Have you ever dumpster dived for food or thought about it?

Never and I pray I never have to.
I am funny about left overs and toss things after a few days as it is. I could never eat someones sloppy dumpster dinner, if I was truly desperate I would probably change my mind though.

@Coloma I always felt that way, also. My daughter has really affected me about it. I wouldn’t touch “sloppy dumpster dinners” either. What she gets is attractive, clean stuff. I honestly have never done it but she goes on and on about the fresh veggies she gets and has swayed my opinion of it. Mind you, I am speaking about a mental case here who works as little as possible and has been very hungry many times because of it. She claims to not go inside the dumpster itself (I don’t buy into this) but meets a guy pushing a cart out to the dumpster with stuff that didn’t sell. It’s not the same as a bare cake with roaches crawling over it or last week’s chicken.
I sometimes wonder if my s/o would ever be caught dead even watching me. I know he’d claim he wouldn’t but …..lol

No when I was homeless I just stole the food I needed from the supermarket.

No, even though I have had some hard financial times, in the past, I have never had to or even thought of dumpster diving. Course, if I was destitute and hungry, I might do it.

I dumpster dove once but it was for a baby raccoon. He got in there with his mother and he was too small to get out. I heard him crying so I got a board and put it in there at a shallow angle and then got out of there. His mother wasn’t too happy with me approaching him. He climbed right out. Food, I’d have to be pretty hungry.

After having worked at a grocery store in the past, if I needed to, I would seriously consider it and I wouldn’t even be ashamed. The stuff stores throw away is honestly baffling. I would price bread, rolls and other things down to $1.00 and even 1 cent for homeless people at the end of the day, otherwise bags and bags of rolls and bread would just get tossed. Produce departments throw away food simply because it isn’t pretty enough, even if tons of people would be willing to buy it. It’s unbelievable. They also throw flawless clothes and other items away for multiple reasons. I wanted to kill myself when I worked there, because it broke my heart every single day.

I have kinda thought about it. I love the bakery at my local supermarket. One of the girls told me at the end of the night, what is left goes in the dumpster. That is just awful!

OMG! I could not eat food from a dumpster! Maybe I would use other stuff, like clothes and stuff that can be washed but not food! That creeps me out.

@Pixidust a lot of times things are in containers where garbage doesn’t even come near them. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.

There was a Dunkin’ Donuts when I was a teen that threw out all the day’s pastries that hadn’t been sold. They put them in garbage bags, and we’d go late at night and take a bag. We weren’t the only ones doing this, either. Eventually they put a padlock on the dumpster though. Fuckers.

To answer your questions, ‘no’ to Dumpster diving and ‘no’ to having thought about it. That is one of the luxuries of having enough money to pay for one’s needs.

What is questionable is ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ dates set by government agencies. Food items are perishable products, but some of the dates set seem unrealistic. Why not either reduce the price or give them away to charities who feed the homeless?

@Pied_Pfeffer exactly! this really burns me up. I know some places do donate them to food banks. but, soooo many do not. it’s such a shame.

Never have and hopefully never will.