Last night, Chris pulled together a light dinner for two of chicken salad, multigrain toast, and bruschetta topping. Though I was initally skeptical of eating a mayonnaise-based dish that came from a dumpster, I am still indigestion-free and kickin’ it new school. Admittedly, I have been pondering the pros and cons of dumpster diving ever since I got to Minneapolis.
Fortunately for me, it was Chris who took the first step. He and his friends drove out to a particularly welcoming dumpster (location withheld to preserve the sanctity of the hoard) in the middle of the night and grabbed around $50-$80 worth of groceries, including tangerines, lamb, tons of bread, tomatoes, and convenience food.
One of our acquaintances — Chris’s dumpster field guide — boasts that he hasn’t had to buy groceries for a year now. The prospect is pretty tempting, especially now that Snowmageddon 2009 has already hit the Upper Midwest and the outside temperature isn’t even close to the danger zone for food (40-140 degrees Fahrenheit, last I checked). I’m also living paycheck to paycheck, so the added savings are a pretty big draw. As I’m writing this post, however, I’m chomping on a slice of dumpstered Asiago bread, so I think I’m dancing around a foregone conclusion: snobbery is overrated.
Tags: cheap, cheapeats, dumpster, minneapolis, street food
I’m so sorry to hear of this….I try not to waste foods, but the thought of “dumpster diving” is really sad. I so sorry you have to live way….You’re so talented I’m surprised you haven’t received the Pulitzer’s prize or published at the very least! Have you submitted your writing to New Yorker?? I think they’ll like your style.
Hahaha it’s not that bad! That was the point of my post!
Vy I would have to say that the art of dumpster diving is highly under appreciated. Many people are just simply unaware of the amount of completely edible food still in its packaging that is thrown out into clean dumpsters. I think most people have the misconception that dumpster diving involves pulling out half-eaten sandwiches amidst old paper coffee cups and cigarette butts. This is just simply not the case.
Well said. But to be perfectly honest, I’ve also done what you described in your post. It was a whole shrimp eggroll!
Sounds cool. I think the mayo dish is quite enterprising. Not sure you want to subsist on dumpstered food for a long time, but it certainly is a way to survive eh?
People who say that dumpstering is “sad, disgusting, etc..” or otherwise crosses some boundary of humanity have never been hungry.