The Beginning

I came upon dumpster diving in college in Oberlin, Ohio. An upper-classman, Metal Nate (who also introduced me to shotgunning beers, two-high bicycles, and Norwegian death metal), invited me out to take a bike ride and dumpster one evening. At the time, my favorite activity was climbing and entering locked buildings for fun, so the notion of functional mischief was attractive. However, the notion of eating garbage was not, so I abstained from taking any of the evening's bounty.

Eating trash reminded me of freegans in the dining hall who would go arms-deep in discarded spaghetti and milk cartons just to munch on a half-eaten, day-old sandwich. It didn't seem sanitary or appetizing. The freegans I knew reveled in grossing everyone out with their conservationism, and this aggressive activism turned me off to the merit of their message.

As time went on, I saw how dumpstering could be a quiet, functional way to save money and minimize waste. My friends Liz and David created a whole home based on dumpstered materials (not just food), and David made an amazing film about the process. Metal Nate cooked many delicious dinners for me over the course of our friendship. My friends Mike and Micah showed me the Odwalla Juice Factory dumpster in my hometown of Baltimore and we enjoyed frozen juices on the sidewalk in summertime.

I was converted.

After moving back to Baltimore after school, I endured a time of unemployment. I had applied for food stamps successfully, but after 6 months (and acquiring a job), they weren't renewed. So, I began dumpstering again.

A year later, I moved out of Baltimore to a nearby, rural suburb. I now live in a 2-bedroom house on 2 acres of land with my cat, Iggy. Moving proved to be excellent, and the number of dumpster-accessible grocery stores near my house is astronomical.

The last year and a half of dumpstering presented new challenges:

- How do I cook with the food I have before it spoils?
- How do I know when it's spoiled?
- How accurate are expiration dates?
- What is this ingredient? How do I use it?
- I have 10 bags of onions. What the hell do I make with 10 bags of onions before they go bad?
- There's nothing I can make with 10 bags of onions before they go bad. How can I preserve them?
- Is there a more ecologically ethical way to throw things out?

Tackling these questions made me a pretty bangin, resourceful cook (and taught me a lot of other things too).

So, this blog is about the trials and tribulations of dumpster diving, and the great food that can come from other people's wastefulness (plus recipes you can use with dumpstered or non-dumpstered food).

Hopefully in reading, you can think about your own consumption habits and waste, and eat ethical, yummy food.

Happy diving,
Kate