to argue with hubs about Freeganism?

[roobydoobydoo]

He's been made redundant. Not been in current job long. Money's tight, but he's proud.

Whereas I'm not too proud to consider raiding supermarket skips etc to feed the family. Needs must and all that.

Has anyone tried it? If so was it a short-term measure or a way of life?

All polite view appreciated.

i think the op is about pride

in that respect - if it came to it - and i knew where to go to get it - then no, i wouldn't be too proud

Nope

Sorry to hear about your problems roobydoobydo. No I haven't tried it.

However, if you have absolutely no money coming in at all, get back to the jobcentre and tell them, they can give "emergency loans" which will then be taken back when you start receiving your correct benefits.

Also, you can try your local salvation army as they give out emergency parcels. You could also try a google search for your area for "emergency food parcels".

In this day and age it it completely acceptable that you are unable to receive assistance.

One of your local churches may also be able to help out in the short term.

But, as a first point of call make a fuss at the jobcentre. Take your children in with you, cry if needs be. You WILL be entitled to benefits of some description.

Good luck and I hope that your problems are only short term.

Piglet- yes they have thrown it out, but it is illegal to take it.

Be vegetarian and make a lot of stews with lentils. Good for you and cheap.

That would be my way. Also grow some veg.

YABvU to refer to dh aS 'hubs'. Get thee to Nethuns!

It doesn't take that long to get jobseekers so go slightly overdrawn. I am sorry if you are considering this but I'm not sure I believe you.

That is silly Lady why on earth should it be illegal

This doesn't make sense to me. If you own your house outright, you can sell it

And everyone has to wait for benefits when they apply. They manage.

Plus, I think you have a bit of an attitude. Not something I can put my finger on, but it's there.

Piglet- I don't know, you see I don't make the laws.

its not like the Supermarkets are short of money

In the United Kingdom, while dumpster diving in England and Wales may qualify as theft within the Theft Act 1968 or as common-law theft in Scotland, there is very little enforcement in practice. In England and Wales, despite the prevalence of notices asserting that "trespassers will be prosecuted", unless the trespass is aggravated in some way, it will only be a civil wrong (unless you're on Ministry of Defence property, in which case it's a criminal offence, but only a complete fool would try dumpster diving the MoD).

I heard of a person being prosecuted by a major supermarket for doing this, absurd.

Yes, I have, but years ago. My dad had permission to collect the wooden boxes from supermarkets to grow seedlings in, and got thrownout food at the same time. I remember the Saturday afternoon bag of cream cakes (no Sunday trading then)with great pleasure

Gas/electric/water suppliers have made it clear that if we don't keep up DD payments we'll have our supplies cut off.

Not true. We were heavily in debt with our gas and electric so we changed to pre-payment meters and they took our debt a little at a time.

Never have and never would.

In my student days I did eat very cheaply though, it can be done. There are plenty of suggestions on mumsnet for cheap recipes. Also if you hi tp the supermarket just before closing you can nab some bargains which can be frozen.

It doesn't ring true to me either.

And in one of the OPs few other posts she doesn't have a 'hubs' [vom], she has a fiance. And that was only a couple of weeks ago.

I know someone that did it and it was a way of life for her and some friends. To what percentage she did it I don't know. She was very interested in a story of mine about some other friends who regularly shopped at Tesco and had a little 'scam' going that Tesco didn't want to admit. By all accounts Tesco tills could not cope with this loophole. It's probably been fixed in the meantime but about 8 years ago I knew loads of people who regularly went to Tesco for the discounted bread/bakery items that were on 2 for 1. I'm trying to remember how it actually worked. What happened was, I think, if the item had been cut from £1 to 10p and you bought 2, so 20p, the till would put through 20p but at the end of your receipt would show a refund for the £1 (as it was a 2 for 1 offer) which meant you were 80p up. I knew loads of people that regularly bought bakery discounted items on 2 for 1 whether they wanted them or not just to get the refund. One person had £12 off the end of his bill. I might try it next time at Tesco. Thinking of this freegan person I knew reminded me of it and I think she was planning on trying it.

Having seen a rat scurry along the pavement and then climb into a bin this very afternoon no, I wouldn't. Fruit from hedgerows and trees etc. ? no problem.
Maybe apply for a job at Tesco ? two-fer!

If you own the house outright, then why has no money been saved for a rainy day when you were working?

It is illegal and they occasionally prosecute for a reason

I honestly don't understand why Tesco etc would do it just be tight-arses.

People have SUED because they've eaten out of the friggin' dumpster and got sued. It's all well and good saying "oh, well, what a waste when homeless people could be eating what is perfectly good food" when there is a reason for it being called "out of date". Yes, 99 percent of the time it's probably fine, but they'v been hit before where the 1% that wasn't fine have gone after them big time.

So they have to show that they're taking active steps to prevent people "putting their health at risk" by eating it.

I agree that if your house is owned outright, benefits and tax credits ought to cover you if you're careful with your money.

My sister has done this dumpster diving or whatever you want to call it, but she has also lived in a fire engine for a year, lived up a tree for several months and thinks that unless you do recreational drugs you are narrow minded etc so I wouldn't count that as a recommendation

I've done it in New Zealand. It was a couple of years ago when I'd started a new career and was really skint. It's not 'dirty' if you do it right, and if you time it right (ie, when supermarkets are throwing stuff out) there's no need to worry about 'rats urinating' on your food. (which is a bit hysterical, btw!).

We got some amazing hauls, so much fresh food and whole boxes of jars etc (if one breaks in the box they will often throw the whole box away). Plus loads of plants and herbs for the garden. It was a real eye opener and anyone who scoffs at the idea of 'eating out of bins' would be pretty humbled if they saw the amount of perfectly good food that is thrown away in its tonnes.

Since coming back to the UK I haven't tried it - places seem to keep their bins under lock and key, although I'm in London so it might be different than other places. I would do it again - something like 70% of food is wasted from 'farm to plate' and the only shocking thing is that more people don't do it.

There are plenty of tips on the practice and the etiquette (yes, there are rules) for would-be freeganists on freegan.info.

If you own the house outright, then why has no money been saved for a rainy day when you were working?

As soon as we knew redundancy was on the cards, we figured that preserving the roof over our heads was a priority. Not long in a job = no redundancy pay. So we used our savings to secure a home rather than risking having to move from pillar to post every few months. It made sense at the time.

Can you pass on any of those tips please Spatchcock?

We have started to get in seeds and plant our own vegetables, but neither of us are green fingered so it's learn as we go. Both of us hope that even if one (or hopefully both) of us finds gainful employment in the near future we can still grow a lot of our own food. As I said though, at the moment it's going to be trial and error. Much more fun and preferable trying to be self-sufficient when there's no real need, I reckon.