Dumpster Diving!

Im just a girl from long island who happens to LOVE dumpster diving. I enjoy rescuing food and other items which otherwise would be wasted. It makes me so angry that so much food goes to waste on a daily basis. Theres enough discarded and forgotten food out there that no person should ever go hungry.

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Update!

Sorry I have not updated my dumpster diving blog in a really long time:/ I haven't been diving in the last several months. Ive finally been going to sleep at a normal-ish hour so its been difficult for me to now stay up late like I used to. I miss diving so much and I feel quite guilty that I'm not rescuing food and other things from the trash like I used to. I miss being able to help people in need by donating the rescued food I would find to food pantry's and food not bombs. I'm sure they also miss my donations! Plus, I also miss saving money/ not having to spend any money on my own groceries.. because i now food shop at trader joes which kills me because i know that the items I'm buying most likely will be thrown away later that day. I'm planning on resuming my ddiving probably going to start again at the end of spring. Oh and Thanks to all of you who have stuck around on this blog even though I have not been updating it:)

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Hey Arnold, Episode One.

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Do you dive in the day time,night time, or both?

Night time is way better! After 10:45pm but on average 12:30am. Just make sure employees have all left before you dive, trust me on that one!!

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Do you have a family? Because from your pictures it looks like you have found so much food and it just looks like a ton for one person lol. Also, I was wondering how do you clean the food that you get? Do you use some type of cleaning solution?

Yes, i live with my parents and brother. I know i do find a lot of food and share it with food pantries, food not bombs, friends and family members. As for cleaning the food i find, all i do is rinse everything in my sink and have never gotten sick from anything i have eaten. But if you find loose produce not in a garbage bag, wash carefully. No need for cleaning solution:)

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How long have you been dumpster diving if you don't mind me asking?

I have been dumpster diving for maybe about 2 years now but since i started, i have definitely evolved and learned all i know from my different experiences diving.

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My chickens benefit when i dumpster dive too

Today they were given a ton of bananas, romaine lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and packaged trader joes salads (without the chicken of course). I love watching them eat because as soon as i walk outside they all coming running in the funniest way to me. I think they KNOW i love animals and would never hurt or eat them. My parents eat store bought chicken even though we have Pet chickens to love. They justify this by believing that they can eat OTHER chickens but would never eat our own. To me, its extremly disturbing that they would still choose eat any chickens after seeing how unique these creatures are.

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Places i generally stop every time I dumpster dive .. We do a lot of driving for this!

CVS--- i go to several different locations! Its a hit or miss though, sometimes the dumpster is full of goodies and other times its just plain old trash. Cvs recently switched dumpster companies so most or all locations got brand new not stinky ones this week so im pretty happy about that lol Walgreens--- i was lucky enough to find ONE mostly awesome UNLOCKED location where i have found a great variety of items like childrens toys, bread, other non perishables, medicines, snacks and other stuff. But unfortunatly i am sad to report that last night, the gates to the dumpster was LOCKED so i pretty pissed off. I dont know why they all the sudden are locking it, we never ever made a mess and we infact would CLEAN up the mess employees made. Michaels--- i sometimes find some cool crafty things but be careful there is always broken glass everywhere so DO NOT CLIMB in the dumpster if and when you see glass. This is a hit or miss store though but usually decent. Staples--- here you will sometimes find exactly what you would expect such as office supples, containers etc.. I have found some pretty neat things from here but its also a hit or miss. Starbucks--- my current favorite place to dive! I stop at many locations. I always find fresh salads, breakfast sandwiches amd wraps, yogurt parfaits, tons of bakery items, lunch paninis and sandwichs. I went online to there menu and thought it was pretty funny that have been lucky enough to try nearly every vegetarian food they offer..for free! My favorite healthy thing to find here would be the fruit and cheese bistro boxes and the protein bistro boxes. I also very much enjoy the yogurt parfaits:) FoodTown-- well i used to really like to go to this place but it mostly is just trash. The reason why i bother stopping here because i sometimes get lucky and find the good food. The first time i went here i found that the top layer of the dumpster was piled with lots of cold milks, kefir, puddings and sour cream. Then after that i wasnt finding anything at all until a few weeks later when we found an enormous bag of Zomicks(i think its called?) fresh delicious Challah bread! Those are the only times i have found good edible food items. Trader joes-- as many of you who read my blog know, this used to be the only store i knew to dive at and would go there often and ALWAYS find great fresh food. Well during this summer, i have had pretty crumby luck at both of the 2 locations i would check. The thing is one of the locations dumpsters now smell so vile like 20X worse then a bathroom smell combined with a dead person. Not even exaggerating, its that bad. I really have no idea while all the sudden this month it is reeking so yeah.. Not a great location anymore.. For now. The other location located closest to my home is not a smelly one thankfully. But for the past couple of time we have stopped there, the 2 dumpsters have been totally emptied! I used to always find a dumpster full of fresh overflowing food without a problem so im dissapointed. If they were actually wasting less id be thrilled for the sake of the landfills but thats not the case. I know the dumpster trucks must be coming before i get there i guess. I know i dont really mention this often or at all but I am looking forward to dive in october, november and december because last fall i missed out because of hurricane sandy. We had 6 feet of water fill up downstairs in my house! the town was ravaged by sandy and I cant believe that its nearly one year later and my house is not back to normal yet but we are closer to finishing then a few months ago. My dad is working super hard to get our house back up and running since he has to run his store during the week so he fixes the house on the weekends. Im just thankful we have two floors in our home!! Anyways, these stores are the stores i like to dive at! Theres probably more places i go to but cant think of right now

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I have enough hallmark cards to last way more then a lifetime!!! This was so fun to find tonight:)it took me 2 hours to sort through everything though and its currently 5:45am! I am donating tons of cards too in addition to keeping a bunch for years to come!

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These are from a few weeks ago and being stored in my freezer

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Organic baby spinach and organic baby romaine 8/23/13

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Bread from Duane reed. 8/25/13

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8/25/13 So happy i found these CDs!!! Old music is the best! These two were sitting right on the side of the cvs dumpster:)

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Pretty post its 8/25/13

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Found BEER in the staples dumpster..so bazaar. There was literally a old tote bag full of water bottles and beer bottles.! -we also found post it notes in there. I had a super small haul tonight but still out till 3 8/25/13