Secret Freegan’s Christmas Shopping

Hey, do you remember the other day, when I listed Secret Freegan (@Freegan ) as one of my Favourite Frugal Twitterers?

Well, it turns out that Secret Freegan also has a Secret Freegan blog, which makes for eyeopening reading.

Just look at this:

This vast array of good food was collected in just one day, from a supermarket dumpster in Secret Freegan’s home city. Actually, scratch that: apparently, it’s just half of what she collected! 

Amazing, isn’t it? Secret Freegan donates it to local homeless shelters; a teen shelter collects 200lb of food from her every week, and has even given her a second freezer so that she can store more food for them safely.

She says that the average store throws out $500 – $800 of fresh food every day; sometimes, just because they want to make space for newer products. They won’t donate the produce outright, because of “liability” issues (boo). So Secret Freegan does her bin “drive bys” at 10:30 pm, when few people are around.

I’m seriously impressed. Check out her blog for information and regular updates.

As previously mentioned, I haven’t yet worked up the nerve to go rummaging around the back of the supermarket in my small town, but I’m seriously reconsidering this. After all, supermarket dumpster diving is spreading to the UK too. Here are some Londoners in action: