Food for free....

[kadee]

Interesting article...

A truck pulls up, two people jump out, and, within minutes, they've loaded up a few cases of dented cans, a box of ripe pears and a few dozen loaves of day-old bread. Jumping back in the cab, they pull out of the grocery store parking lot and head for the next store on their list.

Some call it food rescue or grocery recovery, or even an old biblical term: gleaning.

But no matter what you call it, the practice of rescuing food before it hits the garbage bin is becoming increasingly popular as a way of reducing waste, feeding people who've fallen on hard times and even helping average families save hundreds of dollars a year on groceries.

Charlyn Bartlett, 45, a volunteer coordinator for the Renton Community Co-op, a small nonprofit in Washington state that gathers and shares "expired" food among its members, says her organization regularly gleans from a bread outlet, a natural-food store, two groceries and even a drugstore.

money.msn.com/saving-money/how-to-get-groceries-for-free.aspx?GT1=33026

After having spent much of my 30+ yrs. of retail in grocery stores, don't think I could do this. But it sure is putting what would be waste to work!

[happyscooter]

When I read this article, the part about the 'legwork' stood out. Most of these people do it and give the food to a food bank. Where someone walks in and picks up the food for free. They would never think of going out and doing the 'legwork'. That's the problem nowadays, too many handouts.

Yeah, I said it.

[justwhoever]

If anyone here tried that...they would be thrown in jail for stealing. The few places we have would NOT help anyone out like that. You can get arrested for going to their dumpsters and getting the empty boxes!

[merryheart]

Most of our groceries will not donate "expired" food due to potential law suits. Most do have a charity line item and donate to the local charities though.

[bobbysgirl]

Feb 8, 2011 7:33:50 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

When I read this article, the part about the 'legwork' stood out. Most of these people do it and give the food to a food bank. Where someone walks in and picks up the food for free. They would never think of going out and doing the 'legwork'. That's the problem nowadays, too many handouts.

Yeah, I said it.

What I came away with is there is an anual fee for the gleaners and they use some then donate to others. I would love to see something like this in our community. Many poor folk don't have a vehicle, especially the seniors here. I am impressed by this program. It serves multiple problems - feeding the hungry and saving the landfills. I'm going to forward this to our local chain.

[bobbysgirl]

I just called Catholic Charities to ask about this program being brought to our area. I was told that our stores do this and give everything to CC to be distributed through the food bank. She was happy to give me her email so I could send the article to her.

[Artemis Windsong]

Our food bank will not take food that is even close to expiring or has been cleaned out of a pantry and expired.

On the other hand, if you know what time the grocers are going to deep discount their meats, a lot of people go in then. Usually it's midnight. Ask the butcher.

[bobbysgirl]

Our grocer reduces meat at 7 AM. I'm still disgusted that the same couple goes in every morning and scarfs it up. I don't get to town that early, so it wouldn't work for me, but there are a lot of working poor in this area and a family with kiddos could benefit from the markdowns.