Scavaging=Frugality

[rideaway]

I went to the local Dairy Queen to pick up the bucket of "chicken scraps" they save for me... About every 2-3 days I get a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoe ends, lettuce pieces, dropped buns, etc. Today the bucket seemed heavy. As I was getting ready to dump it to the hens I noticed some yellow onions. There were 12 onions total, none of them were even remotely soft. I took them all out (the hens won't eat 'em anyway) and sliced them and put them in the dehydrator. The whole house smells like onions, DH and DD are complaining mightily about my scavaging habits. But, at the cost of onions right now, they will come in handy later on. I am just disgusted at the things we see thrown out from local restaurants and stores. Last week the Dairy Queen gave me 3 full boxes of cookie chunks (for their blizzards I assume). The chickens got those too!

[Laura]

I went to the local Dairy Queen to pick up the bucket of "chicken scraps" they save for me... About every 2-3 days I get a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoe ends, lettuce pieces, dropped buns, etc. Today the bucket seemed heavy. As I was getting ready to dump it to the hens I noticed some yellow onions. There were 12 onions total, none of them were even remotely soft. I took them all out (the hens won't eat 'em anyway) and sliced them and put them in the dehydrator. The whole house smells like onions, DH and DD are complaining mightily about my scavaging habits. But, at the cost of onions right now, they will come in handy later on. I am just disgusted at the things we see thrown out from local restaurants and stores. Last week the Dairy Queen gave me 3 full boxes of cookie chunks (for their blizzards I assume). The chickens got those too!

Oh please tell me that the onions were totally separate from the chicken, and there is no way that chicken juice got on the onions!!!!!! Cross contamination can kill you......

You are very lucky this DQ gives you the scraps.
99% of restaurants cannot / will not give away extra food because of liability issues. I work for a hotel that throws away POUNDS and POUNDS of food, every day. We can't give it to anyone, because the lawyers say if someone gets sick / hurt (choking on something etc.) that they can sue us.
How sad it has come to this.

[rideaway]

No chicken was in the bucket... by "chicken scraps" I meant scraps to feed my chickens... sorry for the confusion.

One of our local stores still sells it's old veggies etc, but the other one stopped due to a lawsuit. Some pig farmer in California sued one of the stores in the chain for vegies that went bad and made his pig sick. The guy probably kept them for weeks before feeding them. Just irritates me how stupid some people are.

[Laura]

No chicken was in the bucket... by "chicken scraps" I meant scraps to feed my chickens... sorry for the confusion.

One of our local stores still sells it's old veggies etc, but the other one stopped due to a lawsuit. Some pig farmer in California sued one of the stores in the chain for vegies that went bad and made his pig sick. The guy probably kept them for weeks before feeding them. Just irritates me how stupid some people are.


PHEW......you had me freakin' out!! :eek:

Greedy people and lawyers screw things up for all of us!!

[JoAnna]

My parents save their stale bread, buns, cake, etc. in their freezer for me to give to my poultry. I call it 'chicken bread', and that has led to occasional confusion. My sister in law wanted the recipe for 'chicken bread'....:sarcastic:

About the only scavenging I do in retail places is to ask the lady who manages the deli counter at the local store if they have any of the 24 lb. icing buckets that I could have. I ask about once a month. They work great for storing food as well as nice little brew buckets.

[Travis]

I worked retail for awhile and it was actually cheaper to throw it away then to either store it or return it to the factory. And like said lawyers kept us from giving it away.

[9vTech]

I noticed that our local grocery store had put a fence around their dumpster. I have watched people dig out of it before. I guess maybe they were concerned about liability issues too.

[Rickhead]

Up here in Maine I go to the bread retail outlet on tues. And thurs. Twice a month. We buyshopping carts of bread for $8.
Last month the lady said" no farmers before 10 oclock when my help shows up!"
i said thats ok with me, im a homesteader! That earned me a grin and saved me a half hour wait.
I save the dark bread for my chickens, my brother takes all the rest for the piggetys. Saves me a ton on grain, and at $13 a bag, that aint chicken fee....yes it is.

[leera]

The bread store here gives old bread away by the trailer full.....makes me wish I had a farm...

[mozarkian]

Bakery outlet here sells racks of stale product to farmers as feed- $10 a rack and it took us about 18 months to get on the regular call list - about every 7-10 day availability. Chickens, turkeys and guinneaus are (somewhat) free range but like bread and white donuts in addition to thier morning wheat and corn. Pigs eat some of the bread and sweets soaked with extra milk, buttermilk or whey in addition to their corn and hay. The two Pyreenees are addicted to white donuts and get a couple with their feed. And the three milk cows like to be handfed a slice of bread or a donut as a treat on the way to the field. Feed some to the fish in the summer - fun to watch and the deer and wild turkeys like it to.

[bookwormom]

nobody here gives anything away. I used to get stuff out of the ALDI dumpster, no more. Restaurants have a fence around their dumpster, and that pig farmer
"Some pig farmer in California sued one of the stores in the chain for vegies that went bad and made his pig sick. The guy probably kept them for weeks before feeding them. Just irritates me how stupid some people are"
Grrr, how stupid. It is people like that who ruin it for everybody. .

[femmesteader]

To help with my homesteading goals, i have taken a second job at a high class petfood store.

Our policy is if your dog or cat won't eat the high qualify kibble, you can bring it back. It is then written off and thrown out. So one day we had several 80lb bags of food which was simply going in the garbage, and at the end of my shift I was supposed to dispose of it.

"I can't do it" I told the owner of the store over the phone. "I'm going to see if the Animal Shelter down the street wants all this food"
"Sure" he said. He's a nice guy, i know he really didn't care what I did with the food.

Anyways, you should have seen the looks on peoples faces when i walked in with the first bag of dog food...one bag alone is $79.99!!
One bag in particular wasn't even sold...but had ripped a little when a customer was moving it, so that one too was destined for disposal.

The staff were so thankful, and i'm sure all those homeless pets were too.

Now, I go to the shelter once every three weeks or so. I'm glad at least the food isn't going to waste. I hate waste.

[Southerngirl]

Excellent ideas, thanks for sharing. I will have to check out the local bread/bakery and find out what I can get. DH tells me that raising pigs to slaughter weight is no longer worth it due to how much it cost to feed them out... but I plan on getting a few and keeping track of everything I spend on them by getting food this way and prove him wrong. Along with the chickens. We have enough left overs from meals that go to the dogs/cats that something like a pig could benefit from, and give us something back.

[mozarkian]

Southerngirl, if you have a milk cow or goat, feed excess milk, buttermilk, and whey to your pigs and chickens. They love it and it makes the pigs grow quicker without getting flabby fat. Chickens get calcium from it that helps the shell production. moz

[MYellowRose]

I know people who go to bread thrift store and buy the bags meant to feed pigs and the like. They then take them home and if there is a hole in the top of the package they toss the slices under and to each side of the hole then rewrap the bread, freeze it and use it themselves! I wish I could do that here but with no car it would be too much trouble to get a large bag of stuff home on the bus.

[NCLee]

FWIW, I've eaten many a sandwich made from "hog feed". Same thing with Hostess chocolate cup-cakes. :) Often just because it's past the expiration date doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it.

"Stale" bread toasts up just fine, as long as there isn't any mold. Opening a loaf of bread and taking a sniff will let you know if mold is present. It isn't hard to pinch off a tiny bit of green mold -- stay away from the black! -- or toss the slice or two that has it, and use the rest.

Same story, around here, with regards to the waste that's going on and the efforts to ensure that it continues due to liability issues. And, one more -- greed. If I can't use it, I'm gonna make sure no one else can profit from it either. :sad:

Lee

[cinok]

Excellent ideas, thanks for sharing. I will have to check out the local bread/bakery and find out what I can get. DH tells me that raising pigs to slaughter weight is no longer worth it due to how much it cost to feed them out... but I plan on getting a few and keeping track of everything I spend on them by getting food this way and prove him wrong. Along with the chickens. We have enough left overs from meals that go to the dogs/cats that something like a pig could benefit from, and give us something back.

Feeding out is not always the cheapest but you can control what they eat when to slaughter. Also if livestock is a great experience for kids teaches responsibility. If you do have kids in the house its a great project. Our boys each have their own accounts for their 4 h animal and their horses.
You can make a simple spreadsheet or check your local extension office in person or on line for project records.These record sheets are pretty extensive, they not only watch cost of feed but also feed to gain ratio's along with the other costs and records of care.

[patience]

We scrounge for most everything else, but haven't got into it for foodstuffs, since we grow most of what we eat. I guess it is time we started this!

Well, I did clean a grain bin for some really cheap corn last year that our chickens are eating now.

Mostly though, our scrounge efforts have been in "hard goods"--everything from metal and tools I use in the shop, to building materials and appliances. I really gotta look into the food thing...:o

[MollyPitcher]

Many years ago, when I was starting out in life, I would go to the day-old bread stores and buy a few loaves for myself to consume, and it seems to me at the time they were selling bread three loaves for a dollar and the treats were something like five for a dollar for some items and ten for a dollar for others. No doubt the times have changed and prices have gone up, but I guess I should try checking them out again. There are none immediately in my area, but I know where a couple are in adjoining towns. Have to remember to stop by and see what the current gouge is for day-old bread and then weigh it against the cost of poultry feed. Plain hen scratch is $13.00 per bag, which is just insane. I have planted extra in my gardens this year for the purpose of helping feed my poultry.

[Mzcry]

The bread store here gives old bread away by the trailer full.....makes me wish I had a farm...

Which one? I have chickens and not too far from you.

[leera]

The Pepperidge Farm outlet in Tanger Outlet Mall in Howell....you have to get on a list,but if you have pigs,chickens or whatever it might be worth it for you.

Mzcry,where about are you?

[Dame]

Whenever we find ourselves a little short on chicken feed going into winter one of us will volunteer to clean grain bins for a grain farming neighbour. Most of them hate the job and few have chickens to eat the last half dozen bushels anyway.

[crackergirl]

When I was little, my daddy drove a milk truck. Yes, I am the milkman's kid. But all the guys at the plant knew he had a little farm and pigs, so every day they would bring in their returns (out of date milk and juice) and daddy would bring it home a couple of days a week. Us kids had to bust the cartons into a 55 gallon drum, milk in one, juice in the other. We either just fed it as it was or soaked oats in the milk. We had to be careful though, to feed the juice up first. Otherwise it fermented in the heat and the hogs were drunk!
I won't go into how long ago that was but I can't imagine anyone allowing that to happen at a dairy warehouse today!

[crackergirl]

When I lived in Florida, we used to kid about the people who would pick up the oranges that fell off the trucks when they turned corners. We called them orange buzzards.
Recently I was going to my sister's in So. Colorado and I became an onion buzzard! That's right, an onion truck had lost some that had fallen on the side of the road. In just a few minutes, I picked upp about 12 pounds of onions! Color me happy!

[gregabob]

When I lived on an oilfield in the Salinas Valley in the '80s we used to go out to the vegetable fields and pick the leftovers. All the tomatoes were picked green, and the red ones left in the field, free for the taking. Undersized cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce etc. was also left. You had to be quick as the fields were plowed under in just a few days after being picked.

[kfander]

We lease a field to a potato grower in Aroostook County. Next fall, I plan to glean all of the small potatoes that their picker leaves behind. Last fall, I didn't get there early enough but the machine leaves small potatoes all over the field.

[MYellowRose]

I've noticed that most of the fast food places & grocery stores have privacy fences around their dumpsters. Only thing wrong is they tend to leave them open during the day and that's when people go into the dumpster because they know the employees are busy inside. Years ago when my brother hitch hiked to Arizona he met up with a guy that told him the best time to hit a fast food dumpster was at about 10pm because that's generally when they threw out the food that hadn't been sold. They ate good from McDonald's, Burger King, Jack In The Box, and the like all the way from Texas to Arizona and only got fussed at one time. At one place the guy bringing the stuff out put it in to go bags and handed it out to the people waiting by the dumpster. Ran across a guy on the bus one day who had a box with some fruit & veggies in it that he had scrounged out of and from around the dumpster behind our local grocery chain's high class store. He said he never bought produce as he could get more than enough for his needs at that one store.

[BlueJae]

I'm a celery buzzard around here. Firewood too.

[cubcadet]

Oh please tell me that the onions were totally separate from the chicken, and there is no way that chicken juice got on the onions!!!!!! Cross contamination can kill you......

You are very lucky this DQ gives you the scraps.
99% of restaurants cannot / will not give away extra food because of liability issues. I work for a hotel that throws away POUNDS and POUNDS of food, every day. We can't give it to anyone, because the lawyers say if someone gets sick / hurt (choking on something etc.) that they can sue us.
How sad it has come to this.

It occurs to me that unless their DQ is one that has a brazier like thay used to, you wouldn`t even find meat in their waste

[crackergirl]

The folks at the cabinet/countertop place here have a truck-box wagon out back of their shop. Anything in it is free for the taking. I got a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to make a new step into the house. I have also seen that they place the sinks they take out of homes against the fence with 'free to good home' signs on them.

[offgridbob]

To me the good old days of salvaging are pretty much gone what with all the rules and regulations to protect us from ourselves. I'm not even sure when I began my path to resurrecting stuff. But sometimes I still get lucky and find something usefull that can be fixed. I get a certain amount of satisfaction in doing so.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

FWIW,

Same story, around here, with regards to the waste that's going on and the efforts to ensure that it continues due to liability issues. And, one more -- greed. If I can't use it, I'm gonna make sure no one else can profit from it either. :sad:

Lee

I think the main issue is most cases is greed rather than liability issues. Human nature at it's base level. Lee is very wise to note that greed is an issue.

[crackergirl]

I think there is a certain amount of both factors -- greed and lawyer-itis-- that have put the kabosh on scavenging in a lot of places. I am happy to report, though that here in this little burg, in addition to the cabinet shop from the earlier post, two thrift shops also allow/encourage dumpster diving. I expect a third to start soon. There seems to be an understanding of the widening gap between haves and 'have nothings'.