Can you get free food from the grocery store

[chickenjoe]

I was watching a special on Food network call The Big Waste. They had to go to stores and food vendors and get food that was on it way to the dumpster and make a enough food to feed a 100 people . The food was ediable it just didn't look perfect or it was orders returned. I was wondering if a normal person walk into your local supermarket and ask if they had anything like that if they would give it to you for free or reduced price. Does anyone have any experience do this. Oh also in this special they mention we waste 40 - 50 % of the food in stores and resturants.

 

[BarredBuff]

Ive tried to get some for the buns but with no luck at several stores

 

[MorelCabin]

Nope, they will not give it to anyone, you would have to get it out of the dumptser IF the dumpster isn't locked. When I was young my dad worked at a grocery store, and we were not rich by any means. My dad knew when all the produce went in the dumster and would drive back to get it after work.

 

[Wannabefree]

Alot of it goes to charity organizations, and churches, shelters, etc. I know forsthand because I deliver alot of it in our community. I would say 40% waste is pretty accurate. Some does go into dumpsters :/ One corporation, whom I am not allowed to name, leaves the decision of whether to donate or dump entirely up to their individual store managers. Some dump, like my very local store, and others give, like the specific store where this food I personally deliver comes from. I have yet to see one that will freely give to potential paying customers. If they think they can get your money, they want it!!

 

[hqueen13]

That all depends. A friend of mine gets the "bad" food from our local organic market and gives it to her chickens. She just happened to stop in and ask about it, and they told her they threw it away, so she asked if she could take it to her chickens. She now stops by once a week or so and gets a box from them full of "bad" food. I use the term loosely, she brought me some apples one day when she stopped up and I could barely figure out what was wrong with them. But they weren't fit to sell, apparently.
If you do want to do this kind of thing, expect it to be on a routine basis. There is no harm in asking the manager to find out what they do with the bad food. I know a couple stores around here will package things up and sell them for less if they are getting close to going bad or have bruises or things like that. I just wouldn't expect that they'll randomly hand you something though.

 

[ORChick]

On the subject of food waste .... this is a UK site, but you might find it informative

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

 

[FarmerChick]

I don't know about my stores.

I get free flowers. Sometimes, if I hit it just right, there are bunches of roses and assorted arrangements at the end of the registers.

when you check out the cashier gives you a bunch of flowers. They are on their way out but last about 2-3 days max. Still nice tho and I take them because I love flowers.

 

[the funny farm6]

It goes to salvation army and chuches with food pantrys here. But if you go to the big town 40 miles north the big bread outlet stores sell "feed bread". It is stuff past the experation. We used to gaet a TRUCK LOAD for $10.00! They have realy cut down on how much of that they have so no more truckloads we did eat a lot of it... it was stuff 1 day past the experation.

 

[Denim Deb]

Several years ago, RU used to be able to get free bakery products by the truck load. It was all past the expiration date, and was just going to be trashed. She'd get a ton of old rolls, bread, etc to feed to the horses. (A vet told her this was fine, don't know if that's really true or not, but the horses loved it!) Then, she'd also get old donuts and other goodies which we'd eat.

 

[the funny farm6]

Our horses LOVED it! And we rescued an old mare that was skin and bones, nothing seemed to put weight on her very well- got a load of bread and wow did she put some pounds on! And we fed it to the pig, rabbits, chickens, ducks, heck even the dogs started to eat it! (They loved bagels) and I don't know if I can say the brand name or not, but we got a lot of the cinnamon raisin, blueberry crumble, and cinnamon swirl bread that comes in a small loaf. The kids loved that stuff! And we would freeze it so it wouldn't get moldy.