It's a hot, windy day here in Texas. It's hard to believe that it snowed two weeks ago! Well, we're wrapping up our month at -W Ranch this Friday and driving into the city (Austin) on Saturday to go to the farmer's market with our farm buddies. I'm excited to see all the produce and hopefully get some bargains!
I'm also excited to see our friend Tina, who will be in town for SXSW festivities. It's mostly coincidental that we'll be in Austin during one of the biggest music industry festivals in North America and we're gonna milk it for all it's worth. Free shows and food! Thank goodness for that because Austin is really expensive otherwise. We were there for a night this last weekend and it really reminds me of Calgary in so many ways.
I'm really excited for the next leg of our journey because I not only get to rendezvous with Tina in Austin but also with Sydney in New Orleans. I've wanted to visit New Orleans for a long time (possibly coinciding with reading "Interview With The Vampire"). I really have no idea what to expect. It feels good to be a "traveler" and not a "tourist". I think we end up seeing cities in a different way because we aren't always looking for the same landmarks that everyone else is and we are so cheap we can't afford to do most touristy things anyway.
I can't believe we've been gone for nearly four months! We've seen so much! And learned a lot. It's hard to even summarize the experience. I've barely been able to keep up with blogging because we're either on the road in between cities or we are working every day on one farm or another. I miss the routine of having a home and a job... but not enough to want to go back yet! Both ways of life definitely have their benefits.
I just had a conversation with Iris (a wwoofer from the Netherlands) about how weird America is. It is weird. As a Canadian, sometimes the differences between our cultures are hard to define but they are there. They say "pah-sta" and make fun of me for saying pasta!
-Janet
Showing posts with label free food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free food. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Dumpster Diving 101
So this is Jay here again. As the title of this post divulges I am going to write about the wide and wonderful world of dumpster diving.
I like to think of the practice as "urban foraging". It's a great way to keep the cost of traveling down to an affordable level. While Elwood chugs gas like it's going out of style at least our food budget is extremely low. Last night was pretty much the first time we had to actually go and buy food since we left the Ranch ten days ago. Besides beer most things we require can be found for free.
I started the practice a couple years ago when I began my bike resuscitation business in Calgary. At the time almost all of my parts came from alleyways or the local dump. In Vancouver I continued with the bike biz and expanded to other items that I required as I had ditched most of my worldly possessions in my move to the west coast. I learned that you can easily furnish an appartment over the span of a couple months for almost nothing. I never really had to look for edibles at the time as Janet's job at a grocery store conveniently provided us with all the free food we could eat.
Now that we have become detached from this steady supply of goodness we must find our own sources of free foodstuffs. I've learned through friends and people I've met along the way some of the best spots and stores to check out for dumpster delights. Trader Joe's is by far the number one most reliable source I've found so far. They are pretty much everywhere in the states, barring southern Oregon, which is more or less empty of human civilization. They can let you down from time to time by locking their dumpsters (which is a total dick move) or kicking you out if you get caught poking around.
Even so I've scored tons of rad shit at their various locations including mountains of fruit and veggies, cheese, eggs, cookies, cereal and pretty much anything else that might have had it's packaging slightly damaged during transport. We once lucked out huge and found a tirramasu chocolate cake that was still perfectly sealed in it's wrapper and was absolutely fucking delicious. Google maps is also your best friend when seeking out local dumpsters. Search for "organic grocery" or "bakery" within your area and you'll be sure to find some goodies.
The waste that occurs within the food retail industry in the western world is really quite disgusting. There is so much that is simply trashed due to cosmetic damage that could feed all of the hungry within our own continent, never mind the wider world that consistently goes without. As far as I'm concerned it borders on criminal. Even worse is the lenghts to which many companies go in order to prevent even the most resourceful scavengers among us from liberating their so called "trash". The compactor is by far the biggest enemy of the dumpster diver and is employed by almost all of the larger US grocery chains. While I have found some more accomidating forward thinking retailers, such as the Rainbow Grocery Co-op in San Francisco, these places are few and far between.
So to all of you who have yet to try your hand at the fine art of binning I challenge you to put on a pair of boots, grab your rubber gloves and head to your favorite grocer under the cover of night. You'll be surprised by what you can get for free.
One man's trash is anothers free lunch.
Jay
I like to think of the practice as "urban foraging". It's a great way to keep the cost of traveling down to an affordable level. While Elwood chugs gas like it's going out of style at least our food budget is extremely low. Last night was pretty much the first time we had to actually go and buy food since we left the Ranch ten days ago. Besides beer most things we require can be found for free.
I started the practice a couple years ago when I began my bike resuscitation business in Calgary. At the time almost all of my parts came from alleyways or the local dump. In Vancouver I continued with the bike biz and expanded to other items that I required as I had ditched most of my worldly possessions in my move to the west coast. I learned that you can easily furnish an appartment over the span of a couple months for almost nothing. I never really had to look for edibles at the time as Janet's job at a grocery store conveniently provided us with all the free food we could eat.
Now that we have become detached from this steady supply of goodness we must find our own sources of free foodstuffs. I've learned through friends and people I've met along the way some of the best spots and stores to check out for dumpster delights. Trader Joe's is by far the number one most reliable source I've found so far. They are pretty much everywhere in the states, barring southern Oregon, which is more or less empty of human civilization. They can let you down from time to time by locking their dumpsters (which is a total dick move) or kicking you out if you get caught poking around.
Even so I've scored tons of rad shit at their various locations including mountains of fruit and veggies, cheese, eggs, cookies, cereal and pretty much anything else that might have had it's packaging slightly damaged during transport. We once lucked out huge and found a tirramasu chocolate cake that was still perfectly sealed in it's wrapper and was absolutely fucking delicious. Google maps is also your best friend when seeking out local dumpsters. Search for "organic grocery" or "bakery" within your area and you'll be sure to find some goodies.
The waste that occurs within the food retail industry in the western world is really quite disgusting. There is so much that is simply trashed due to cosmetic damage that could feed all of the hungry within our own continent, never mind the wider world that consistently goes without. As far as I'm concerned it borders on criminal. Even worse is the lenghts to which many companies go in order to prevent even the most resourceful scavengers among us from liberating their so called "trash". The compactor is by far the biggest enemy of the dumpster diver and is employed by almost all of the larger US grocery chains. While I have found some more accomidating forward thinking retailers, such as the Rainbow Grocery Co-op in San Francisco, these places are few and far between.
So to all of you who have yet to try your hand at the fine art of binning I challenge you to put on a pair of boots, grab your rubber gloves and head to your favorite grocer under the cover of night. You'll be surprised by what you can get for free.
One man's trash is anothers free lunch.
Jay
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