Last week I shared a link to a woman in France who has a flicker account titled, These Days in French Life. It’s basically a photographic journey of this woman’s life in France. What makes her pictures so extraordinary, is that this woman feeds her family on a diet of “scraps.” Food that has been deemed garbage, inedible, not suitable for sale in a retail market.
I found it fascinating.
After I wrote the story, Sarah C. left me the following comment, and I decided to do a little investigating.
“Yup, this is the way we roll at our house. I get boxes of produce from our local store “for the goats” (who have been in the freezer for a couple months, now). We eat what we can (usually a lot of the box), and save the rest for friends who have chickens or compost it. We’ve gotten some amazing things that I would have never purchased (18 artichokes? Enough tomatoes to make 2 gallons of salsa?)…all for $1/box or less.”
Does this really happen? Do stores freely giveaway their scraps? No dumpster diving required? I decided to do a little research.
While I was out running errands, I stopped by my favorite produce market to inquire about possibly picking up “scraps” for my chickens once a week. Although the shopkeeper was a little hesitant at first, he finally agreed to let me come by once a week and pick up whatever scraps were available on that particular day. The reason he was a little hesitant was because people had come in before asking for free scraps, and then they don’t show up, leaving him with boxes and boxes of rotting produce. So I thanked him {profusely} and promised I would be back on the set date to pick up the scraps. What you see in the photo above is four boxes of “scraps” for the chickens {insert big happy smile}.
It took The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I two hours to sort through the four boxes of scraps. In the end we were able to salvage 2 boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables for the chickens, and 2 boxes for us.
In my opinion, there is only one drawback to bringing home free scraps. As soon as you walk through the door, you literally have to drop everything you are doing, sort the food, and quickly figure out what to do with it. Before it truly does become inedible.
So what do you think?
Would you be willing to feed your family scraps others deem inedible?
Maybe you’re feeling a little adventurous, and want to try your hand at dumpster diving instead?
GoHERE to purchase Dive! from Amazon.com. Another documentary on food I thought was interesting was King Korn.
Crystal K says
This is an awesome post!! I would totally do this. I recently watched the Big Waste on the food network and you would not believe the stuff stores throw out because it isn’t “perfect.” And they toss a lot of stuff that is close to date. I don’t know about others but I have got some amazing deals on clearanced and marked for quick sale products. If I could get it totally free that would be even better. Problem I would run into is I do not have chicken to eat the truly bad food.
Thanks for the great post!
You Can Call Me Jane says
Awesome.
Mavis says
I knew you’d love it. 🙂 I’d share with you if you lived closer.
You Can Call Me Jane says
I just checked and if you have Netflix, you can currently watch Dive! instantly. Guess what I’ll be doing later tonight?? 🙂
Mavis says
Sweet!
You Can Call Me Jane says
There really shouldn’t be question marks there. Forgive me. Now I’m done commenting on this lovely post.
Kayla says
I really liked this documentary. You won’t be sorry you watched it.
Margaret says
Double sweet!
Margaret says
Hubby and I are not sorry we watched it on Netflix. Just wow. Consciousness raising. Always good to have that happen!
Edie says
really? Awesome, thanks for letting us know. 🙂
Amber says
Heck yes I would do this, and will when I can honestly say to the guy I have chickens!
Sarah C says
Woohoo! Another notch in my belt for subversion and the New Household Order. 🙂 Muhahahaha!
Gwen says
Wowza!!! So very awesome.
Jules says
Amazing what gets dumped!!
Margaret says
Mavis, you continue to blow my mind in the best way possible. Dang woman you are so consistent with that! 🙂 xo
Margaret says
hmmmm, in rereading my comment, although it sounded right in my head, a little clarification with more punctuation wouldn’t hurt. “Dang! Woman, …” Is what I meant to convey 🙂 xo
lori says
I have already asked 2 of the close grocery stores in my neck of the woods last year and they said no. I asked for scraps for my chickens and they both said they use to do this but in both cases the chickens died and the people were mad at the stores! LAME!!! How exactly did you pose this question? For your family and chickens? Just chickens? Just fam?
Thanks!!
Maerzie says
Try another store. And, guess what? Chickens usually DO die because we butcher them to EAT! Chickens dying TWO separate times from the produce scraps is either a LIE, or everyone should AVOID that store’s produce! If it kills a chicken, who even eat cow poop, it will surely kill PEOPLE too! LAME excuse! Think “small town” independent grocer, and honest people who aren’t “SUE CRAZY”!
Eileen says
You do have to be careful what you feed your chickens from scraps! Really. They don’t know the good from the bad. Big no-nos for chickens are citrus, raw (especially green) potato peels, avocado skins and anything in the onion/garlic family. You also don’t want to feed them spoiled food!
Mel says
i am agreeing with what Lori said, we have gone around to almost every store in our area and most of the fast food places trying to get left over food and/or scraps for our hogs and NOT A SINGLE store would participate and only One fast food place would give us any scraps they had at the end of the day.
every single store said that it was because they had people come in claiming the food was for their animals and then they would eat it and come back to the store saying it had made them sick.
we are so disappointed. 🙁
Desi says
I would do this in a second! Maybe not so much the dumpster… Do you think they would do this for people that compost too? Or I could just go the chicken route
Jennifer Jo says
Filing this idea away in my hat.
Page M says
I’m from the South and when I was growing up there were bread stores in the community that basically served as distribution centers for the regional bread and baked goods companies. They had a warehouse in the back and a small sales floor up front. We would go once a week and buy bread, buns, fruit pies (all the lovely stuff that will give you type II diabetes) and fill our freezer full for a fraction of the price. But what I remember the most is people would come in and request “dog bread”. The clerk would go into the warehouse and return with a large paper bag filled with bread that was past it’s date. The patron was never charged for the bag of bread, but who knows how old it was or if any of it was truly still edible. This post reminded me of the free bread!
Maerzie says
I think our “animal feed” at the bread store is a dollar for an enormous bagful.
Bea says
Yes, I would do this if I had a family. We waste so much in America.
I’m so glad I found your website – I have missed you and Monday’s with Mavis from Fabulessly Frugal. It was so fun to read your blog clear back to January. You are one industrious, awesume and frugal lady. Thanks for the insight and I love to share with others what I learn from you.
Mavis says
Thanks Bea. I’m excited to see what I get next time. 🙂
Lisa says
I’m not sure if I would for myself, but I would for chickens and livestock.
Our local produce stores already have someone who takes all the near expiration food. She happens to live across the street from me. Every day she goes to the produce market, gets the boxes and promptly leaves them out on the retaining wall outside of her house to rot. It makes me sad. I know she has good intentions, but she just can’t handle it.
TreeHugginMomma says
Lisa – maybe you should approach her about helping her sort through the boxes and splitting up the spoils.
D'Anna says
I’m thinking Mavis may have scored a strawberry jackpot…and those were considered scraps? Crazy.
My Great Grandma had geese and ducks and the grocery store would hook her up with day old bread and the local carrot farm would sell my in laws truckloads of carrots for their pigs for barely anything but we live in a rural area so it may be more common.
Heather S. says
That is so awesome!!! My kids would go through all of that so fast. Do you think I could call them chickens? 🙂 I’ve heard of some stores not doing it because people try to sue them 🙁 I think I’m going to ask the stores around here anyway. It’s worth a shot. I know a lot of people have success in the dumpsters, but I would be a lot more inclined if it never hit a dumpster. I wouldn’t mind separating it from the rest. You got great stuff. Is he going to let you do it once a week? Another weekly post to look forward to!
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but we freeze grapes too. They taste like little frozen popsicles when you eat them. My kids LOVE them that way. We also freeze most fruits for our smoothies. I haven’t tried cantaloupe yet (we never have any left to freeze), but we’ve done watermelon (AMAZING in smoothies), pineapple, mango, and whatever else we have left towards the end of the week.
Mavis says
I never thought to freeze watermelon for smoothies. Thanks for the tip!
D'Anna says
I copy pasta’d this in case you need to plead your case with a store owner:
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
On October 1, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, a new federal law to encourage the donation of food and grocery products to non-profit charitable organizations for distribution to needy people. The new federal Good Samaritan law protects businesses, volunteers and non-profit organizations from civil or criminal liability in the course of donating apparently fit and wholesome food or grocery products for distribution to needy people. The federal Good Samaritan Act is designed to encourage donations of food and grocery products by providing a uniform, national standard of liability for donations.
TreeHugginMomma says
This does not apply to giving food directly to the poor. It applies to donating that food to a group to distribute (i.e. local food bank).
Mel says
that is what seems to have happened in our area (the suing) as we went around to the majority of the stores in our area trying to get the food scraps for our hogs and we were told by every single store they wouldn’t do it because of people coming back and saying they had gotten sick. 🙁
Lisa Ann says
I have a family member that worked for the school district in Albany Oregon as a baker for many years. The amount of waste that was thrown away in the dumpster is unbelievable. Everything was destroyed under the supervison of the kitchen manager as to make sure that it was not fit for human consumption. Items destroyed were things such as hotdogs, baked goods (ie: rolls, cookies) and fresh produce. Considering that the school lunch program is subsidized by the federal government it always seemed like such a waste. It seems to me that the baked goods could be easily donated to the shelter that we have here in town without any safety concern issues or given out free after school to students.
Maerzie says
Yes, the military is also famous for outrageous wasting of very useable food and materials. “Easy come; easy go!”
Jennifer says
You are correct but the reason so much is wasted is Federal regulations!
When I was active duty Navy, I worked in public affairs. My husband was assigned to a sub in Georgia and when the boat pulled in, bags and bags of food and unopened jars of jelly, condiments and the like were taken off the boat and trashed! My husband snagged a few bags to bring home for us and I approached our public affairs officer to see about donating the unused – UNOPENED – food items to a local food pantry.
The PAO looked in to it and, unfortunately, regulations prohibited it. My first thought was that the boats should adjust their budgets accordingly and not overbuy… that, too, hurts the boats (and all departments) because the “incentive” to spending less than you are allotted per fiscal year is that the good ol’ government cuts your budget. This happens in ALL government agencies, not just the military.
jamie says
i have done it, just like you state in your post. went and picked up scraps, fed what i could to chickens, composted truly bad produce and let me tell you. that night we had stuffed acorn squash with salad on the side and it only cost us the rice and steak for stuffing, everything else came from those scrap boxes! great post! we should all be at least thinking this way, better to do something with it rather than let it go to the land fill. thank you
Monica Card says
I think the problem with alot of the stores is that they are afraid of getting sued so instead, they throw it out. What a shame and a waste but in this age of people suing over the slightest thing, who can blame them?
Madam Chow says
I think it is awesome because you are valuing the plants and all the effort that went into growing and harvesting them.
ali says
I have a large tortoise (100lbs) and have asked stores for scraps before. All the major chains have said it is a liability. I will look into D’anna’s post cuz that would be great. Glad to find your blog and this topic. Gives me motivation to try again.
Pam says
I just found you on CNN.com!! I love your site/ideas/posts already!!
Question: If I don’t have any chickens or animals to feed, can I still ask for the local stores’ scraps? Is this ethical? Reading your posts (and others’) about how much food they’ve ‘saved’ from the dumpsters is just disgusting. Well, disgusting because of the amount of food that is wasted, but awesome that people have found a way to save it and use it.
Can you please tell us a quick ‘how-to’ on how to word our question to the local stores for their scraps? I’m very timid and shy – I’d be nervous to do it!!
Thanks, Mavis!! You are just incredible…
Pam
Cassie says
Just read several of the blog posts about the free produce from grocery stores. I was wondering if someone could tell me what kind of stores they have had luck with and which ones no luck. Chain stores or smaller community stores. Any suggestions/tips would be great! Thanks
Maerzie says
I have never had luck with the bigger grocers, as they are too leary of lawsuits if anything goes wrong. Small and local grocers or vendors would be the most likely to know you and trust you to give you their cleansings and throw-away produce, unless you’re really lucky or well-known someplace.
Suzanne says
This is a great idea, do you ever luck out and get the organic produce? I’d have an issue with conventional produce even for my posh chickens.
Thanks,
Mavis says
Yes, actually we do end up with organic produce sometimes. 🙂
Jennifer says
Ridiculous.
Maerzie says
I have done many similar things while my 4 kids were young, including even salvaging food from the leftovers of a crashed grocery truck, after human vultures had ravaged all the best foods. I also used to buy raw milk ($1 gallon) from a neighbor (no longer allowed most places), saved and froze all the cream until I had a bunch. Then I’d thaw it and make 6 quarts of homemade ice cream one week or put it into the blender and make homemade butter, salt it, shape it, and freeze or use it as needed. The buttermilk, I would clabber with a little “mother” from boughten buttermilk, or just use for the liquid in my 6 loaves of homemade bread I made every week. OR, I would just set a gallon out overnight to sour (which gets VERY thick, “is” yogurt, and can be eaten just like that or mixed with a little homemade fruit jam/sauce, OR simmered for awhile until curds form, which ARE cottage cheese (needing a little salt and cream), and the whey I also used in making homemeade yeast doughs. I also tried “cheddaring” the curds into cheddar cheese one year, but I didn’t have the fussy temperature control needed. Sometimes I even bothered to “pasteurize” the raw milk, but usually not, as the cows and the farm people were healthy. I also always had chickens for eggs, and I learned to butcher and cut up a chicken , like a pro (I was a city girl!), and I also occasionally had pigs, which I hired butchering, but I cleaned the upper intestines for sausage casings, and I made the “salting” solution to inject for ham and bacon, so my husband could smoke them in his homemade refrigerator smoker. Yup! I enjoyed many of these little FUN projects, including always having an enormous garden, and canning and freezing the produce. I (“we”, for the sauerkraut) also still make the very BEST sauerkraut and yeast breads. It’s a great and healthy way to have fun AND use your creativity and ingenuity, while also saving money. I could add a hundred more ideas from my experiences.
Maerzie says
The “gallon” left out to sour for yogurt was a gallon of raw milk, NOT the gallon of buttermilk liquid. (Store milk will not sour like this because all those good souring bacteria have been killed in the pasteurizing process.)
rockinrfarm says
do you happen to have a good recipe to make homemade butter? I have always wanted to make butter for my family but do not know of anyone in my area that makes it or knows how.
Here in Texas in the area where I live I can find more Goats milk than we can cows milk. I do know there are a few families we can go and get fresh milk from but we just have to find them. I love making homemade bread. I need to start doing that again so that is one less thing to get from the store. You can even make hamburger and hot dog buns too.
Thanks for your post it was really inspiring and reminded me of times spent on my grandparents farm milking cows, working in the big garden, and watching my grandmother can.
deana
alliegator says
Here’s how I made homemade butter… It was really easy. Next time I think I’ll do honey butter.
http://isagoodone.blogspot.com/2010/05/homemade-butter.html#
Stacy says
I came across your site via a link from Pinterest. I love it! Thank you for sharing all of the creative, informative, and inspiring ideas. I recently finished reading “The Feast Nearby” and you do a lot of what the author does.
rockinrfarm says
If you live in the smaller country towns it’s a lot easier to get the left over foods from your local grocer than it is from the corporate world ones. They by law have to throw it out and everything that is thrown out is recorded so the corporate office knows how much in coming in and going out into the trash. I was told this several years ago.
Back in the 80’s I world for a whole sale club in the back in shipping and receiving I got to know all the drivers that came in with their products. We has a really nice produce man that would come to the store once a week and gather the produce that needed to thrown out and replace with fresher produce. I saw some bananas in the box one day and asked if could have them for snack later and lunch. He told me normally they did not allow it but sense he checked with his bosses before he started to drive with them that if a employer asked about the left over produce if they could take it home to eat or for animals were they allowed to have it. They said that they did not mind as long as he as a customer would not eat it do not give it away. Every sense then he would bring in 2 boxes one for the bad food and the other for the produce humans can eat. When I asked him about the bananas he told me to hand on he would be right back. He went to find me another box to put the good food in. That is when he told me what his bosses had told him. From then on till I moved to Texas he would make me boxes of fresh fruits, veggies ect and set them in my car if it was not to hot and if so I just had them in the office with me. I just wished it was 23 years later this was going on, my chickens would love it lol
I go to a bread store here for the winter months and we can buy a rack of bread. You have to take everything that is on the rack, that would even include snack items, donuts, ect. As I am tossing the bread in the back of the truck I will pull out the snack items and put them in a box we bring and Breads i know my family will eat. When I get home the snack items and breads we do not need right away go into our deep freezer in the garage. The other breads go into a 55 gallon drum to be fed to the chickens, ducks , geese, pig, cow, even the horses like it now and then as a treat. We use the bread to help fatten up out cow and pig for butcher along with their normal feed.
Leeann Coleman says
Great ideas here. Thanks so much for sharing. I never thought about asking for the produce waste for chickens. And for me. I’ll have to think of a way to sneak it in past my boyfriend, who still thinks that meat comes from the A&P all wrapped up on a styrofoam tray…
Mavis says
Ha Ha Ha. 🙂
TreeHugginMomma says
I would be concerned about what the condition of the food was before I ate it. Granted you can pick through and look for the food that looks good, but what if something has something wrong with it that you can’t see? I would be more comfortable getting drops from a farm than unsellable produce from a store, but that is just because I don’t trust our local stores.
I also don’t have chickens or goats or anything and I since I cannot use any of it for the reason I would be giving I could not do it.
I do know that we used to pick the drops (apples that had dropped from the tree) from a local orchard when we were kids. We even took the ones with worms and blemishes. My mom used to cut the worm/blemish out or worse case scenario throw it out.
Denise says
I wrote a blog on Freegans awhile ago…I did not know anything about this until I started looking up different ways of eating. ie: vegetarian, flexatarian etc. very interesting and somewhat the same as you explain here.
I shall subscribe because I am interested in your way of life 🙂
Denise
Donna says
I find this interesting; most of our grocery stores still sell the ‘questionable’ produce on a little rack usually found near the back door.
However, I wonder if anyone had gone further. I have friends and neighbors who dont’ use their ‘harvests’.
Next door there’s a cherry tree…they’ve never picked them. I have every intention of asking if I can harvest…and i’ll share a jar of the cherry jam I’ll make from them. I have another friend who can’t keep up with the milk their goats produce, so I make chevre with it, and give them back a portion in return. There’s an old apple orchard down the road; they don’t sell anymore, but the trees are there….and I plan on asking if I can pick. There is lots of wasted food, not just in the store, but in the fields as well!
Mavis says
You should ask! The worst they can do is say no. 🙂 Good luck!
Miriam says
Just be aware that a lot of fruit trees must be sprayed or you will get worms. I know cherries are one of those.
Anne says
We never spray our cherries! We live in WI
Mary says
Perhaps the fruit trees are not yet in their fifth year??
Sheila says
Dumpster diving is illegal where I live.
I tried to pick up scraps for the compost, and stores are so afraid of lawsuits, they won’t give the garbage away.
Angie Smith says
There was a store chain that used to freely give scraps to people who asked, but they got sued because a man who was taking scraps “for the pigs” ate some of the food, got sick, and sued them. So they stopped giving out scraps to anyone, ever. 🙁
Another store in my area gives their wilted produce to a local soup kitchen or someplace like that. How can I argue with that kind of charity?
I watch for things that are marked down because they’re close to their expiration dates. Even health food stores sometimes have “day-old” bread for a discounted price.
Whitney says
Is this something that can “only” be done at a produce market?? Has anyone had any luck with local “chain” grocery stores??
Lisa says
I don’t believe our local grocery stores would do this. But the good news is, there is a local organic greenhouse/store that collects all the produce waste from local grocery stores, home stores, and even from corporate offices, and composts it all. They even collect all the food scraps and poop from the vegetarian animals at the zoo, and turn it into zoo doo. They then sell the compost after many years of composting, and people can use it in their gardens.
Melody Harpole says
Check with local farmers and people with fruit trees. We often have discounted or even free produce at times. But you have to ask! (If you start picking that ‘abandoned’ apple tree, we may get upset and you could be in very serious trouble.
kimberly says
So, I’ve been really anxiously awaiting the right moment & tonight I found it! I asked a young, very nice guy in the produce department if it would be an option for me to get their expired produce for my chickens. He was a little hesitant at first but decided there was no harm in it & to be honest, I think he was kind of excited about it, maybe because he thought it might be wrong, but who am I to judge… I got 4 containers of bite-sized pieces of watermelon, 5 heads of cauliflower, 2 bundles of leeks, 2 bags of spring mix, 1 head of broccoli, 6 apples, a bag of clementines & a very nice sized bundle of big, beautiful grapes. I sorted out for the chickens what was really expired & am keeping the rest for my family. I am so inspired by you Mavis & so excited to feed my sweet boys fresh fruit in the morning that I saved from a life in the dumpster. It’s exhilarating!! I should’ve seized the moment but I was pretty nervous – next time I see him, I’m going to try to get on a weekly schedule…
Mavis says
Wahoooooooo! You did it! Way to go!
Lisa says
That’s great Kimberly!
Jen Anglen says
omg!! i’m so going to the grocery tomorrow to see if they’ll do this!!! Thanks sooo much for the information !:)
Christi {Jealous Hands} says
I just found you today, but have been a follower of Riana’s for several years! She is one of my heroes. Loving your site!
Katie @ imperfect people says
Our local produce store thankfully has a “reduced table” where everything that has spots or getting old is placed. I usually get a huge box of tomatoes for about $2 which is perfect for making salsa or canning. I never thought about asking other stores though…hmmm now you got me thinking. We are about to get some chickens that that will be the perfect “excuse”
Thanks!
Jayme, The Coop Keeper says
I’ve just emailed my local chain grocery store asking them if I could do a weekly pickup (or more often) for my chickens and compost. Fingers crossed. There is a produce store in town as well that I will ask next…I’m not sure they’ll go for it, since they seem to try to sell nearly composted produce! Ha! Anyhow, been so intrigued by this idea. I read Moneyless Man, which was an awesome book about a guy living for one year with no money – lived off of dumpster food or what he grew himself.
Emily says
At the risk of sounding like a dummy.. When you say “produce market” are you talking about a grocery store or something else??
Mavis says
Grocery store with an awesome produce section. 🙂
Melissa Cooney says
I am very curious to know, how do I know which store to go to, to request their scraps because I would love to do this and although I don’t personally have any chickens, I have a friend who does!!! Could you please email me and let me know.
Mavis says
Hi Melissa, all I did was ask for the produce guy for scraps. It was really as simple as that.
Candice says
I’ve tried this… none of my local grocery stores will allow me to have their scraps… apparently here its against health codes to allow people to take “spoiled” (meaning unsellable) food from the premises … even if it’s actually for your chickens or something.
they will just throw it all out…. and the guard the dumpsters here so you can’t even “freegan” from them. what a backwards world we live in.
April says
I keep asking but have not found a place in Seattle nearby where I live. I occasionally get to dig through a trash can full of rotting produce destined for the compost to see if I can find anything for the chickens but nothing like this. I’d love to know what grocery chains/markets people have success at!
GreenAutumn says
This is so inspiring! We live downtown in a densely populated Canadian city, very close to neighbouring houses (chickens might not be a welcome option to some of the neighbours b/c of noise). We’ve been thinking of starting a garden in our small backyard, just as one of our neighbours have. There are many community gardens popping up around the city, but not very close to where we live. I would like to try this – I’ve never heard of it before – composting whatever cannot be eaten, and our city has an excellent ‘green bin’ program if we have too much compost, even after sharing. Another great source of inspiration is Rob Finley. Check out this link to one of his talks here: http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html
Aloe says
I’ve run two separate food banks. In both cases I was able to get bread and produce from multiple grocery stores for free. The bread was easy to give out– in fact we had so much that we were able to offer it to– er– non needy people as well as needy ones. Very few people wanted produce. You might consider checking with your local foodbank; perhaps they’d be willing to give or trade in exchange for a small donation. We were always looking for meat and toiletries, I would have jumped at the chance to swap produce for either of those.
Jamie says
I can not find a produce guy in my area willing to do this. All the big store chains refuse too. The only person willing to do this allows me to come once a week and the stuff we get REALLY is for the chickens. Nothing good for us
Nicole says
Hi I just stumbled upon your post. Wow this is amazing. Who did you speak to? This is really amazing.
Ruby Villarreal says
I used to have bunnies and a turtle when my older boys were young,I asked the local chain store and they would give me a big box of scraps each week.There never was a huge amount I could salvage for us but it really helped stretch the feed bill for the animals.I also had a friend who drove a food truck and she would come once a week to different frieds with a drop off of sandwiches that had to be eaten,frozen or tossed that night.It was such a blessing to me and the kids.I think I will ask in town when we go. :d
Kirsten says
What state do you live in? I live in WA and was trying to think of a store that might do this. When you say produce man is it a year round store or a stand that is seasonal?
Mavis Butterfield says
I live in Washington state and I think it’s really more about just asking than corporate policy.
Amanda says
I live in WA state, too. I asked my local Fred Meyer if I could take discarded produce for my chickens and was told what many others have said already, that they used to do it, but someone sued them and they don’t do it anymore. So sad. If you take free food that was headed for the dumpster you should understand that it MAY not be safe to eat. That’s why the store was throwing it out. If I ate such food and fell ill I certainly wouldn’t sue the store that gave it to me. People are so lawsuit happy these days. Ruins things for everyone.
Betty Mackey says
There is a wonderful French movie called The Gleaners and I (les glaneurs et la glaneuse) by Agnes Varda. I rented it from Netflix. It has won many awards. Even in food conscious France, much food is wasted. However, there is a tradition of farms allowing gleaners to come after harvest, perhaps because of the biblical connection. In one spot, all the lumpy potatoes, perfectly good yet unsaleable, were piled up for the taking. Agnes treks around the city and the country, making connections with other gleaners. Some people glean to survive, some to save money, some to prevent waste, and some, well, why not have an adventure?
Toni says
I’m going to see if I can do this at my store, I cut off bad parts all the time and I know people who have chickens who would be happy to get free feed, and maybe i could trade for some good organic eggs.
Janet says
I worked 12 years in the grocery business, in Southern Ca.
We threw out INCREDIBLE amounts of food! In the bakery, I would pull an avg. of 2 grocery carts a night….did we throw them away? NO! I had to take them back to the produce dept. take them out of their packaging & put them down the garbage disposal!!!! Yes, I talked to management & tried to purchase it or donate it….the answer was ALWAYS NO.
Then I worked in the Deli….We thew out sometimes a dozen rotisserie chickens in a night! they wouldn’t even mark them down close to closing….when we ‘threw them out’ , they had to go in the bone barrel with the discarded fat scraps from the meat dept….I’ve wanted to share that for a long time….THE WASTE!
I now live in Northern Ca. , & our local grocery store won’t give scraps either…. ;(
Amanda says
I know, it’s SICKENING! I used to work for Costco in the Service Deli where they sell the rotisserie chickens, and one night we had to throw out about 400 frozen chickens simply because they were 2 days past the use by date. They were FROZEN! It really upset me. I’m not a vegetarian/vegan but I do appreciate when animals give their lives for us. It’s bad enough to throw out any kind of food, but meat especially chaps my hide! Think of all the hungry people 400 chickens could have fed.
Mavis says
FOUR HUNDRED!!! AHHHH. Sick to my stomach thinking about that waste!
Bible Babe says
I have done this of and on for years, depending on where we lived, and policies of the various stores. Recently, my son and I were waiting for the owner of a local shop to get there and open up (we clean the store each Monday, and we make a little extra cash). He was late, so for the heck of it, I said, “Let’s go and look in the dumpster at the grocery store.”
We did, and there, riht where I could easily reach, were onions and apples. My son turned around, and I filled his backpack with about 10 pounds of the onions and 20 or so apples. The onions are stored in the pantry, and the apples were a treat for my horses. The local food bank we volunteer at sometimes has produce left over that can’t be kept over another week, so we get it, and I’m able to feed both my family and my horses.
Dawn Collyott says
So is this an actual grocery store or someone who just sells produce (hence Mr. Produce Guy) I’m wondering if grocery stores would be willing??
Randy says
I clicked a link posted on Face Book which had NOTHING to do with anything I’ve read here and saw another link saying ” How to make your own laundery soap” and found this site… HOW AWESOME IS THIS SITE !!!! I woke up at around 1:00 AM it’s now 4:00 am and I can’t stop reading !!! (LOL) Now really the waste of food that goes on is TRUELY rediculous !!! Like many of the peoples comments that I’ve read here there may be some issues around the area that I live in (Upstate New York) with going to various places and asking for “scraps” as well as “dumpster diving” because of the liabilities at the stores and the dumpsters around here for the most part are all locked-up BUT as for getting “free food” in my area I go to the food pantries and the one I go to most often has really good food that they give you Some canned, some refrigerated, some frozen, produce, bakery items, and tons of bread. Plus the other pantries don’t offer as much BUT it’s still good food !!! If it’s a situation that you don’t have the ability or facilities to either store or cook food (or you just don’t feel like cooking) The Salvation Army and the City Mission here both serve meals for free ( M-F) as well as a few other organizations in this area that either serve daily meals (or periodicaly). There’s no need for you to go hungery (at least around here)… The good book says ” seek and ye shall find” You need to be creative in the way you go about looking for things that you need !!! If you are in need of anything these are some sugestions I’ve used Go online if you don’t have a computer they are free to use at most libraries. Check out the Dept. of Social Servies in your area. Most counties have some sort of Community Action program. Check out the churches in your area. There are a multitude of other ways that I’ve used (but just can’t think of right now.. LOL) but these will get you started . Mavis i signed up for the E-mail and I’ll book mark also, I’ll be back and I’ll let people know as well !!!
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Randy,
Welcome! I’m glad you found my site.:)
Randy says
Thanks Mavis, I’ll visit often !!! I’ve already posted my find of you here on my Face book page with a link for my friends to find you and I’m about to send my Mom a text to let her know… Great place you have here !!!
Brandy says
I’ve never heard of asking for scraps, good suggestion. I have dumpster dived. We gathered more food via dumpsters than we knew what to do with. We ended up throwing away what we couldn’t give away. This nation truly has too much food.