Dumpster diving is not just about saving money on groceries, which is what I thought until I spent an evening with Allison Burtch. This girl is taking personal responsibility for all of the food our country wastes by eating her way through dumpsters. She has been diving for about six months and hasn’t bought groceries since. That is an incredible way to save money! I currently spend about $100 a week on groceries, so this means IF I dove (and that is a big if), I could stand to save $5,200 a year. That’s a lot of cash!
How much money would you have to save to dumpster dive?
UPDATE: Unfortunately this video has been taken down by AOL. š I wasn’t able to find it anywhere else on the web, very sad to say!
If you are interested in dumpster diving, keep in mind that it is illegal in some states. If you plan to dumpster dive, know what you are getting into (literally and figuratively). Know your rights and decide if you are willing to pay the price should you get caught.
That said, I suggest you prepare by reading blogs about dumpster diving and by getting in touch with an experienced diver. If possible, go with a veteran diver on your first several attempts to learn the ropes. From my one night of dumpster diving with Allison Burtch, all dumpsters are not created equally. Certain ones she skipped entirely because they had a bad reputation or she had not found anything after several attempts. She also knew which dumpsters were more likely to have flowers, or vegetables, for example.
There were many other important considerations that a veteran dumpster diver would know:
- If any security guards troll the lots and what they are likely to do should you run into one
- What time is the best time to dive
- The best route to hit multiple spots
- Extras to bring like clothes, hand cleaner, wipes, bags, etc
- What to do when you run into other divers
While I will probably never dumpster dive again myself, I wouldn’t spurn others for diving. It’s their choice, so they are free to make it! And I would love to hear stories from divers as my one night of diving was pretty exciting. I can only imagine the bizarre and funny things that happen over months and years of regular diving.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! Iām Mara, and Iām so glad youāre here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Wow! It is amazing how many times get tossed out, but I don’t know if I could go dumpster diving.
This is just not right. I don’t eat food that falls on my floor at home or that grandson has sneezed on. No way am I going to eat food from a dumpster. If I was homeless, maybe. Thankfully I am not in that predicament.
Incredible food finds
. But, not for me. Have you not heard of scary things like discarded needles???
Melinda,
I have not heard any urban legends about finding needles in dumpsters. I’m sure they get thrown away, but probably not in the dumpster for a food store. In any case, wearing gloves and being careful is wise.
my son bragged about our dumpster finds once, and the church gave us a care package for Thanksgiving!
I am surprised that markets aren’t donating some of these types of items to a local food pantry. The fruit and vegetables shown in your video looked very edible. I have occasionally seen some markets selling assorted “not so perfect” produce in bags for cheap.
My late mother would be shocked to see all this wasted food.
I worked at Starbucks for several years, and you would all be sickened at what was thrown out.
Perfectly good baked goods are thrown out by every store, every evening. TONS OF THEM. Giant garbage bags full of them. The poor, minimum wage baristas are generally not allowed to take any of it (although I often broke the rules and took stuff anyway).
There oughta be a law against this waste.
Forgot to say, sandwiches are thrown out too. Coffee and espresso is dumped.
Spposedly registered charities are allowed to come by and pick stuff up, but no effort is ever made to get this food into their hands.
Great story Julia!!! P.S our next segment will be airing soon ill let you know!
I use to work for McDonalds and if a burger sat for more than 5 minutes they had to throw it in the dumpster. They were not even allowed to giv it to any homeless people. They said they could be sued if they got sick… What a waste !! We threw 20-30 away at times
This does not thrill me. Who knows what germs could be lurking or how long the food has been there? To each his own.
We raised 5 pigs and dumpster “dived” all the time to supplement their feed. It was INCREDIBLE the perfectly good produce that was thrown out. It’s not the most pleasant experience, but if it’s a dumpster behind a grocery store, it’s a pretty safe bet there won’t be anything dangerous (like needles). Needless to say, we always wore gloves.
I volunteered in a grammar school lunch time science room and was shocked by the perfectly prepared lunches that were thrown out. Yes, we did pick through them… Felt bad for the moms working so hard to make a delicous lunch for their kids…
BargainBabe,
Great story about the food industry.
Wow – what an eye opener. I think Allison and I would be great friends. It’s hard to believe all that nutritious food is being thrown out. Half of it looked like it should still be on the shelves!
Saw a woman on WE’s Secret Lives of Women who does this. Inspired to do it myself, but my husband would kill me if I did. Such a shame that we have people going hungry in our country and food just being wasted by the ton!
Great post, I bet a lot of work and research went into this article.
Err…thats pretty disgusting man… There is something inherently wrong about eating something that someone has deemed not edible and thrown out…not to mention dangerous too.
This is taking the whole cheap thing too far.
Consider this: A friend of my mom and step dad does this all the time, and sells the food to friends cheap. One day I went over my mom’s just in time when he’d sold them a bunch of bottles of carrot juice…..but unbeknownst to them (and the guy who sold it to them) this carrot juice had just been RECALLED for having something wrong with it!! It had just been on the news and she didn’t know and was about to try some! HELLO………there may be a SAFETY reason why a food is thrown away!
Why don’t more people start groups like FoodNet (http://members.cox.net/foodnet/index.htm) and then people who really need food could pick it up for free and not have to dive in dumpsters. I use to help with this group and we would pick up unused food from various restaurants, cafeterias, and grocery stores and take it immediately to a refrigerator or freezer (if needed). I was able to take some of the food for my family and we never got sick. I wish there were more groups like this one.
What you are advocating is highly dangerous. Let me explain. I operated grocery stores for over 60 years. What was safe to eat, but damaged or close to its ‘do not sell’ date was marked down and sold in the store or was donated to charity. What we threw in the dumpster was often contaminated or unsafe to eat. Contaminated with what? Spills of household chemicals like bleach, soap, cleaning supplies, dirt, insects, and poisons. Unsafe to eat included foods that contained salmonella, botulism, or listeria. Salmonella and listeria can make you very sick or if you’re young or elderly kill you. Botulism will kill you even in small amounts. Yes, sometimes an employee will put something good in the dumpster and not all food there has these bacteria, but, can you tell the difference? Foods that have been recalled often go into the dumpster. When they are recalled, there is a serious safety reason. There are hundreds of recalls a year that you don’t hear about. If you wouldn’t buy it because it was recalled, why would you eat it for free? Do you have a death wish? What you are advocating is much like playing Russian Roulette. Sure, when pulling the trigger, most people will get off. Then again sometimes you are just out of luck. Is it worth it to take a chance on the safety of your loved ones or yourself?
This was just weird.