dumpster diving?

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

does anyone around here do it? i'm moving to really close to tufts soon, and i'd like to know where one could obtain free bread products and maybe even produce. any and all hints will be sincerely appreciated. thanks in advance!

Comments

[ifotismeni]

guh. am i misunderstanding what dumpster diving is or are you really going to eat old bread bits other people throw out.... voluntarily?

[greenbeats.livejournal.com]

more like bread products that are thrown out at night when the store closes. example: dunkin donuts throws out all of their leftovers at night, so any uneaten bagels or donuts from the day go into the dumpster. they're perfectly fine.

[ifotismeni]

oh! ok, i totally had a different image in mind.

[sarah-raz.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and places usually tie up the stuff airtight (I think they're required to do so) to discourage rats, etc. Never done it myself but it's pretty common practice.

[spatch]

I'd rather befriend the night/closing shift workers and gain free day-olds that way than take a trip through the dumpster and possibly get flashlights in my face and a friendly voice asking me what I'm doing.

And besides, dumpster juice doesn't make bagels taste any better.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

i'm not very good at making friends, alas

[ron_newman]

Why do you want to do this ?!

[i-custard.livejournal.com]

i don't know why the original poster does it, but i've done it in the past for mainly the reason that it's upsetting that places throw out so much stuff at the end of the day instead of donating it somewhere. so when i had friends working at a bakery we'd go after they closed and get the pastries they had thrown out (they were in heavy duty garbage bags closed real tight and not near other trash) and bring them to shelters or to the dorms for the poor college kids. or we'd freeze some and have food in the house (as poor college kids ourselves).

it always amazes me how much food goes to waste from restaurants and stores every day.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

i hate waste, and i like free bagels

[greenbeats.livejournal.com]

i've only ever had luck with non-food products, like chairs and bookcases and stuff.

but like i said above, dunkin donuts in davis square is probably a good prospect, if you can figure out which dumpster they use. other than that, i'm not really sure. there are a lot of cafes in the area, but i'm not sure what they do with their extras at closing.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Ditto. It doesn't seem to be a good area for dumpster diving for food. Most places discourage it to avoid rodent problems.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

hmmm, yeah, that's what i figured. nothing a little exploring shouldn't take care of

[turil.livejournal.com]

Hint: try going a bit eastish for a better DDDD (Dunkin Donuts Dumpster Diving).

[fanw.livejournal.com]

If you want to go one step up, a lot of places offer day-old pastries for cheaper than fresh, or you could just walk into stores right before closing. Don't know about dumpster-diving though.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've had quite good luck getting free muffins and such just by being in the restaurant/store at closing time.

[tarkap.livejournal.com]

You should check out Haymarket on Fridays and Saturdays. There are lots of fruit stands that sell stuff a lot cheaper than in grocery stores. Usually it's because they're not looking as great as grocery stores want (maybe one rotten blueberry in a pint, etc.), but the price really makes up for it. I have no idea where they get their fruit from, but I've seen boxes of Trader Joe's fruit there before.

There are also cheese, fish, meat, and other stands and shops, but I've only bought produce there. All the vendors have the typical Boston attitude, which works pretty well there. :) Fridays are usually better due to it being a work day, and being the first day they sell stuff. Get off at Haymarket (Green or Orange lines) and walk around the corner. Look for people with bags of produce and walk where they're coming from.

I think most businesses in the metro-west Boston area compact their trash into dumpsters due to homeless people and rodents. Somerville recently made it a law for all residents to keep their trash in barrels, where previously they didn't care so much.

There was a post on here or the b0st0n LJ from an owner of a Subway restaurant looking for a charity to come pick up leftover bread to take to a soup kitchen or something because he didn't have time to move it. Maybe you could look back and ask him if it's ok for you to do that if you get to keep a loaf or two when you do it.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

ooh, the haymarket thingy sounds promising, thank you!

[kpht.livejournal.com]

i always wonder why people get this idea that bread is so expensive that dumpsterbread would be a good alternative. dude, bread's like, a buck or two for a loaf, and that's not even for the cheapest wonderbread. and plus, it has like 1,000x less of a chance of having bacteria on it.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

And making your own could be even cheaper.

[triphicus.livejournal.com]

C'mon man, it's the only way to live in the concrete jungle!

[kpht.livejournal.com]

ha, just get some produce at haymarket or, failing that, the clearance rack in the supermarket. if you shop smart, you can feed yourself cheaply without resorting to ick.

[triphicus.livejournal.com]

agreed... ick is right :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Upscale West Somerville never struck me as a concrete jungle :)

[triphicus.livejournal.com]

The concrete jungle knows no class structure; all it knows is industry.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

you could also try fair foods - while not close, they offer bread/produce at near-to-free prices for people who can't afford it otherwise

[turil.livejournal.com]

Just a note Fair Foods lists a place in Davis on Tuesday afternoons, however the actual location is nowhere near Davis. It's actually a couple blocks up into the residential area behind Sullivan Square.

But it's a great way to get food that would otherwise be thrown away for cheap. It's a buck a bag, and they have bread and veggies and boxed pasteries.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Because i have a tendency to hang out with the types who do this (I don't mind holding the flashlight for them but I typically don't avail myself of their prize) I know that many of the dunkin donuts shops tend to spoil their leftovers with coffee grounds. It means that you need to pick carefully. Au Bon Pain is supposed to be a pretty good source too.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's possible to get dunkin donuts coffee grounds for compost.

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Dunkin Donuts does, but Starbucks bags up their coffee grounds and (at least at the one near my office in Boston) you can just grab a bag for your garden.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

thank you, good to know. i've had luck with the dunkin donuts near me, but maybe other ones aren't as kind

Davis LJ is full of yuppies. :)

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Ask the crusty-punks in Harvard Sq, your local Food Not Bombs or Bikes Not Bombs chapter, and the SCUL chopper-bicycle gang for advice. That's your entree into the freegan underbelly of Boston.

Re: Davis LJ is full of yuppies. :)

[turil.livejournal.com]

Alas, I am now allergic to wheat, and can no longer enjoy the bags full of donuts Mr Wacket brings home at 4 in the morning after a mission... They smell good though.

The Davis Sq. LJ won't know, but...

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Ask the crusty-punks in Harvard Sq, your local Food Not Bombs or Bikes Not Bombs chapter, and the SCUL chopper-bicycle gang for advice. That's your entree into the freegan underbelly of Boston.

[aquastar.livejournal.com]

I'm going to ignore the rude posts that have been already made and give you the little information I have on the subject.

I've worked for a couple food store ... they donate their day old baked goods so you may not have too much luck in that department. (One of them being Foodmaster which is right by tufts.)

Suggestion: Walk into said store near closing and ask one of the closing staff out of curiosity if they donate their day old bread/produce. As far as I've noticed, most grocery store produce department people are young and friendly and they will probably be helpful (they spend time by the loading dock ...) And if they say no we toss them or whatever you can get information out of them ... and if they say yes we donate them then you'll know not to look there.

Hope that was at least a little helpful.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

In my younger days, my roommates and I used to go to Haymarket near closing time on Saturday. We'd get all kinds of free or almost free produce. You may be able to get bread and other perishables at great prices there at this time.

You might also try going to farmer's markets near closing time. You'd probably get good deals (although maybe not free).

[ohohiloveyou.livejournal.com]

i don't understand why people are being rude about it, but i was going to say you should check out the upper crust pizza place. the only one i've ever done this at is the one on charles street downtown, but they throw away boxes of pizza, tied in big trash bags. perfectly awesome pizza, and it was still warm too.

i guess i kind of get why people freak out about it, but i'm all about getting things for free or cheap. so right on, and good luck.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

sweet, thank you. i used to go to the one in brookline, but they fenced theirs off :(

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

The Bruegger's Bagels in Porter Square doesn't even require dumpster diving... they bag up their leftover bagels at the end of the day (5pm) and put them in a crate by the front door. Though I don't know if they only leave it out while they're cleaning up and stuff, because I'd expect people to steal the empty crate if they left it over night. =)

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

good to know, thank you

[turil.livejournal.com]

Bakery places are good to try. And college student center stores/cafe's might also be worth checking. The small places are better. Find out when a place closes and hang around for a bit to see where the leftovers go. There may also be some competition, if it's near MIT...

[claire-writes.livejournal.com]

I just started dumpster diving at Trader Joe's and Finnagle's. . . know any other good places? I'd love more partners in crime. Right now it's just me and one other friend.

[alasbabylon.livejournal.com]

well, i just moved here like a week ago and have yet to actually go exploring...but i'm curious about the dunkin donuts and au bon pain in davis square and maybe some places in teele square (which i'm closer to, but less familiar with. i'm SO loving the idea of a dumpstering posse