Would You Eat Trash? 5 Tips from a Freegan
Lost jobs. Empty savings accounts. Ramen for dinner. Times are tough, and most of us are cutting back and trying to do more with less. But there's a group of people who are getting by just fine, enjoying their expensive Greek yogurt, getting dressed from a closet filled with clothes with tags still on them, and enjoying a cup after cup of fair-trade organic coffee.
Often, they're the same people who are living off of food stamps and meager $20,000 family income. So how are they doing it? Simple - by living in, on, and off of what's essentially a dumpster.
Freegans, radical environmentalists (typically vegan) reject consumer culture by living almost entirely on what others throw away, from clothes and furniture left on New York City sidewalks to three tasty meals a day foraged out of restaurants' trash bags. Marie Claire chatted with a few of these recessionistas, and while we're not quite ready to trade our weekly brunches with the girls for, uh, someone else's already-picked at weekly brunches, we'll admit that the freegans leave no stone unturned and no dumpster untouched in their search for a bargain.
5 Ways to Stretch Your Dollar, the Freegan Way:
1. Got milk? Freegans do! Don't toss that carton out just yet. It turns out what you think is the expiration date is actually the date your milk reaches its "peak flavor," so drink up!
2. Do a smell-test. One freegan warned of the dangers of eating questionably odorous foods--he learned that lesson the hard way,contracting food poisoning after scarfing down day-old sushi.
3. Live like a queen--or a well-off college kid. Move-out day at your local overpriced university is a great time to score furniture, appliances, and electronics.
4. Go retro - some freegans make their own reusable sanitary napkins from cloth, just like back in the good old days.
5. Find tomorrow's breakfast tonight--stake out your favorite coffee shops at closing time for dibs on barely-stale pastries. Not hardcore enough to rummage through the trash? Ask and you might receive. Conveniently stop in for a cup of coffee five minutes before the shop closes and non-chalantly ask if they're tossing the leftover goodies they haven't sold. They might get the hint.
Freegan Fact: Americans dump 38 million tons of food annually, according to the EPA. Here's another way to look at it: The United Nations says our leftovers could satisfy every single empty stomach in Africa.
READ THE FULL STORY >> FREEGANS - They Live Off Of What We Throw Away
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Reprinted with Permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
