Budget Travel: Food

I've touched briefly on this in my initial introduction to budget travel but, if you're not yet convinced, maybe I can sway you in the dumpster's direction this time...

Despite where it comes from, meals made of food rescued from the skip can be clean, healthy and delicious! Supermarkets are notorious for throwing away perfectly edible and fresh food simply because of the date on the packaging and having a rummage through their bins can turn up some great finds.

Before diving head first into the dumpster though, remember a couple of basic things. For health and safety reasons wear thick, waterproof gloves (I found gardening gloves quite good) and welly boots (in case you need to climb in!). If you have long hair, tie it back and, obviously, wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty. Also, be aware of dumpster diving laws in your destination country and how well controlled it is. I've found the website trashwiki can be pretty helpful with this and with scoping out good skip spots.

When it comes to the actual food, try and stick to things that are well packaged and that look relatively fresh. Also, try to stay away from meat - as a vegan that's not so relevant for me but, if you do eat meat, don't get it from the dumpster. Eating slightly aged carrots is one thing, munching on spoiled meat is a totally different story. It can make you very sick, very fast so steer clear of the stuff.

The picture above is of some volunteers in an ashram I stayed at in Denmark tucking into a tasty meal made using ingredients we rescued from the skip the night before. This ashram regularly fed as many as 30 people on dumpster dived food alone!

A great way to get some healthy, fresh food without blowing your budget is to shop at local markets. Even the smallest of towns will usually have a pop up food market on over the weekend where you can pick up lots of locally grown, and made, fruit, vegetables, jams and cheeses. In bigger towns or cities these famer's markets can sometimes be permanent installations and you'll find all the locals there buying their daily wares. 

Depending on where you end up, some stall holders may be open to haggling over the price while others will have the cost predetermined. Find out what the etiquette is before you go, the last thing you want to do is insult someone by offering them a fraction of what they've asked of you. Also, if you can learn a few relevant phrases in the local language this can be very helpful. You'll seem less like a rich, easily scammable tourist and, hopefully, be taken more seriously.

Now, while the shop pictured above wasn't particularly cheap (I just thought the name was very funny), you can definitely pick up some budget buys on the supermarket shelves if you look carefully enough.

One way is to go straight for the reduced to clear section where you'll find all their food that's nearly at its sell-by date at a discounted price. More than likely, this produce will be in the skip the following day so, if you don't mind waiting, refer to part 1 on dumpster diving. If you don't feel like wading through waste though, this section of the supermarket's shelves is the next best thing. Make sure to put everything you buy from here into the fridge, or a cool place, and give it a little smell before eating to check it's still fresh.

Aside from the reduced to clear shelves, you'll often find supermarkets that run meal deals and, while a lot of them aren't actually that cheap when you analyse them, sometimes you can grab yourself a good bargain. Also, keep an eye out for the discount supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl which can be found all over Europe and even America now too. They keep their prices low by working so that, instead of paying their suppliers straight away, they put all their takings into a high interest savings account and then, when it's time to pay up, they just skim the interest off the top as profit. Boring stuff for me and you maybe, but it results in us getting our shopping at little more than cost value.

Lots of people are now beginning to take notice of the high prices of food wherever you go and are setting up initiatives to provide affordable, healthy meals to locals and travelers. For example, you'll find the Hare Krishna restaurant, Govindas, here in Dublin giving away large take away trays of their delicious vegetarian food for just €1 as it nears closing time.

I've mentioned before the Food not Bombs movement who are active worldwide in offering simple, free meals to the public every week. I once happily chowed down on one of their hot, tasty lentil curries in the freezing cold November streets of York in the UK.

The Real Junk Food project is another great organisation that run Pay As You Feel cafes all across Europe. I tried a few of them, also while in the UK last year, and was provided with decent food and friendly service.

The Groupon website can often turn up some bargain restaurant deals and, although I've never used it, I've read some great things about Food For All where you can buy restaurant's leftovers at the end of the day for a fraction of the price.