Baingan Bartha, Bounty, & Food Stamps

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned.  I went an entire month without dumpstering.  How is this possible?!  I'm pretty upset about it.  Still, I think I have some decently good excuses why I haven't been as active in the trash lately:

I moved a few months ago and haven't found good dumpsters close to my new house. I was going to the dumpsters near my work...until I left that job in August (explaining why I didn't dumpster at all in August). 2: Leaving my job allowed for me to get food stamps again (I need the money for non-dumpster-able items like olive oil, etc, I just also started using it for everything else too)...now, I know this makes me a lazy dumpster diver and probably shows you that a big motivation for my dumpstering is saving money as opposed to saving the planet. Still, that motivation is there.
Bottom line is this: I have decent excuses for not dumpstering a whole lot lately. I have some friends who are showing me some new spots, soon, though...so hopefully I'll resume my normal dumpstering routine in no time. Since I got food stamps, I've been taking the leftover amount of funds I have in the account and have been buying dry or canned goods and have been donating them to a food shelter so they don't go to waste (shh, don't tell)! I think a good idea might be to start dumpstering again so that the amount of food I can donate increases (I've also been cooking for starving artist friends a lot lately, so that sort of counts as donating food to a worthy cause too).

July Bounty (really out of date, I know, but:)

7/24/12 – Food Lion

-       Bag of broccoli

-       2 pkgs cherry tomatoes

-       1 red bell pepper

-       1 loaf honey wheat bread

-       2 pkgs kiwis

7/26/12

Tried a new Trader Joe’s during the day – nothing good this time.

7/29/12

Chamomile tea, morrocan mint tea left in a "free" box by co-workers.

 BAINGAN BARTHA



I had gotten really tired of making my usual eggplant dishes: eggplant parmesan, ratatouille, baba ganoush...and then I dumpstered another eggplant.  So, I tried going WAY outside my comfort zone to try an Indian dish out.  I'm really unfamiliar with Indian cooking, so the picture looks pretty gross below.  However, it still tasted pretty good, even if it was a little off from the baingan bartha I'm used to having at restaurants.  Hopefully this is my first and worst foray into the land of Indian cuisine, and that practice will be on my side with this one.

Ingredients:
-  A few cups of brown cooked rice to put the mixture over (pasta will suffice, but will be weirder)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1-4 jalapenos (depending on how you like your spiciness), chopped & seeded
- 3-4 chopped garlic cloves, minced
- 1-2 inches chopped ginger
- Olive oil
- Yellow curry powder - optional
- Coriander to taste

Step one: roast your eggplant.  Here's a nice video with instructions here.
Step two: take the pulp and put it in a saucepan with about a tbsp of olive oil.  Add the onions until they're soft, then the jalapenos, garlic, and ginger, then tomato.  Keep at a medium or medium-low heat until you start to smell the aromas mixing together.
Step three:  Add salt, coriander, and curry to taste.
Step four:  Taste and adjust flavors until it tastes right, then serve!

Ingredients not dumpstered or donated: Spices, olive oil

June Bounty & The Unfortunate Truth About Dumpster Divers

I was away for a big part of June and July, meaning I did buckle down and buy some canned food to go camping with and didn't have a big opportunity to dumpster while I was in West Virginia (although I did scope out the dumpsters there for next time - there were 3 great ones in the town I stay in)!

So, here's my pretty meager list of dumpster bounty from June:  

6/15
- 1 cucumber
- 1 red pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 bundle spinach
- 1 bundle bok choy
- 1 honeydew melon
- 4 bananas
- 4 golden russet potatoes
- 1 (very small) head broccoli
- 6 sweet potatoes (I gave a few away)
- 9 red delicious apples (I also gave some of these away)

So, I don't usually dumpster earlier in the evening when stores are still open, but this particular evening I did.  I went into the store right afterward since I needed a head of garlic.  Coming back to my car (I always park near the dumpster), I saw another fellow dumpster diver!  For some reason, I had always assumed that I was the only dumpster diver in the small, suburban town I had been living in, since I had only seen people I had introduced to diving at the dumpsters I frequented.  I was so excited to see another diver!  I was completely creepy and watched him dumpster from my car since I was so surprised to see another person!  He wasn't your usual, younger, hippy-vibe kind of dude.  Instead, he was older, fat, wearing flannel, suspenders, and a trucker cap (very blue-collar).  He took some produce out and went on his way.

A universal part of dumpster ethics is this: you always leave something for others when you dumpster because you never know who else is diving the same dumpsters as you are.

This also brings up another odd reality of my dumpstering; I'm fortunate in the fact that I could probably make ends meet if I had to buy groceries.  I might have to apply for food stamps again, but I could probably work out feeding myself within my job's pay scale.  Not everyone can do that.  With unemployment rates higher than ever and people with big enough families to feed where food stamps might not cut it, dumpstering is on the rise.   

The unfortunate truth is that most of the dumpster divers I know (and most of the dumpster diving population in general) don't actually NEED to do it.  Some have trust funds, some have well-paying jobs and it's an ethical choice, and some are the stereotypical artist/musician collecting unemployment who could definitely get a better-paying job given their education.  I personally started when I was unemployed and trying to save money, but also felt really good about the idea that I was saving waste from a landfill.  When I started dumpstering, it was a matter of survival, but now I continue to do it with environmental and thrifty motivations, not because I would starve if I stopped.

Many dumpster divers I know view dumpstering as a rebellious act to subvert consumerist culture, not as a necessity for survival.  Seeing this blue-collar guy with 2 kids in his van dumpstering right after I did filled me with guilt.  I had left plenty of food in the dumpster, but the truth was, I probably took the best produce there was.  There's something that feels selfish about dumpstering if you don't have to.  I saw the guy in the trucker hat dumpstering, but it was still early evening - how many more cars with kids were going to pull up to the dumpster after him?  How many more families NEEDED the food that I was taking?  My wish to save the environment is rendered frivolous compared to a family's instinct to feed themselves and survive.  I would guess that sitting around the dinner table, that man's family isn't discussing how great it feels to be reducing greenhouse gases by virtue of the meal they prepared, or how awesome it feels to stick it to capitalist America over green beans.

The balance is hard to strike.  I'm not going to stop dumpstering, because I DO still want to save the environment (and my own money).  However, I need to consider others a bit more when I'm picking my produce out...

My feelings surrounding this subject aren't completely clear yet, but this experience has definitely produced a shift in my dumpstering practice since it happened.  We'll see how the future progresses.

May Bounty

So, May was also not a particularly fruitful dumpster bounty month for me either since I moved to a new house and also was away for about week in West Virginia (where I brought dumpstered food to make breakfast for some friends; they loved it).  I'll be back up there pretty soon, though, so I'll try to post a West Virginia-style Trash to Table road trip story sometime soon.

Tuesday 5/15 – I tried Trader Joe’s first, but the dumpster was literally too full to pull anything out of without being really conspicuous.  It was a bummer to see it all go to waste.  Instead, I hit up the Food Lion and still came out on top.

-       6 pkgs broccolini

-       1 head broccoli

-       1 yellow onion

-       3 large white potatoes

-       1 turnip

-       1 carrot

-       1 light green pepper

-       2 green bell peppers

-       1 bottle liquid aminos (basically healthier soy sauce)

-       1 pkg strawberries

-       1 head lettuce

-       4 pkgs white mushrooms

-       1 golden delicious apple

-       4 vine-ripe tomatoes

March Bounty

Now that I'm dumpstering more often, I decided to start consolidating my dumpstering bounty entries by month instead of doing a separate entry every time I go...because I've been going quite a bit. Lately, instead of doing larger excursions I've been trying to just stop by (sometimes while I'm grocery shopping later at night even), peek in, see a few things I want, take them, and move on. I was averaging 1 huge dumpster bounty a month last year, and so far this year I've been averaging once a week, which has kept me pretty sustained with the addition of shopping for some staples that are hard to come by in the dumpster.

2/20

- 1 bag organic sugar
- 3 red onions
- 1 bag grapefruit
- 1 seedless watermelon
- 7 honeycrisp apples
- 2 bags pizza dough
- 1 pkg cooked chicken
- 2 bananas
- 2 zucchini
- 1 cucumber
- 1 eggplant
- 1 bag potatoes
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 bunch radishes
- 1 lemon
- 1 pkg white mushrooms
- 7 tomatoes
- 1 pkg vine ripened tomatoes
- 1 portabella mushroom
- 1 pkg sliced provalone
- 1 carton coconut milk
- 1 box creamy tomato soup
- 1 pkg boneless skinless chicken thigh
- 2 pkgs pita bread
- 1 bag dried fruit
- 1 bag oranges
- 3 pkgs strawberries
- 2 veggie hummus wraps

3/5

- 4 oranges
- 6 apples
- Lean cuisine spinach artichoke dip w/ pita bread
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 lime
- 1 red jalapeno
- 2 heads huge bok choy
- 7 yellow onions
- 1 cucumber
- 6 bananas
- 1 portabella mushroom cap
- 2 pkgs sliced baby portabella mushrooms
- A few white mushrooms
- 1 pkg extra-firm tofu
- 1 very small tomato
- 1 bunch radishes

3/15 Bounty

- 1 pkg beer brat sausages

- Pre-cooked pulled pork

- 1 vegetable tray w/ cherry tomatoes, celery, broccoli, & carrots

3/29
- 2 heads broccoli
- 1 bunch kale
- 3 tomatoes

Mushroom Compote and Bounty

Ingredients:

- 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil (if you want it to be vegan) - 1 onion, thinly sliced

- 1 bell pepper (I used yellow) - 1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I used baby portabella and white button mushrooms mixed in together) - 2/3 cup red wine vinegar - 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard - 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (substitute soy sauce if you want it to be vegetarian) - 1 dash Tabasco sauce - 3 tablespoons brown sugar - 3 tablespoons seedless raisins
- 1-2 potatoes (if you want to serve the compote over something to make it a heartier meal instead of a side dish)

- Bread (if you want to serve the compote on toast instead of potatoes)

- Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in a pan. Add onions and sauté over medium-low heat until soft. Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms begin to soften. Mix remaining ingredients together and add to the pan. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat and cook, stirring often, until mixture becomes thick and syrupy. Season with salt and pepper to your liking!

While you're doing this, boil water and boil some potatoes until they're soft and smash up the potatoes to serve the compote over. Either that, or toast some bread and serve the compote over that!

Items not dumpstered: Butter, vinegar, worshteshire, tabasco

I went dumpstering alone on my way home from work on 2/7 and came up with enough food to last me 2 weeks!
- 1 pound 93% lean ground beef
- Brew-n-Brats (made with beer)
- 3 pkgs strawberries (2 large, 1 small - gave small one to Kevin, one to Steve)
- 1 pkg baby portabella mushrooms
- 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 ciabatta rolls
- 1/2 loaf sprouted flourless whole wheat berry bread
- 1 pkg pomegranate seeds
- 1 small bag English peas
- 1 gigantic eggplant
- 1 pkg chives
- 7 kiwis
- 1 baby watermelon
- 8 gala apples
- 7 granny smith apples

Bounty & Rules for Meat

So, my good buddy Steve and I have a Thursday ritual. We go see the revival film at The Charles Theatre, maybe go out afterward for a bit, then dumpster. On one such evening, we went out to a friend's DJ night, danced our booties off (Johnny Blaze is an amazing Baltimore Club DJ in case anyone was wondering), then headed home to the dumpster once the party had shut down. We arrived to Trader Joe's around 2:30am. Unfortunately, the dumpster was already emptied by the trash men. This confirmed earlier suspicions that this particular TJ's dumpster is usually emptied by a private contractor around 12:30 or 1am. So, we made our way over to Food Lion.

The pickin's were unfortunately slim, especially in terms of produce. It was obviously a meat and dairy garbage day, as there were animal fat trimmings interspersed with other boxes and produce. It was pretty gross. I actually DIVED head-first in the dumpster in order to reach some yogurts, which I slightly regretted later. It was too dark to take a picture, but I'm sure I looked really weird.

In winter you don't have to be as worried about meat, dairy, and fish going bad. Generally dairy won't spoil until a week after its sell by date, so if you eat it quickly it's still fine. Meat is a little harder to tell - I have a multi-pronged approach to telling if meat and fish is worth taking:

1) Look at the sell by date. If it's up to a few days past the sell by, you're probably still fine.
2) Is the meat or fish discolored? How much? If it's too discolored, don't take it. If you're unsure as to how meat or fish should look, make a point of taking a tour of those sections next time you're in the grocery store instead of at its dumpster.
3) If the protein is plastic wrapped (it usually is), is it puckered out like it's about to burst? If it is, that means it's probably not good.
4) What does it smell like? Does it smell rotten? If it's fish, does it smell incredibly fishy? If so, then it's probably too old.
5) Is it summer? If so, don't take fish EVER and meat and dairy rarely unless it's still frozen or cold to the touch (you can be a little more lax with cheese and eggs since they can be stored at room temperature anyway). Even if it's winter, the touch-test is a good one. If it's room temperature or warmer, it's a no-go.

It's always better with meat, dairy, and fish to err on the side of caution. If you have even a slight doubt in your mind as to the edibility of what you're looking at, DON'T eat it! I've never gotten sick off of dumpstered food, and I don't plan to.

Steve ended up with a little more food than I did (including an avocado, more dairy, and some brownies), but I was pretty happy with what I got:

1/26/12:
- 1 small pkg Greek 2x protein strawberry yogurt
- 1 lb chicken gizzards & hearts
- 1 lb grilling salmon
- 5 white mushrooms
- 1 plantain
- 1 pkg strawberries
- 1 can biscuits
- 1 roll pork breakfast sausage

January Bounty

So, I'm trying to "shop" more frequently at the dumpster, but not take quite as much as usual. On Sunday 1/15/12, I went with my usual dumpstering partner (Steve) to two spots, both briefly (especially since some police cars were chilling out at the Royal Farms pretty much in sight of both locations).

Here's what I came out with (Steve's bounty included the same but with the addition of broccoli and more fruit):

- 5 medium eggplants
- 1/2 pkg white mushrooms (whole)
- 1 pkg white mushrooms (sliced)
- 3 Belgian endives
- 2 green bell peppers
- 2 pears
- 6 potatoes
- 1 carrot
- 1 very large cucumber
- 2 large bunches kale
- 1 red onion
- 1 bunch radishes
- 2 kiwis
- 1/2 pkg apricots (fresh)
- 1 bouquet of flowers
- 1/2 pkg strawberries

Holy Groceries, Batman! (12/12)

So, my last haul was one of the best (if not the very best) dumpster experiences of my life. Very rarely will you have enough from one dumpster to fill the entire bed of a pick-up truck (don't worry, I'm not being greedy - literally no one dumpsters where I'm living right now except for me or people I've shown them to). So yeah, FULL PICK-UP TRUCK BED. With a ridiculous amount of variety (produce, packaged food, frozen food, MEAT, pasta, dairy, baked goods - EVERYTHING)! We divided the plunder amongst 3 households and grabbed 3 big bags of bread to bring to Occupy Baltimore's encampment (sadly, they were raided the morning I was going to bring the bread to them...so now I'm trying to figure out how to donate someplace else). I have a Christmas pot-luck coming up Sunday, so it may be perfect timing to make a bruscetta or bread pudding or something.

An aside - winter is one of my favorite times to dumpster. It's really cold outside, which sucks for your fingers...but the cold also acts as a natural refrigerator. This means you can dumpster meat, frozen food, or dairy more safely than in the summer months, adding a lot more to your haul. I always still do a smell-check, visual check for signs of it going bad, and take a gander at the sell-by date. If it passes all those, then I'll take it. If I'm even remotely on the fence, I leave it to the dumpster. Also, the colder refrigeration temps means you can afford to come in the morning instead of the wee hours of the night, depending on the trash pick-up times or load-in times for your grocery store. This can save you some sleep. Also, some grocery stores throw out certain foods in the morning instead of at night. I'd urge you to experiment with daytime dumpstering (but be INCREDIBLY careful about getting caught).

As for me, here's what I picked up this haul:
- 1 loaf whole wheat bread
- 2 baking potatoes
- 2 avocados
- 6 large sweet potatoes
- 2 white onions
- 5 pears
- 1 pomegranate
- 3 persian (small) cucumbers
- 1 bag lemons
- 3 limes
- 1 pkg "Mediterranean feast" (hummus, tabbouleh, pita, etc)
- 1 pkg sour cream
- 1 premium black angus grass-fed beef top sirloin filet!!!
- 1 pkg Chile Spiced dried mangos
- 3 gourmet chocolate bars
- At least 2 boxes worth of whole wheat spaghetti
- 15 oz. extra firm tofu!!!!
- 4 vine-ripened roma tomatoes
- 1 pkg dates
- 11 eggs (one was broken)
- 1 bag spring greens
- 1 pkg asparagus
- 3 heads baby bok choy
- 1 pkg cherry tomatoes
- 1 pkg green beans
- 1 loaf ciabatta
- 6 ciabatta rolls
- 2 brie cheese logs
- 2 orange bell peppers
- 3-layer hummus (regular, cilantro, and red pepper)

(Holy crap, right?!)

So stoked on the beef and tofu! I haven't cooked a real steak in ages and have hardly ever cooked with tofu (although I've eaten a lot of it in college and when I was a vegan). The amount of cooking/good eating I'm going to need to do to keep up with all of this is exciting and astounding. Viva la Dumpster!

October Bounty

First of all, sorry for the big gap in postings - I was on vacation (yes it was fun).

On a whim, I decided to stop by the Trader Joe's and Food Lion dumpsters on a Friday back-to-back. I went later than the last time, since my run-in at Trader Joe's with the large, angry pit bull lady had kept me away for a while, leaving only the poorer quality of the Food Lion dumpster for the last month or so (which had NOT been cutting it).

Trader Joe's and Food Lion are on two completely different ends of the dumpster spectrum. Trader Joe's employees (sometimes) care, but their dumpster is immaculate and easy to sift through, with high-quality food. Food Lion doesn't even notice when I'm dumpstering in broad daylight, and when the employees do see me, they say nothing because they all aren't paid well enough to care. Unfortunately, the dumpster is a disaster: no bags, boxes of random gross butchered fat, it smells like death, and the produce is often very sad (on the shelf or off).

Regardless, the dumpster provides, so I can't really complain. I just have to be extra careful about food safety with stuff from the Food Lion dumpster. I ended up sharing my plunder with my friend Stephen, but here's what I came out with:

10/21/11

- 3 large heads of broccoli
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (incidentally, the expiration date was labeled Feb. 27th, 2012 and there was no visible tear in the packaging or quality of the cheese #ftw)
- 1 white onion
- 2 red onions
- 1 package whole wheat penne pasta
- 1 avocado
- 1 bunch celery
- 7 gala apples (get ready for fall - apples are SO prevalent in the dumpster as the season continues - expect some recipes to come!)
- 2 baking potatoes
- 4 small roma tomatoes
- 2 pkgs organic raspberries
- 2 bags organic baby spring greens mix
- 1 pear
- 1 red pepper
- 1 bag organic all-purpose flour
- 12 ciabbatini dinner rolls

August Bounty and Spicy Street Cantaloupe

The other night, my friend Steve texted asking if I wanted to dumpster. He's generally a n00b, but really wants to learn the tricks of the trade. He's gone out with me once before, so the more experience he can get, the better!

Steve, my friend Keith, and I ventured out later that week to make our dumpster rounds.

We started at the Trader Joe's I normally go to. The dumpster was OVERFLOWING (like, I haven't seen it that full since Thanksgiving). It was a goldmine! We started rifling through when, to our dismay, a lady I hadn't seen before came out. She looked weathered, the years of produce-wrangling finally taking their toll.

"You can't do that."
This was contrary to what every other Trader Joe's employee at this particular branch had told me. I informed her that others had told me it was alright before and that we would not leave any sort of mess.
"No, I don't want y'all in the dumpster."
We politely packed up the precious little we had and left the TONS of discarded food behind us. I made a mental note not to dumpster as early in the evening next time (we had gone around 10:30pm, which was earlier than I normally arrive to pillage). I really hope this isn't an evening that causes them to start locking their dumpsters.

The hearts in the car were heavy as we proceeded to the next, less-bountiful Food Lion dumpster The store technically wasn't even closed yet (which some might deem reckless), but their dumpster is far enough back in the parking lot that no one notices you. The only downside of going before closing is that there isn't the usual haul of trash. The dumpster still came up with bread (an item we hadn't gotten to at Trader Joe's) and various other produce.

Hungry for more bread, we ran over to Panera, but their dumpster sadly mixed loaves in the same bag as leftover coffee, making all the good stuff spongy and gross. This isn't always the case at this dumpster, so I guess it's really a crapshoot.

Anyway, we all returned home and divided the till. In victory, we butchered the one cantaloupe we found and Keith introduced us to a recipe he'd often get from street vendors when he lived in San Fransisco:

SPICY STREET CANTALOUPE


Ingredients:
- 1 cantaloupe, cut up (small)
- Juice from 2 limes
- A blanket of cayenne pepper & salt

Mix them up. Serve. This recipe can also be used with mangoes or similarly sweet tropical fruits. Apparently, in San Fransisco, the Hispanic vendors would ask "con limon y con pimente y con sal?" Then add all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, shake up the contents, and sell it in the very bag it was prepared in. Pretty cool, huh? We enjoyed the cantaloupe on my porch, and I saved a bit for work the next day!

Items not dumpstered or donated: Cayenne pepper, salt

Also, my share of the dumpster bounty:

- 1 cantaloupe (duh)
- 1 small bag of assorted potatoes
- 3 beets
- 3 sweet potatoes
- 2 papayas
- 2 mangoes
- 1 bag baby arugula blend
- 1 bag celery
- 2 pkgs cherry heirloom tomatoes
- 9 roma tomatoes (tomatoes dived for a special project!)
- 1 pkg mushrooms
- 1 pkg strawberries
- 1 lemon
- 1 kiwi
- 4 limes
- 1 squash
- 3 zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 4 bananas (frozen immediately)
- 1 loaf honey wheat bread (frozen immediately)
- 1 pkg roasted and cut turkey breast (frozen)
- 6 pkgs cherries (one given away to my Stepmom)

More May Bounty in a New Spot

So, in a fit of staying up all night with two friends, Sean and Stephen, there was much dumpstering to be had!

Sean and Stephen came over after they had hit a Panera and a Dunkin' Donuts already, looking for some help with finding a spot to dumpster for groceries. At this point, it was already almost dawn, but I grabbed my head lamp anyhow.

We started by heading over to Trader Joe's. Much to our chagrin, the dumpster was completely empty (and I had learned a valuable lesson about my Trader Joe's trash pick-up time).

On the way back to my house is a Food Lion, which I had never dumpstered at before, so I figured we could give it a try in case the dumpsters were still full there.

AND OH BOY WERE THEY FULL!

It was a sea of bananas, boxes, and produce! I found a full box of meat and fish right off the bat, which was still cold, but I didn't want to try my luck on any of it. I think it still would have been PERFECT if we'd shown up closer to when they threw it out- another valuable lesson learned. The Trader Joe's in my town doesn't stock much meat, so I barely dumpster any there. It's exciting to have found a place that stocks more.

The quality of the produce wasn't as good as Trader Joe's, but the variety was pretty bangin'.

Sean and Stephen walked away with about a full grocery bag each of produce including spinach, potatoes, apples, etc. The list below is what I ended up with.

5/30/11 BOUNTY:

- 1 pkg shitake mushrooms (mostly bad, but I salvaged a few good ones)
- 1 pkg sliced baby portabella mushrooms
- 2 portabella mushroom tops
- 2 squash (unsure of the type - both pretty small)
- 1 Del Monte Vegetable Tray w/ dip (including broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, & celery)
- 1 bag cauliflower (not in the best shape, but not bad either)
- 1 bag collard greens
- 1 pkg romaine lettuce
- 2 bunches of bananas (all but 2 bananas frozen for smoothies)
- 3 oranges
- 3 apples
- 1 lime

I feel like we could have come away with more, but the dumpsters weren't very well organized - instead of the neat bags that Trader Joe's uses, it was kind of a mess. There was also a pretty large margin between the good and bad produce. I'll be curious to try out this new dumpster again closer to closing time so that I can get still-frozen meat. I'm reticent to dumpster at Food Lion regularly because they close at midnight. That means I'd have to purposely stay awake to dumpster, whereas Trader Joe's closes at 9 and I can go right away on my way home from work...I may have to make a point of staying awake for the possibility of meat, though!

Next time...

May Bounty

With the coming of spring means MORE PRODUCE! MORE VARIETY!

I had forgotten about this until I went dumpstering a few nights ago with my friend Ellis...we came out with the most ridiculously awesome variety of produce EVAR.


There are a few items in this bunch that I've never really cooked with before (noted with a *), so I'm excited to experiment and learn from them.

- 1 pkg julienned vegetables (red onion, carrot, red/green/yellow peppers, zucchini, squash, oregano)
- 8 oranges
- 2 bags of apples (12 apples)
- 15 bananas (10 frozen immediately, skins on, for later banana bread/smoothie/vegan ice cream usage since I'm going out of town this weekend)
- *1 head cauliflower
- 1 eggplant
- 3 green peppers
- 1 cucumber
- *3 heads (is this the right word?) of bok choy
- 3 pkgs strawberries (strawberry season again!!!! SO HAPPY! Cut & froze 2 pkgs immediately)
- *2 pkgs cherry heirloom tomatoes
- 3 pkgs cherry tomatoes
- 5 bags green beans (4 bags cut and frozen immediately - the best instructions for freezing green beans are here)
- 3 pkgs tropical fruit medley (pineapple, mango, papaya - cut & froze 1 pkg immediately)
- 8 dinner rolls (frozen immediately)
- 1 loaf sourdough baguette
- 1 southwestern salad (eaten by Ellis)
- 1 chicken & field greens salad (Eaten by me at work)
- 1 bag organic sugar
- 3/4 bag penne pasta

I froze more than I normally would with this batch since I was going out of town for the weekend (however, I also was bringing a lot of produce for the trip). Scheduling your dumpstering around times you'll be at home (as opposed to out of town or at work a lot) is probably a good idea...

Also, use cut fruit & veggies quickly, since it goes bad first (duh). I used the julienned veggies in an omelet the day after dumpstering, and a lot of the fruit went toward breakfast smoothies.

I can't wait for more exotic produce as summer hits.

Encounters with THE ENEMY and new friends

It's been a big few weeks on the dumpster front.

Recently, I've made a habit of stepping into Trader Joe's (ENEMY TERRITORY) instead of just their dumpster, which has proved to be informative. It's always good to scope out the stores that you are scavenging from so you can get an idea of sell-by dates and what's available. Plus, you can give back to the stores that "give" you so much for free!

Things I have learned about THE ENEMY after infiltrating:

1) It's smaller than it looks on the outside. There's far less of everything than a bigger grocery store, which makes sense as to why my plunder is usually so varied or unreliable. Granted, I've been to a few other Trader Joe's recently and they seem bigger than the one closest to me.
2) I don't dumpster much meat (other than frozen stuff) from Trader Joe's ever - it's because they sell about 3 packages of meat and fish - their meat section is TIIIINY.
3) All the cashiers at Trader Joe's (minions of THE ENEMY) look way cooler and more interesting than anyone else I've really met in my area. Where have they been hiding? I need cool new friends now that I've uprooted from Baltimore! Maybe enemies can be friends too - if any Trader Joe's cashiers ever read this - let's be frenemies!

Speaking of cool new friends, I recently had the pleasure of dumpstering the other night with my climbing buddy's brother, Daniel. We had all just climbed our butts off and Daniel (being a reader of my blog) suggested we go get some groceries.

Upon arriving, there was a big, ominous van by the dumpster...I was initially skeptical...scared even. But, Daniel and I braved through and started looking around. There were two ladies putting bags from the carts into the back of the van. Had we just encountered other elusive non-city dumpster divers?

I made the usually great decision of using my social awkwardness to my advantage, and went over to say hello (generally, when you maybe shouldn't be someplace, the best thing is to pretend that you're oblivious to that fact and to act non-threatening).

After chatting for a bit, the ladies explained they were from a Seventh Day Adventist charity collecting donations for a homeless shelter. My previous tip-off had been wrong! The shopping carts I would sometimes find outside were in fact not for the taking. I felt horrible. Then, they asked what charity we were from...

"Uhm...we don't work for a charity. We're just poor college graduates trying to save grocery money to pay off loans."

The women got concerned about whether or not we were breaking the law (we weren't), and then more concerned about us going hungry - they even offered us a bag of ciabatta rolls (which we graciously took), but something about the encounter left me feeling kind of like a sham, like I was taking something that someone else deserves more.*

After finding out that the carts are off-limits, both Daniel and I respectfully went through the dumpster instead, and even spoke to an ENEMY manager. He said he didn't have a problem with dumpstering as long as we cleaned up. Apparently, dumpstering is rampant at the Silver Spring Trader Joe's - so rampant that the staff started writing the contents of the bags in sharpie so that divers didn't have to look so fervently or for as long. Super-cool!

I guess corporate enemies can secretly be friends after all...

Daniel made out with some cranberry juice, spaghetti, chicken tenders, onions, and about the same stuff as I did...

(He had the resourcefulness to already have a bag in the car. I did not, and it was cumbersome. Bags or crates plus a headlamp are must-haves for the night plunder!)

2/28/11 Bounty:

- 1 pkg tahini-free hummus
- 1 pkg Cajun-style chicken fettucine alfredo (frozen)
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 7 on the vine cherry tomatoes
- 3 gala apples
- 1 bag of granny smiths
- 2 ciabatta rolls
- 1 pkg whole wheat pizza dough
- 1 dispenser of French Hand Soap (seriously my favorite-smelling liquid soap ever)
- 1 pkg whole wheat flour tortillas
- 1 pkg pre-cut carrots & celery
- 2 individually wrapped "thin" chocolates

I enjoyed the chocolate after washing all the food off at home - serious nomz! The carrots & celery have already been made into a big batch of Jeremy's Soup.

*Shameless plug: This is why volunteering for homeless shelters collecting food donations or (even better) advocating for Food Not Bombs is so important as a dumpster diver. There are so many people who are hungrier and more destitute than most of us, and so much food gets wasted every day. The injustice is ridiculous and heart breaking.

January Bounty

After work one night (1/12), I went to Trader Joe's again with Mark (my co-worker and friend). It was freeeeeezing! It's hard to untie bags with gloves on, so I'm pretty sure we got frostbite in the process of looting. Afterward, we went to my house to divide the plunder.

This particular evening, we lucked out and got shopping carts outside the dumpster again (this happens a lot in the winter when the grocery staff are too cold/tired to throw bags in the dumpster at night).

It turned out to be a bread night - every kind of bakery goods imaginable were ripe for the picking - ciabatta, sourdough, french baguette, cakes, tarts, dinner rolls - you name it. There was also a pretty healthy selection of other types of food as well, but the amount of baked goods was unfathomable. Bread is great, because it keeps for a VERY long time if you freeze it. You just need to pop it in the toaster oven or microwave, et voila - perfectly good bread. (a note about larger loafs/bagels/etc. - you need to cut them prior to freezing, or else the defrosting process takes forever and you'll have a cold center to your bread, which is gross).

Usually grocery stores will throw out certain items on certain days. If you watch/pillage their dumpster regularly and start making a list of what you get on certain days of the week, you'll start to notice trends. Then, when you're low on a certain type of item (bread, veggies, dry goods), you'll know what days you're more likely to come out a winner. I'm in the process of making a really pretty monthly calendar to track my trends.

The plunder was a little more modest in scope compared to my last dive, since I was a little more discerning this go-round:

- 2 avocados
- 1 bag of sweet "kid-friendly" apples
- 1 red pepper
- 1 orange pepper
- 1 bag of mixed greens
- 3 red onions (yes, more onions. I thought red onions would make it better. But I still have a million onions).
- 1 loaf ciabatta (I froze this)
- 6 individual, small ciabattas (I also froze these - they're perfect for sandwiches)
- 3 limes

Mark came out with a little more than I did this time (his plunder included lemons, oranges, ONIONS, potatoes, hot peppers, etc). He ended up making a potato stew with it that sounded delicious. I asked him to take a picture so I could put it up on the blog as part of soup month, but apparently he ate it too quickly!

December Bounty

On December 4th, I went out to dinner with my good friend Kendall at Great Sage, a vegan restaurant near my house (highly recommended). Afterward, we went dumpstering at Trader Joe's (my preferred dumpstering spot in Baltimore and Ellicott City). There was still a LOT of food leftover from Thanksgiving. We didn't even need to touch the dumpster, since there was so much food in carts next to it with a LOT of variety.

We opened bags to figure out what we wanted to take, and then just took whole bags (sometimes I'll open bags and put individual items in milk crates if I'm by myself). We spent about 6 minutes behind Trader Joe's, then went back to my house to divide the plunder after checking out a few more dumpsters in the shopping complex. Kendall went home with food for her household (plus food for a few Baltimore buddies). Here's what I ended up with:

- 7 Orange bell peppers

- 8 Granny smith apples

- 1 pkg blueberries

- ½ pkg cranberries

- 10 bags of lemons (5 per bag)

- 5 bags of limes (5 per bag)

- 2 pkgs ravioli

- 5 pkgs Chicken parmesean

- 2 loaves sesame bread

- 1 pkg naan

- 1 lemon tart

- 3 kiwis

- 1 pre-made greek salad

- 2 bags oranges (11 per bag)

- 8 everything bagels

- Sundried totato pesto torta

- 1 pkg swiss cheese

- 5 pkgs delice de Bourgogne triple crème cheese

- 3 pkgs spinach dip

- A billion potatoes (russet, gold, and small red)

- A billion bags of onions

- 1 pineapple

- 1 guava

- 1 package vanana (vanilla/banana) yogurt (yes, it's really weird)

- 1 bouquet of flowers

- 1 picture frame

This amount of food proved to be a little extravagant compared to what I usually dumpster. I ended up giving away a few bags of potatoes, onions, and 1 bag of lemons to people at work (since I knew I wouldn't be able to use them all in time).

I also immediately cut up and froze the guava, pineapple, blueberries, and kiwis to use for breakfast smoothies.

The bread, naan, ravioli, and chicken parmesans also went in the freezer.

Stay tuned to see how I used it all!