Is there anywhere I might be able to get free fruit and veg?

CazGreg

I mean surplus stuff, windfalls, stuff that's about to go off etc.
I haven't got any money at all for food right now - fortunately I do have quite a lot of pasta, flour, oats and stuff in my cupboards, but I know I need some fruit and veg to eat too.

Sadly there's no market in my town where I might find stuff at the end of the day. The only thing I thought of was asking on freecycle in case anyone had a glut of anything.

Thanks in advance

The_ICT_Engineer

You need to pop out in to the countryside, Where you find free food in the woods and hedgerows.

www.wildmanwildfood.com/

Morganarla

Sorry to hear you're struggling, BTDT.

It might help if you can give us a general idea of where you are located.

Chris25

It's a good idea to put a Wanted ad on freecycle/freegle & also Gumtree. I think there's another site, called something like Streetlife that is active in some areas.
You often see ads when people have a glut - this year though, with the wet summer, some areas have been affected more than others - for example, we have very few apples, no pears & the berries have been insignificant But, it may be different where you are

kittycatface

Yes, definitely put an ad on freecyle, most people may have used them up by now but a lot of people have spare apples in autumn.

The only other thing I could suggest is make friends with neighbours who have veg patches or fruit trees or put a note up at allotments.

Check in your area if there is an allotment co op where you can take produce home in return for a bit of your time: I found these hard to find when I first moved to south yorkshire, your local allotment office person will know of them: the office number is normally listed on local council site.

PS: If you want any seeds to put in pots next year PM me, I've got a glut...not very helpful for now but thinking of you

redfox

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.co[/EMAIL]

babyshoes

If times are really tough, you may want to investigate freeganism. Not something I've needed to do, but the philosophy includes things like taking wasted food from supermarket bins (most of it is completely over-packaged anyway, so quite safe if still sealed), which is something I would consider if desperate. Technically bin diving / skip raiding is illegal, but I think far more acceptable than shoplifting or stealing from allotments etc. Apparently very few people who get caught doing it are actually prosecuted if they are polite and sensible when confronted - it is the ones who won't leave when asked, keep going back to the same bin after being told not to, break locks to get to bins, get confrontational or take stupid amounts of stuff to try and re-sell/ pass on to others etc that make the news!

Freecycle/freegle is also a good one, in previous years when the crop has been better we've had buckets of free apples (could barely move in our kitchen!) to preserve as juice, cider and frozen apple crumbles. This year I think you'd be lucky to find much excess, especially now as the harvest season is pretty much over for the majority of crops. We managed to find half a bucket of small, wormy apples from a row of trees beside a main road - last year the same stretch had far, far more than we could manage, multiple bags / buckets from just one tree! The road was covered in squashed apples...

For a bit of fresh green food, you can grow lettuce/salad leaves in pots indoors all year round, and sprout seeds too for more nutritional value. 'Cut and come again' salad varieties are just that - you cut the leaves (you can cut them while quite small) to use and they grow back. You may find reduced price, end of season seeds and compost in places like Wilkos or garden centres, or ask for the bits you need on freecycle/freegle. I'm sure lots of people have a few spare pots, part of a bag of compost and maybe even seeds they could give you! If you are completely clueless about how to grow stuff, get the bits then ask on the greenfingered forum what to do with them.

Also, don't forget that dried, canned, frozen, juiced etc can all count towards your 5 a day. You don't need to only look/ask for fresh food, the other stuff will help your diet too. I've heard that some supermarkets do 4p mushy peas, which can make a soup if you don't like them as they are. Dented tins of fruit or veg are often in the reduced section. If asking on freecycle, you could ask for these types of things as well as excess crops etc.

To find spare change, look along the high street just after pub /club kicking out time but before the street cleaners arrive. When we worked in a pub some years back, we would walk home with our eyes open looking at the ground, and regularly used to pick up dropped coins. Look carefully around taxi ranks, bus stops, takeaways and near ATMs where drunk people take out their wallet and won't worry to search if they drop a coin. A good night walking home would often score a few pounds - and we didn't go out of our way to search the best areas either! Doesn't sound like much, but if you are completely broke it could feed you for a couple of days if you shop carefully.

CazGreg

Your responses all brought tears to my eyes for being so kind and helpful! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I thought I might get loads of people questioning my situation, but it is just as I said - I have no money for food (and no, I don't smoke/drink/have cable TV/play the lottery, lol!).

I will definitely be exploring some of the things suggested. You reminded me I have some salad seeds in a cupboard that might be suitable for growing indoors at any time of year.

Have had no luck with freecycle so far. I had my first trial with freeganism a week ago - snuck up to a skip out the back of the shops on the high street, opened it and peered inside, but then realised what an amateur I am - I needed a torch, a stick and some gloves (and preferably to be a bit taller!) - maybe will try again properly kitted out!
And you guys also reminded me about a couple of apple trees I used to pass along the side of a nearby A road, laden with fruit, so I'll make a trip there and hopefully it's not too late in the year.
Thank you a million times again. Anymore tips always welcome. :T

CazGreg

Oh, forgot to say - I'm in Northamptonshire, near the Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders.

fannyadams

posting to say you're not that far from me...

good luck hunnie {{{{{CazGreg}}}}}

http://www.northamptonfoodbank.org.uk/where-to-go/

Mayflower10cat

It's also worth visiting any nearby markets and noting where all the fruit and veg stalls are; when I had a market stall, late on a wintery Saurday afternoon when everyone is packing up, that's when traders get rid of stuff that won't keep until Monday. Damaged stuff they usually leave in crates in the gutter - if you ask very nicely (and this is the key!) no reason why they wouldn't let you take what they'd normally leave as waste. And, they will often let you buy stuff for a nominal amount that's not quite good enough to sell but perfect as far as I was concerned. We used to get all sorts of bargains - a whole crate of mushrooms that were a bit bashed for a £1. Dented melons for nothing, slightly squished grapes loose from the bottom of a crate, that sort of thing.