Dumpster diving!

[Carolinamandolina]

Best things I've found in the Co-op bins-

Ferrero Rocher (just the other day!)
A bottle of red wine
Mixed salad - would never buy it but its great when you find it!

Worst thing found in the bin

The lemon meringue pie that gave my friend food poisoning - I check the best before dates now!


Marks and Spencer bins are awesome - you get super posh veggie ready meals that prob cost about a fiver each to buy. But they're so heavily guarded! Its not worth trying to hit the M & S bins in Stirling now...they're almost at the point of patrolling with attack dogs (yes I know I exaggerate!)

[Urban Ayisha]

score! i might try doing this but i cant think of any supermarkets near me that have visible dumpsters. or do they keep them fairly concealed. do u have to run away if they catch you?

i heard wait*ose put all their food in a blender if it doesnt sell! could be an urban myth but i wouldnt put it past them!

[Carolinamandolina]

Supermarkets generally all have a policy of locking their skips. The ones that usually dont are Iceland, M&S and Co-op. In Scotland you just look for the red bins that say 'BIFFA' on, but in England maybe they have a different bin company.

Yes you have to run away! It is illegal, its just that the police will generally let you off with a warning. If you just get caught by someone who works for the supermarket though, just explain that you're skint and hungry and the food is being wasted. Then the next time you go they will either have started locking the bins or they will have put blue dye over the food. This is really pointless because who cares if the packaging gets turned blue? It comes off your hands in a day or two.

Good luck!!!

[Urban Ayisha]

i didnt realise it was illegal and cant really afford to get arrested but all this fodd waste just seems like utter madness. i know why they dont, but they should reduce it to pennies just before closing time. hubby came back from waitr*se with posh organic bread and cakes for 5p on monday!

[Carolinamandolina]

A friend of mine goes round the bins at 6am. No police around then, or anybody else. So very little chance of getting caught!

[Annpan]

Just feel that I should put a wee disclaimer on behalf of the site here...

Selfsufficientish does not condone or recommend illegal behavior and the views of our members are not necessarily the views of Selfsufficientish.






It is a disgusting waste isn't it

I have managed to get stuff for pennies in T3sco and Sainsburps but you have to know exactly when to go, and it is usually too late or too far for us.

[Urban Ayisha]

yes, certainly ann, i would have only considered it if it were legal! clean-green living is my kinda thing!

[Carolinamandolina]

Well I like to be a little bit bad :D

[prison break fan]

When I worked for a supermarket, S.....field, before I knew better! we were closing up one night when there was a knock on the door, and a young girl standing there saying we had locked her boyfriend in our skip. The manager wanted to leave him there all night! pbf.

[flyonthewall]

Used to do it when I was a skint student, but had a few food disasters and a couple of dodgy tummies, so started to focus on how to make cheap nutritious food instead!

[elfcurry]

If the police are interested in catching people stealing what someone throws out, their priorities are wrong!

Can you imagine the desk sergeant answering a 999 call and saying "well it may be against your company policy but we have genuine calls to deal with, involving crimes of violence and property worth more than a quid. Stop wasting police time!"

If someone is detained by being locked in a shop waste bin, call the police and complain of wrongful imprisonment! The shop would not want the bad publicity.

[Rohen]

Is this freeganism?

Ive often wanted to do this

[star bee]

I've never done it from a supermarket bin, but the other people in my shared uni flat have been suplimenting my diet for the whole year; They will throw out unopened packets of perfectly good food just becuse its on the sell by date;
Over the past week I've retreved:
two single portion lasagnas, a single portion shepards pie, a whole 12 portion cake in box unopened, 2 partbake baguettes and an 8 pack of crumpets.