Desperate People, So Sad

[DisneyFan32WI]

Many people are saying the OP should have donated the expired food - the point is, you can't.

As for being sad she was too late, sure, but how many of us haven't found expired food in our pantry? I'm pretty organized, but I know I have.

Exactly.

 

[lizabu]

They might have been freecycles. As a PP-er said some expired foods are good past the expiry date. I saw a whole TV special about Frecycler. Some of the people were poor but some people took food out of garbage because they hate to see waste and are uber environmentally conscious

 

[POOHsie]

Some people rummage thru trash to pick out things they can sell at the Flea Market that weekend, including expired food. So, I'm not necessarily sympathetic to those going thru your garbage. Now the people who would buy this expired food at the Flea Market, I feel for them tremendously.

 

[java]

There was a little old man that used to go through our garbage in our old house. It was in NY and he was collecting the cans and metal. (pre-recycling) When I saw him one day- I made a point of bagging them up separately for him. and place them by the curb. He would leave me wildflowers. Fair trade to me.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

It really makes you stop and give thanks for the food you can put on your table knowing that others are going without. Maybe we need to set a date and ask all Disers to make a donation to their community food bank.

 

[seashoreCM]

I feel very sad when I see or hear of food going to waste. So I will use my own judgment rather than throw things away on their expiration dates.

Once in awhile I have come into possession of food items "I don't like" and after careful inspection, brought unopened items into a store and put them "back" on the shelves for resale.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Once in awhile I have come into possession of food items "I don't like" and after careful inspection, brought unopened items into a store and put them "back" on the shelves for resale.

Really

Please donate it to a food shelf or give it away. I don't want to pay for food that has been to your house, 'carefully inspected', and returned to the store.

 

[MrsPete]

Stuff like hamburger helper has an expiration date for the spices. It is not spoiled after the expiration date but it will have very little taste.

Yeah, when you're talking about "middle of the store" type stuff -- pastas, spices, flour, canned goods -- it won't hurt you a year or so after the expiration date, but it won't taste as good. Example: A month or so ago I made some boxed mac-and-cheese, and I didn't realize it'd been in the pantry about 100 years. The cheese powder was "hard", and even though I beat it and mashed it, the cheese was still "clumpy" and I couldn't get it to dissolve completely, even when I mashed the lumps bit by bit. We ate it, but it wasn't as good as usual -- not that boxed mac-and-cheese is high cuisine, even at its best.

I think the OP was going to put good, unexpired food out next time. People are telling her to just donate THAT food to a food pantry instead of encouraging the garbage rumaging.

Yes, I'd donate to a food pantry -- they're in great need these days; our church pushes the need for food donations all the time. I wouldn't want to get a reputation as the house with good garbage, especially if I lived so far from the neighbors.

 

[plummer925]

I feel very sad when I see or hear of food going to waste. So I will use my own judgment rather than throw things away on their expiration dates.

Once in awhile I have come into possession of food items "I don't like" and after careful inspection, brought unopened items into a store and put them "back" on the shelves for resale.

That is gross!! I totally agree with a prior poster - don't bring things that have been in your house to a store and expect me to bring it to MY house. ICK!

Donate it to a food bank!

Besides, wouldn't it be amusing to have the store see you pull an item out of your bag and get you for shoplifting!? "but officer, I was brining it here from home, really!" LOL!!!!

 

[plummer925]

I feel very sad when I see or hear of food going to waste. So I will use my own judgment rather than throw things away on their expiration dates.

Once in awhile I have come into possession of food items "I don't like" and after careful inspection, brought unopened items into a store and put them "back" on the shelves for resale.

After I posted my other response, my hubby said "tell me what store you shop at so I know not to shop there!"

He (as a business owner!) also said it is VERY likely that what you are doing is illegal!!

 

[funnygarcia]

Food returned to stores is often tossed out, I know they do at Super Target and my local grocery store.

I live next door to a bread thrift store, they set aside some expired bread to sell for bear bait/animal feed. The remaining expired is put in a LOCKED trash dumpster to prohibit trash picking. I find it sad to see the clerks toss out grocery cart loads full of bread several times a week.

I know Super Target has barrels full of spotted bananas in "back of house" storage areas, they have strict guidelines on produce appearance. I'm not sure if they toss them or give it to the pig farmers (the scraps from the cut produce is set aside for farmers).

Reclaiming produce, bread and other short shelf life items is becoming more common for food shelf/soup kitchen donations.. but it takes manpower, planning and trucks to ship it where it will be used.

 

[ChiCat]

I see sad stuff all of the time but about a month ago, one of them stuck with me. It was hot and I was at a train station waiting for a bus when I saw a man dig through the garbage and eat a Subway sandwich he found. Besides being sad the first thing I thought of was please don't let their be mayo on it

I don't give cash to the homeless a lot (too many in Chicago, and I almost never have cash on me) but if I would have had money on me at the time I would have walked over there and gave it to him.

 

[nunzia]

A lady here was fired for taking a container of 2 day old soup that the convenience store she worked out had thrown in the dumpster. Unemployment upheld the "stealing" charge. How bad is it for you that you wait until you get off work to get a container of soup out of the trash for food (she did claim it was for her dog, but who knows) and then you get fired for stealing?

http://www.radioiowa.com/2011/08/24/court-says-woman-fired-for-taking-soup-cant-get-unemployment/

Well..it is stealing...not bad if you DON'T work there, but if you do..well, slippery slope..you'd run into folks who would 'throw away' stuff just for the purpose of retrieving it later, so they have to hold the line on this..the store probably gets some sort of waste write off for what they toss and that would be void if it wasn't actually disposed of. They can't do much about passers by taking stuff, but employees are held to a different standard. At my part time job we've had lots of internal theft, some very creative (like the early morning janitor guy who tossed stuff he wanted in the trash bags them came back at night and retrieved it..we were tipped off by a neighbor who saw this guy digging in the dumpster..that was supposed to be locked..by him..and then by watching security tapes could figure out what he was doing)..so...in theory I can see why someone would think this was OK, but in actuality employers really need to hold the line on this.

 

[nunzia]

I feel very sad when I see or hear of food going to waste. So I will use my own judgment rather than throw things away on their expiration dates.

Once in awhile I have come into possession of food items "I don't like" and after careful inspection, brought unopened items into a store and put them "back" on the shelves for resale.

I'm with others on the 'please don't do this' side.. people buying from a store really have the right to feel like they are the first purchaser, not to mention screwing up the store's inventory (negative on hands anyone?). Food banks would love your don't likes so please go that route.

 

[MaleficentRN]

My grandfather would "dumpster dive" at the grocery store and get two day old baked goods, expired canned foods, pasta. What we didn't want he'd take to the convent for the nuns. They were happy to take it.

 

[ccgirl]

Food returned to stores is often tossed out, I know they do at Super Target and my local grocery store.

I live next door to a bread thrift store, they set aside some expired bread to sell for bear bait/animal feed. The remaining expired is put in a LOCKED trash dumpster to prohibit trash picking. I find it sad to see the clerks toss out grocery cart loads full of bread several times a week.

I know Super Target has barrels full of spotted bananas in "back of house" storage areas, they have strict guidelines on produce appearance. I'm not sure if they toss them or give it to the pig farmers (the scraps from the cut produce is set aside for farmers).

Reclaiming produce, bread and other short shelf life items is becoming more common for food shelf/soup kitchen donations.. but it takes manpower, planning and trucks to ship it where it will be used.

yup...around here all the stores toss it too. They don't know if it's been tained with so will not chance putting it on the shelves.

 

[thomas998]

My DH worked at KFC for a time in his early 20's. At the end of the night, any cooked food that hadn't been sold was put outside into the dumpsters. DH noticed some homeless men would then come and take the food out of the trash. So DH started putting the food into proper containers and then placing them nicely in the dumpters, so it wouldn't get mixed in with the really icky trash. His boss got mad at him, but DH didn't care, he just kept doing it for as long as he worked there. He figured anyone desperate enough to pick food out of a dumpster deserved to have it.

Of course when living off free hand outs become too comfortable people stop trying to do for themselves. I've lived in towns with homeless shelters and towns with none... funny I really only saw lots of homeless in the towns with shelters.... maybe if we started being more like Scrooge we would actually help motivate people to do for themselves... how difficult is it to go to a river or pond and fish? how difficult to plant veggies in your back yard? the people driving by clearly had money for a car and gas but no motivation to do anything but take trash...

If you continue to throw away things that draw these people to your house don't be surprised when they start knocking on your door and asking for food or money or simply breaking in to take it.

 

[Aisling]

Yes We Can!

Like.



I can see stores locking their dumpsters to prevent hoards of people from hanging out in back of their stores, but to make it a crime for taking their trash?? I don't understand that.

 

[mpls_mm]

Like.



I can see stores locking their dumpsters to prevent hoards of people from hanging out in back of their stores, but to make it a crime for taking their trash?? I don't understand that.

Well, then we rob the underprivileged of the opportunity to just suck it up and pull themselves up by their boot straps and quit being a burden on the rest of us. Said tongue in cheek.
I can't imagine what gets everyone in their own individual situation but the day will never come when I put my trash under lock and key to keep someone from eating out of it in the fear that they will come back for a second meal from my garbage. I give to every almost hard luck story that comes through my door and I am not a cursed person with hordes of never-do-wells following me around.

 

[figment3258]

It really makes you stop and give thanks for the food you can put on your table knowing that others are going without. Maybe we need to set a date and ask all Disers to make a donation to their community food bank.

I think this is a wonderful idea!