Dumpster Diving: The Easiest Way To Find Free Food

Print This Post 19 Sep 2007 in Budget Advice by Cameron Karsten

Hunger is a necessary experience of travel (and life). When blessed with a budget, there is very little fear of hunger.

It is commonplace in a strange land, on a strange form of transportation that might last for days, to wonder when you’ll stop for your next meal.

True, the local markets do provide wonderfully, as with the vendors along the streets and the friendly strangers who invite you in to quench your thirst, and hopefully (cross your fingers), feed you.

Yet there is never a guarantee, and to eat is a necessity. So whip out your wallet of traveler’s checks and foreign currencies and start paying. Or… put it away and enjoy the feast.

Let me tell you something: food comes free in many more ways than one.

Taking The Dive

Olympic diving is a sport. Like swimming.

The type of diving I speak of however, does not require water. And its’ only purpose is food: to satiate that shrinking belly of yours while the traveling road surges forward.

So you dive, and dive deep, often you come up with more than one meal. In fact, it’s possible the smart diver can feed a whole family for several days.

Are you ready my fellow travelers? Are you ready to go dumpster diving?

I have found it to be an art form. There is a method to come away clean, smelling fresh and carrying a bagful of healthy, wholesome, satiating rations. But let me first lay down the definition of dumpster diving.

Within a dumpster, food easily makes up over 50% of the waste.

Dumpster diving is just that. To take the plunge into a dumpster in search of practically anything. But today we focus on foodstuffs, because we’re travelers and we’re hungry.

Everyone must eat, therefore a diver can never be letdown. And with food, there is a certain identification tag that works to benefit all: the expiration date.

Most people in society today live by this expiration date. Their ablutophobia prohibits them from eating a morsel of bread with a speck of mold or a plump pear with an inch of bruising.

This works to our advantage…if our fear is minimal.

The Art of a Full Grocer’s Bag

Dumpsters are full of provisions with passed expiration dates, everything from breads to jars of jams and sauces to fruits and vegetables and boxes of snacks. People throw their things away carelessly to make room for the new.

And the adageâ€”one’s waste is another’s treasureâ€”applies well in this particular circumstance. To sum up, dumpster diving is the art of claiming others’ waste, and free food is an easy source of protein.

Like I said, it is an artform, and to make it an artform there must be a few rules and techniques. The following will help one become a seasoned dumpster diver and benefit from a society obsessed with creating waste:

1. Scout out your dumpster

It is risky to immediately walk up to a dumpster’s plank and dive in. Many times there are cameras on surveillance, or hazardous wastes nearby, therefore causing the goods inside to be potentially unhealthy.

Once outside Marks & Spencer in the UK, a security guard caught a friend and me. We played dumb, told him we were making a project to reveal how much edible food is disgracefully thrown away. He smiled and told us to leave.

2. Go for large supermarkets

They stick to a strict code of tossing food that has passed its’ expiration date. Also, the bakeries inside will often deposit their day-old breads. (At a Tescos in Nottingham, England my backpack was filled with loaves of sandwich and Irish soda bread).

3. Come Around Again

Once the dumpster has been scouted, return to it at an appropriate hour when traffic is minimal.

Walk up to the dumpster with confidence; do not portray any suspicions. But quickly, forage and collect what you can. Also, carrying a grocer’s bag from the market can help conceal your actions.

4. Move Swiftly

With a full bag move out quickly. Back home, check the provisions over and wash carefully. Here is where you can discard any products you feel are not edible.

In the end, it is under your discretion of what to eat and what to toss.

Also, it is good to note whether or not any other divers are at the dumpster. For example, if a community of homeless resides near a source, be respectful and leave it to them.

These are the foundations of dumpster diving, or reaping off what other people call “waste” when, in actuality, it can be spared and used as necessary fuel.

Treat it as an art form and you will soon find yourself with a free meal, and an intriguing way of discovering how to travel, eat and live on a budget.

Put your wallets away, save your traveler’s checks and foreign currencies, and take the dive.

Cameron Karsten writes spiritual and health travel columns for Brave New Traveler. He left his formal classroom studies to indulge in dreams of travel at 19 years old, and has been wandering ever since. Visit his personal website.

Have you ever tried dumpster diving? Share you stories in the comments!

Cameron Karsten

Cameron Karsten writes spiritual and health travel columns for Brave New Traveler. He left his formal classroom studies to indulge in dreams of travel at 19 years old, and has been wandering ever since. Visit his personal website.

17 Comments »

Comment by jay — September 19, 2007

cool post, everytime i walk past my local supermarket there are people diving, usually deep, i have to say, i have had a few urges myself, mainly out of curiousity but never gone for it, after chattin to some divers in action though i found out that you can get some pretty sweet stuff

if i were hungry and broke this would defo be an option…ha ha

Comment by Ken — September 19, 2007

My Dumpster diving experience is limited but educational. A few years back Wendy’s had a promotion that if you saved the coupons on their drink cups you could trade them in for a free round trip airline ticket. Needless to say drinking that much soda was out of the question. Enter the dumpster diving scheme for the cups. While collecting the cups I met some people who got their food out of the dumpster. Not the half eaten sandwich you might think of but whole sacks of food not eaten! It seems that if Wendy’s makes a mistake on a order they just toss it and replace the meal. So if I had to dive I would start with fast a food dumpster first.

Comment by pam — September 19, 2007

I hate that dumpster diving is becoming the domain of hipsters with Internet access. HATE it. While I think it’s tragic that there’s so much wasted food when so many people are hungry, I also think there’s something unseemly in the idea that you should go dumpster diving so you can save your pennies for your RTW ticket or spend three more days on the beach.

It’s not just the ick factor, it’s the politics of it.Pretending to be post-apocalyptic and then going to yoga class is, well, I don’t have the words to describe how I feel about those choices. If you feel TRULY compelled to stem the waste, you could redistribute what you find to the street people in your area. Or take a little action to work directly with the business that’s dumping food to build relationships with organizations that feed the needy each day.

There. I’ve said it. I guess I’m prepared for the backlash. I guess.

Comment by Ian MacKenzie — September 19, 2007

hi pam - thanks for your comments. i suppose the issue can be viewed a number of ways, depending on where exactly the dumpster diving is taking place. i could see the ethical issue that comes from saving your money in a developing country instead of helping out the local economy. then again, cam does mention to steer clear of dumpsters that have homeless/needy already claimed. plus, as a wandering nomad, taking the time to build long-term relationships when you’ve on the move doesn’t seem possible. a polarizing issue, definitely.

Comment by Justin — September 19, 2007

A friend was recently telling me about a movement called “Freeganism.” I’d never heard of it before and another friend described it with pretty negative overtones as dumpster-diving. I wikipedia’d the term and discovered there’s a whole socio-political movement of anti-consumerism associated with it. I’m not sure it’s the type of activism/lifestyle for me, but it was interesting and you can’t deny that our society wastes a lot of food while other nations starve.

Anyway, interesting article!

Comment by cam2yogi — September 19, 2007

My first notion of dumpster diving was absurd as well, I mean… how difficult is it to buy a plate of dal bhat for 50 US cents in Nepal, or finding fresh roasted squid-on-a-stick in Thailand to support the locals and their lifestyles. But no doubt, while on the road the traveler finds more and more that one person’s waste is another’s treasure.
Passing books from traveler to traveler, giving away clothes to locals as the climate changes from sea to mountain, exchanging knowledge about where and when to go - the world works in cycles. And the Tao of it, one could say, is to go with the flow. The snake eats its’ own tail, thus it grows, and the more people become sustainable, learn how to recycle, and share their “waste”, the easier the flow will evolve. There is nothing to fear in this flow of life. Take what you can get, and give back more than you should.
Ian hit a brilliant notion: it is hard to establish relationships while on the road, and the idea of giving a homeless or street-dweller something one pulled out of a dumpster seems lower than diving itself. Only a fresh Cambodian bowl of noodle soup on Thanksgiving day given to the kids of the street will create that vision of how the world truly goes round and then comes back around.

Comment by pam — September 19, 2007

I don’t know that I’d advocate handing “trash” food to street people in communities you don’t know, though I’m not sure how to reconcile “it’s good enough for me with my return ticket but not good enough for that guy living in a box with his kid.”

I might advocate passing the word to street people in those places this: Yo, that dumpster over there is FULL of TOTALLY EDIBLE FOOD. Let me take you there - and passing on it for myself because I can spend three bucks on a meal that supports the local economy.

And yes, yes, yes, buy the soup, for crying out loud. Absolutely. Yes, pass the books along. Yes to all of those things. Of course. I am not one to argue with that. But I do object to the what seems to be a popular trend of relatively privileged individuals scavenging without participation in stemming the tide of waste at the source. As a beneficiary of the bread place’s waste, are you truly encouraged to find a more appropriate use for that food, or are you just saying “Dude, I totally scored on these day old spelt rolls!” I’m inclined to think that dumpster diving Freegans land on the “Dude I scored!” side.

Try this related scenario: Regularly around my ‘hood, people set out bags full of stuff for a non profit center to pick up. If I buy that stuff from the second hand store, the money goes into employment training programs for the homeless. If I liberate it from the curb, there’s no benefit. Is that different than dumpster diving? It was trash to the people that put it out for pickup, right?

Another scenario: The guy living with his kid in a box walks down the alley and sees you, the traveler, diving for dinner in a society that doesn’t provide him with enough to eat. I don’t think I can express how horrible that scenario seems to me.

Comment by cam2yogi — September 19, 2007

Scenario number one is an ideal example of a society of conscious persons giving back to their community. If only there were more neighborhoods voluntarily taking a moment’s thought from their day to place foodstuff and used goods out front their porches. And I’m sure there are more than I’m aware of… I hope so.

As far as dumpster diving, my experience does not relate within a lesser developed world where (I can only imagine) dumpsters and trash bins can be more… hmmm… unpleasant, and more so, against what is socially acceptable within that culture. There is always a place and a time for everything.

But take the UK and the US for instance where a market such as Whole Foods or Mark & Spencers are too large, too wasteful (reaching up to a corporate level). What to do? Write a letter to your local newspaper editor? Set up a tent community outside their doors? Walk in and ask to see a manager to present him/her with a petition signed by community members?

These actions might turn the tide, but with a flow running strong against one’s individual strength - and until more people wake up from their illusions of power and material wealth to learn to take care of one another and the planet in which we all co-exist - the likelihood of changing this tide is slim, but indeed possible. And anyone with the energy to take it to the corporate offices in order to reduce waste, come to understand the ease of recycling and reusing, and therein keeping the dumpsters and waste sites empty; on this day I will rejoice and go volunteer at the local soup kitchen to the end of my days.

Comment by pam — September 20, 2007

So, what, exactly, is the motivation here? That there’s so much waste or that you’re trying to score free stuff? Because if the concern is genuinely with the waste, then yes, all the actions you list above are appropriate - the visit to the store manager, the petition, the corporate windmill tilting… because the alternatives are to passively let a broken system continue while you continue to reap the “benefits” for yourself, only. If you have the time and inclination to go diving, you can find the time to stop in and have a chat with the store manager. If the concern is only free lunch, there’s no reason to face the issue, just continue to feed off it, literally. Enjoy your meal and the fiction that you’re creating change.

Dumpster diving comes under the heading of Very Bad Ideas for Travelers. Because:

Health - A traveler’s health is the one thing not to be skimped on. That dumpster may have been the home of rats, used diapers, used needles, who knows. Do you really want to risk that?

Economics - there’s a whole tragically under serviced population - everywhere on the planet, even in the US and UK, that make their subsistence on the detritus of others. Do you really want to compete with them for your dinner? Sure, you advise scoping to see if there’s competition, but if you’re just passing through, how would you know?

Diplomacy - travelers every where are diplomats, like it or no. You’re not just in the world to learn about other places - people you interact with will take your behaviors as representative of your home country. When the humorless owner comes out the back to have a smoke and finds you, Gap Year Traveler, sorting through the leftovers of the restaurant that pays his living, do you think he wants to hear a lecture on institutionalized waste from a foreigner who’s too cheap to pay for dinner?

Crime - Again, like it or no, in some places,it’s a crime to steal garbage. Idiotic though it is, you run the risk of explaining your actions to a cop who isn’t interested in your hunter gatherer as social commentary choices. Do you know if it’s a crime at your destination?

Diving in your own community where you can asses the risk AND also work to create change is a better proposition. Diving as a method for finding food while traveling is a terrible idea.

Pingback by nerd’s eye view » Blog Archive » Counterpoing: You’re an Effing Hippie — September 20, 2007

[…] involved in a bloggy smackdown over at Brave New Traveler. The issue at hand? The writer advocates dumpster diving as a way to score food while traveling and […]

Comment by cam2yogi — September 20, 2007

Choices are abundant in life, and especially they appear ever-so-more present while traveling. The more options on the table (or in the dumpster) of one’s journey, the more creative one can become. The article is merely an option, an idea, a reflection, an expansion upon memory. So whoever finds themselves open to new things, whether with risk or not, dumpster diving is out there. Proceed according to your own guidance. Respect your SELF, most of all, and then dive down the path with your own heart and do not look back. Fear is what plagues the world today, yesterday, and unfortunately… tomorrow.

Comment by Turner — September 20, 2007

That’s a great argument - agree or disagree, the idea should be brought into the light and discussed. We see a lot of that here.

Comment by Thadd — September 26, 2007

I’m sorry but I have disagree, on many levels. Life and travel is all about personal choices and options. Not everyone feels the social compulsion that you seem to feel. Judging a “hipster” for dumpster diving is no worse than the rich turning up their nose at a homeless man dumpster diving.
I know from my personal experience working at a grocery store that Cameron is right on. Tens to hundreds of pounds of food are tossed on a daily basis from even the smallest grocery store. I also know that the homeless are quiet aware of this.
Feeling bad for the homeless is one thing, I’m sure we all do, but why does that mean that all of us should go out and do something about it. If you feel the need to campaign for them, there are plenty of organizations that you can lobby through.
I’m not sure how many homeless people you’ve spoken to, but I got to tell you that many are paranoid and territorial. Some are truly intelligent well spoken people who have just hit on hard times. Even they tend to find the places where the food is at. I’ll tell you my concern as a Chicagoan is not whether they are eating or not, my concern is what are they going to do with the winter coming up. If you want to campaign for the homeless, come to Chicago and work on getting them indoors for our -20 to -40 degree winters. That claims more homeless lives than lack of food in dumpsters.
Back to my original point though. If someone feels the need or desire to go dumpster diving, I say go for it. I personally won’t be joining you unless I do hit upon some dire straights. If you find it morally unethical, then please don’t. Go campaign for the homeless, but please don’t try to make my choices for me.

Comment by pam — September 26, 2007

I want to reiterate something, just to be clear. I think dumpster diving is a bad idea for TRAVELERS. Dumpster diving when you don’t have the time and local insight to asses whether or not you’re poaching a known source of food for people less well off than yourself is, I continue to believe, a bad idea.

Comment by Josh — October 3, 2007

What dumpsters in Nepal or Thailand or India? Food doesn’t make it into the dumpster here. There’s loads of people to give first refusal, then the dogs, cows, donkeys, etc. get it.

Food ends up in the dumpster in countries that can “afford to be wasteful,” like the US.

Dumpster diving is a patriotic act. Dive away!

Comment by patricia — January 23, 2008

dupster digging is the further for some if things keep going the way they are alot more people will be doing it just to get a meal .look at all the homeless people there is not even a homeless shelter in some state to even help them. we need more help for these people .thats the way this world is no one cares about anyone not even there own family so please find it in your heart to help them .please we are no better then they are so please help the ones that really need it .god loves us all and help your family they real need so one that cares .if i knew any of my family was out there having to live like that i would do anything i could to help them. think twices if you had to live like that .you lost everthing you had worked for never say not me it can happen to anyone.so please help others they need us all.

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