your local council if there is anything like that going on round you way?

People dont seem to be listening,wether your tresspasing or not ,taking out of bins will still get you a cgarge of "theft by finding" is it really worth it.