Can you get free food from the grocery store

[TinyChickenLady]

I go to mine all the time and get day old bread and produce for the livestock. If you can track down the delivery guys that deliver the breads and pastries like J. J. Nissen or Lil Debbie, they'll usually work with you and give leftovers to you for free. Since they only deliver once a week, they have to take perfectly good, still in date, food off the shelves because it will expire by the time they get to the store the following week. We can fill two 50 gallon drums a week with all the food that they have to "waste."

 

[kuntrygirl]

Our bread store gives out free bread. I can usually go in the store and get reduced food. If a bag of grapes expire on that date, I can get a markdown of $0.25 for the bag of grapes. And the grapes are in excellent condition. A bag of apples that will expire on that same day is marked down to $0.50 for the bag. Things like that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I love to get to the grocery store early that way I can find alot of organic produce and meat marked down. love to be able to feed my family and animals organic... and at a reduced price.

 

[lorihadams]

I have a friend that just worked out a deal with a local big grocery store that also prepares food for a cafeteria style area. He is planning on getting pigs in the spring so he went in and asked the manager if they had any produce that he could get every week for his compost heap and they said sure. Last week he got 3 huge garbage bags of veggie scraps and "damaged" produce. He just has to come pick it up.

Now our local grocery store is a totally different story. My uncle works in the produce department and I asked him if I could get damaged produce or anything like bagged salad that was past the expiration date for the chickens and he said no, they were required to put it in the dumpster because of liability issues. He said if I wanted to dumpster dive then he would tell me when they put it out but hubby would kill me.

All you can do is ask...what's the worst that can happen, they say no?

 

[mulewagon]

Try a farmers' market or flea market. At the end, the produce sellers don't want to haul the wilted/squishy stuff home, so sometimes you can get good chicken feed!

 

[homestead wanna be]

Another good documentary on this is called Dive. I didn't realize how much food was wasted from the grocery stores.

 

[MetalSmitten]

just fyi, be careful if you try dumpster diving. some grocery stores actually pour bleach (or similar) over their dumpsters' contents, specifically to prevent anyone from being able to use their food waste. not all of them do this by any means, but, it's something to be aware of.

 

[lynda]

:/ I have been very disappointed also when I started checking local stores, Bakeries, Large Supermarkets etc regarding this. I also saw that show the other nite. I think its just who you know. I did find one place that is willing to give me bakery goods and supplies if they dont use them. I dont believe the stores, and I would love to watch and see what they do with the mass amounts of food that is not kept. Any nite owls out there??? lol I think its just a matter of calling around and see who you encounter and if they are willing to give away anything. I have yet to contact many places in my area of Northern Calif. Will keep everyone updated.

 

[raro]

My college-aged son has gone dumpster-diving tons of times. He would come home with a lot of baked goods and produce that had been thrown out. When someone caught him at it (rarely), he would say he was looking for boxes. Once a guy caught him red-handed with a 20-lb bag of potatoes. The guy glanced behind him to be sure no one was watching and then urged him, "Go ahead! Take them, quick! And take this other stuff, too!" Other places won't allow you to have free stuff, but if you drive by at different times, you might find a grocery cart next to the dumpster that "just happens" to have baked goods that are still fine. That way they can say they throw it out, but they keep it out of the actual dumpster for people.
And one of my favorite occasions was when we drove by a grocery store dumpster and an older, obviously very poor man was reaching in and had armfuls of bread. He saw us and stammered, "It's...it's for my dog!" I smiled and said, "Great, go for it!" and he looked so relieved that I wasn't going to call the cops on him.
Half our household furnishings have come from dumpsters. It's pathetic that stores throw away so much stuff, but hey, if they're dumb enough to do it, I'm smart enough to take advantage of it!