Raw Freegan Divers

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Comment by HolisticHealthDetective on May 2, 2012 at 1:16pm

Holy cow folks, our Mary Elizabeth is smokin' right now! Talk about fast foot work! Congrats on securing an abundance of fresh live foods!

With what you've tapped into, I definitely hope you'll be able to organize a pick up/drop off service with a truck right there in your community!

Sharing your steps the whole way along has been inspirational and powerful.

It is truly a beautiful BLESSING to be in the "business" of food sharing and donating.

I have a few personal creeds that I live by

1. Be kind to animals

2. Living beings before profits

3. Food is for sharing

We need to feed our brothers and sisters on this planet. There is no such thing as a food crisis on this planet--only a food distribution/politics/education crisis.

Mary Elizabeth, I'm so glad to hear of your success in procuring such a bounty for yourself and others, and in motivating store employees as well!

Let me know if you still want to meet some other divers.

Next demand: pictures/videos of dived items?

= )

Tania

Comment by Mary Elizabeth on May 2, 2012 at 10:09am

Hey Casey! Try just talking to the manager of the store or maybe meet an employee on their smoke break and ask them if they can help you out and give you the produce they throw away. I figure the employees can understand since mostly they are middle/lower class and are pissed about all of the waste anyways and are probably liberal-minded (Whole Foods/ Tj's people). I found out TJ's and WF here DOES give away almost all of their fruit and veg since the food banks are in close proximity and there are homeless everywhere. I think in the suburbs it's a bit tougher since there is more sprawl. Just explain to them your situation and they might help you out.

Love!

Comment by Casey on May 1, 2012 at 11:54pm

Suddenly Chicago sounds like a pretty nice place. :)

I miss diving, all of the stores here either have compactors or more often I can't *find* any dumpster, like they must have it locked inside a bay or something...

Comment by Mary Elizabeth on May 1, 2012 at 5:46pm

Went to Stanley's Fruit Stand on North Avenue and Elston Avenue, Chicago and Whole Foods on Kingsbury, Chicago and get a boatload of stuff! I met a worker at Whole Foods who will give me all of their produce they are going to throw away on certain nights of the week! Yay! He was super nice and interested in what I am doing. Also, Stanley's has a ton of fruit and veg that could probably make dinner for 100+ people everyday. LITERALLY. Over a hundred pounds of food was tossed out. I got a ton of strawberries, some bananas, zucchini, lettuce, tomato, artichoke, and corn there. I went at about 8pm and they had the stuff sitting outside next to the compactor in boxes and crates. I wish I had resources to give to give to people all that I found. I am going to look into it- anyone who knows a willing shelter or soup kitchen, just give me a holler!!! I'd be happy to set up a truck to drop off food a few nights a week.

Any one who is interested in checking out stores, whether it be talking to managers about picking up their fruit and veg at closing or digging in dumsters, I would love a partner.

Peace, Love & (Dumpster) Mangoes!

Comment by Mary Elizabeth on May 1, 2012 at 7:26am

I read the chicago Freegan guide to stores at freegan.info and will be checking out the stores they list in my next dives, specifically the TJ's b/c of the organic produce they through away. I will be updating info for Chicago City Divers (if there are any) on here. Love!

Comment by HolisticHealthDetective on April 30, 2012 at 3:30am

Yeah that random little school boy pic was amusing!

So...think you're going to grab a friend and go for it soon?

It's amazing after your first precious find...you just want to tell everyone about what's out there being tossed. I mean, if you hit up just a few bins, imagine the thousands and thousands of identical ones not being touched. And even the bins you DO hit, you have to leave lots behind sometimes. But the idea of it is just too hard for people at first, so that's one of the reason's this group was set up, so that people could be encouraged to try and share experiences here.

= )

Comment by HolisticHealthDetective on April 29, 2012 at 2:06pm

Hi Alison! Thanks for joining the group and welcome!!

Yeah, compactors get the loser award of the year, definitely. Jewel and Whole Foods have compactors. = (

But Fruitful Yield (health food store) and Trader Joe's do not, at least the ones out here.   But TJ out here on the western side does not seem to like divers...they actually do have management that stays late and admonishes for diving. I don't go there myself.

I had the same question about compactors myself before I dived...it's actually the smartest question you can ask!

They are not dumpsters, which are individual and relatively small.

Compactors are sorta elongated and are attached to their stores. If you want to see a compactor, drive around to the back of any Whole Foods...I assume they all have them?

Here are some google images of them...(strangely there's a picture in the mix of a small boy in suspenders).

http://www.google.com/search?q=commercial+trash+compactor+picture&a...

Good luck! = )

Tania

Comment by fruitsandnumbers on April 23, 2012 at 11:03am

vegan + freegan + low-fat + raw = way to go!

Comment by HolisticHealthDetective on March 30, 2012 at 11:11am

Are you out West? I used to go to Safeways when I lived out there. None in the Chicago area, but I think our equivalent--Jewel--is owned by Safeway. They have compactors. = (

Comment by Sanazberries on March 30, 2012 at 2:42am

Safeway dumpsters ftw

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