Dumpster Diving (1/4)

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!