I ate out of a trash can yesterday...

[here_is_to_hope]

The wife, child and I went to a local waterpark for some cooling off, on the way in, we finished off a can of Coke so I stashed the can in order to grab it on the way out (its worth a nickel).
A do-gooder picked up my can and tossed it in the trash can so I went digging for it.
I found my can-along with two other cans and came across a Burger King bag full of some of kind breakfast croissant things.
There were 8 of them in the bag along with the receipt showing they were purchased at 1435, I found them at 1550...still warm.
12.00 and some one threw them away.
I ate three of them, shared two with a squirrel and two went to my dog.
I gave the last one to a raccoon last night.
Saddens me that in this land of so much hunger and want that some people will buy and then toss such thing.
Hmph.
I am not so poor as to eat out of trash cans any more but I remember, back in the day how a score like this would have made my week.

[Walk away]

1. It was a long time ago and for a very short period of time but...

it would have made my week too. I never waste food. I can make the best soup ever from celery and carrot tops and the peels of apples and onion and herbs from the backyard. Once you have not had food you never forget what it feels like.

[natrat]

47. don't eat burger king or eggs or fried stuff-it's bad for you

[whatwasthequestion]

2. Good on you

I save cans and bottles for the refund of the money I PAID FOR THEM, too. Makes the wife, children, and co-workers crazy. Discussing with the wife the other day buying in smaller lots so as to not suffer spoilage of fruits and veggies. Also growing more, myself.
Yep, I was a "picky eater" until I moved out of the parents' house. At times I ate nothing for a week, but tomato sandwiches 'til I ran out of bread, fried okra that a friends' mother gave me in brown paper grocery bag, cereal by recycling the milk through it long enough to wet it, then poured it off for another bowl at another time. I do not turn down food anymore, nor throw it away if it can be "salvaged".

[PSzymeczek]

27. Here

We have to pay to recycle. :eyes:

[galileoreloaded]

3. My family is becomming VERY frugal.

More from choice from necessity. We are actually enjoying it. Those with skills can consider themselves fortunate, as what gets tossed is usually very fixable/usable etc.

Broken and trashed Blu-ray + 5.00 at Radio Shack = $400 DVD player. Worst part is, as this depression winds on, people will be slow to change the throw away mentality.

One mans bankruptcy is another's five year plan!!!!

[here_is_to_hope]

18. I have Depression Era Grandparents

And they have both instilled in me a need to be frugal and watch out for that rainy day.
I have been taught how to fix almost anything-I just built stairs for my daughter out of lumber I found a few days ago on the side of the road. I still have the Sway Away can opener I used in College-1980, I learned how to take it apart and sharpen as well as clean it, it may last forever now.
I don't often look for food in the trash can but I have snatched left overs off of plates at amusement parks.
I hate waste.
Hate it.

[sandnsea]

4. I watched a program called Platinum Weddings

last night. I don't remember what I was watching before it because I sure didn't turn it on.

Anyways, it's no-holds-barred weddings for the mega-rich, $500,000 shindigs. Unreal that anybody would think they deserve to spend that kind of money on themselves.

The really ironic one was the couple who wanted to have a "green" wedding. Like, the $100,000 of food was organic, how cool is that! And the $15,000 of table candles were soy, awesome!! And the $100,000 of linens and the wedding dress were all from organic renewable fibers, wowiezow! Are they kidding me? How do you spend that kind of money and think you are being a friend to the planet? Idiots.

I've never eaten out of a garbage can though. I don't know what that says about me, one way or the other. I'm grateful I haven't had to. I'm glad you enjoyed your meal!

[ginnyinWI]

6. having gone through a wedding last year,

we watched a few of these programs. Their main plan is to get you to spend more and more money--and feel like what you wanted to do originally is just pathetically inadequate! I learned to steer clear of them!

My daughter was, fortunately, sensible about the whole thing, but we still spent way more than we thought we would. Not hundreds of thousands, though! We had a wedding which cost $16,000--but that included everything from engagement photos and rings(designer) through the 12 day Jamaican honeymoon. The wedding itself was about $9500--including a reception for 100 with a buffet, wine and beer, a deejay and a photographer.

There are ways to cut corners and still have a good outcome. She got her dress on sale for about $300 but spent a few hundred more on alterations she wanted. We made our own invitations with some special-order rose petal paper, some ribbon and my printer. We ordered the bridal bouquets from a florist, but I also bought roses and did my own vase arrangements, and supplemented them with flower bouquets from my own garden. We hired a string duo to play, but got her cousin to be the videographer.

Regrets: a lot of money was wasted on the open bar. The bartender took advantage and kept opening bottles we didn't need. And we'll never know how much of that half barrel of beer was used and how much the hotel got to keep. We thought we'd look cheap not having an open bar, but now I wish we'd have had the type of service where the bar just billed us for what was consumed, drink by drink. It probably would have amounted to less!

But a good time was had by all, regardless.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Our wedding - with about 135 guests

was around $800. Mostly tent rental for the reception (in case it rained), cake, and meat/cheese trays. Friends brought pot-luck (as is the custom in our faith community). No alcohol (as is also the custom in our faith community) A couple of friends of ours played music. Lots of celebration, good conversation, and no one left hungry.

[PSzymeczek]

29. My husband and I spent

a grand total of about $2500 15 years ago. I had mine and the bridesmaids' (3) dresses made by a seamstress and spent about $500. Food and the cake for about 100 cost about $300. $55 to rent the VFW hall. We had a professional photographer, a professional DJ (a friend), and hired a limo. I even used a wedding organizer that helped us look for good deals. It can be done reasonably and be very nice.

[madmom]

9. When my sister in law got married we all pitched in. Her mom bought her dress

a "last years" prom gown, she used my veil (something borrowed), her sisters went together and made salads and finger foods, I did the photography as a wedding gift, we went together to a fabric store and everyone helped each other make attendant's gowns, the only thing left to outsiders were the tux and hall rentals and since her brother was a member of a union the hall rental wasn't to bad either. It turned out to be a very nice wedding and not expensive at all.

[sandnsea]

15. We did my daughter's for around $3,000

Open Bar isn't a tradition in my family or with anybody I know so we didn't have to deal with that. She did have a case of champagne, and a bunch of signature beer and wine though. I think we got it through a friend who owns a restaurant. Almost everything for her wedding was through friends, white Christmas lights from the nursery, chairs from the retirement home, I can't remember what all. I found dried hydrangeas, 3 huge baskets full, at a yard sale for $5. Same with some brandy glasses that we filled with beach sand and a votive for centerpieces. We gave the rental company a year of advertising and got a huge beach house for "free". She wanted a cupcake wedding cake and the local ice cream place did the best ones we could find, .75 each. We ordered 100, $75.00. And she found the dress she truly wanted for just $100. So it was like that, and it was gorgeous. It was also a bit of a headache so I told my brother-in-law to remember all of this and when his daughter had her wedding - just write the check. lol.

And they're getting a divorce this year - so - none of it mattered anyway I guess. *sigh*

[DaveinJapan]

16. So, if you happened to be a billionaire

you'd never do anything lavish for youself?

I'm not saying some of the excesses we see aren't repulsive and obnoxcious, they certanly can be. But then you've got people like Gates and Buffet, who've donated practically all of their fortunes for the common good (one might say "they should", but we all know others choose not to and instead just create a dynasty that lasts a few generations til all the money is pissed away).

Would you begrudge Bill Gates an expensive, lavish wedding for his kid?

Just sayin.

[sandnsea]

17. I would never do what these people did

Never. And I certainly wouldn't pretend I was being friendly to the planet because I used soy candles while powering 3 separate reception rooms including a disco. If I did spend that kind of money on something, I'd at last make sure all the gifts went to some kind of charity.

[tblue37]

52. I know for a fact I would not spend money on such things, even if I were a billionaire.

Conspicuous consumption seems very repulsive to me, under all circumstances.

[here_is_to_hope]

19. I have friends that buy only 'green'. they

spend untold resources doing it, really a waste. Like you mention, 15k for soy candles? Thats just stupid. A friend buys 'green' wetsuits, not made from oil but limestone-they are triple what a regular suit costs so he works three times as hard and spend three times the resources.
You are up in Florence, right?

[sandnsea]

45. If you need something

Then I applaud people who pay triple the amount to buy green. But if you're wasting the resources that went into growing the soy for the candles, and the $15,000 to buy them, well don't call yourself green.

Yes, I'm up in Florence. Where are you?

[here_is_to_hope]

57. I am in Coos Bay...

Seen Summer yet? lol....

[csziggy]

21. When peopl are extravagant like that, consider it "redistribution of wealth"

$100,000 of food = jobs for caterers, wait staff, farmers, etc.
$100,000 of linens & dresses = jobs for textile workers and seamstresses.

And so on. Sure there are more responsible ways to spend that money, but those idiots are not going to do it. So don't diss their token efforts - if they are spending, they are spreading their wealth in one way at least.

[here_is_to_hope]

24. You make a great point! eom

[sandnsea]

46. They employed a ton of people

That's true and a good point. I was just stunned at the extravagence, along with the nonchalant attitude they had while spending that kind of money.

[csziggy]

54. Yes, those of us not born into wealth can't spend like that, even if we were lucky enough to acquire

That much wealth.

But do the math - with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, they make so much even when dividends on investments are down they cannot help but accumulate more. Say they get a return of 2% on their money and have $10 million - that is $200,000 a year. And you have to be sure that they have 'people' to make sure they pay little in the way of taxes on that money.

Ramp that up for the truly wealthy who have hundreds of millions and they can soon reach the point that they flat out cannot spend all the income their investments generate. Until we can convince Congress to increase taxes, the best way to get that money back into distribution is for the ultra-wealthy to spend extravagantly.

"Conspicuous comsumption" was coined in 1899 (Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/833) and works as one method of redistribution of wealth, but not as efficiently as taxation.

Hmmmm, just looked it up to find when that phrase began and from the Wiki article there is this note: "Economist Robert H. Frank proposed eliminating income tax and replacing it with a progressive tax on the amount spent each year, as a way of curbing conspicuous consumption." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption)

Interesting concept and that would certainly curb excessive spending at all levels of our society!

(Fixed typo)

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Funny when I married I could have had a more expensive dress

I almost went hysterical with the cost of mine, (500 ten years ago, almost eleven) To me that was a waste

Well it got recycled, my sis used it, after modifications. So yes we still spent the most in a dress ever... but still... and the rest went like that.

I wanted a nice wedding, but not to sell the house on it.

[Arugula Latte]

48. Let me chime in on "our frugal, sensible and wonderful" wedding

1995. Vintage Dress bought at consignment shop for a couple hundred. Engagement, wedding bands, also vintage from the '20s, less than $150 for both. We made our own very cool invitations. Location was husband's sister's beautiful one-acre backyard. Lots of foliage, flowers, trees growing naturally, so $100 at SuperKmart for roses put here and there in vases. I grabbed my bouquet from those roses. Fiance/husband and I cooked some of the food ahead the day before (stuff that got better overnight) and had a friend cater some other food. We bought wine/beer in bulk and had friend act as bartender. Friend videotaped it. We taped the music (this was before iPods. Dancing on the deck. Spent money on two tent rentals, chairs, tables, linens, flatware, a string quartet, and a judge to make it official. Had several people comment it was the best wedding they'd ever been to.

[cascadiance]

5. Others do dumpster diving and help the environment and do well with it (video)...

Check out this Al-Jazeera Witness episode "Land of Plenty"

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ljJXec2EE

Check out the nice gourmet meal they serve themselves in the middle of this clip.

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NEjW3kNf4

Here's another clip on this practice from here in Portland, "Meet the Freegans"...

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/07/meet_the_freegans_dumpster_div.html

[onethatcares]

7. reduce/reuse/recycle

tune in, turn on, get off the grid as much as you can. I've been trying to convince my wife of the very need, not want to do these things. It's like fighting an uphill battle but in the end, we know the good guy wins.

I remember making a pot of chili that lasted almost 9 days, then it got some green stuff on the top, I just couldn't stretch it any longer.

Peace.:hi:

[nebenaube]

10. If something grew in it then it wasn't chili....

here, have a habanero-pickled ginger slice.

[here_is_to_hope]

20. Yeah, but enough hot sauce and spices will kill any lurking bugs and germs.

I eat the most insane ways sometimes.
But its rare I eat out the throwaways.
At Church today we had a BBQ and the kids were tossing burgers without even a bite out of them.
My compost pile is going to be huge this year.

My daughter was a picky eater till one day, I was so fed up with it that I shared a bunch of pics of famine stricken areas, including the kids. I hated to do it, no child should see that starvation but I had to help her understand what we have here and how we should never take any of it for granted, ever.
She understands better now and rarely wastes a bite. I did my part by getting better portions together for our family of three, limiting waste.

[csziggy]

25. We're pretty frugal - our food "waste" is mostly banana peels and coffee grounds

Are less than a gallon per week and they all go out in the garden to compost.

A tip which I learned while cooking for just the two of us - go ahead and make big pots of food, but freeze half of it. That way you don't get tired of eating the same thing every day for a week and it doesn't go bad. Plus, if you have a busy week you are not tempted to resort to fast food joints or over priced prepackaged stuff.

[PSzymeczek]

31. We rent

and can't compost.

[csziggy]

38. Bummer n/t

[here_is_to_hope]

30. We have turned it in to a challenge to live as cheaply as possible...

We turn off the water heater for three days at a time, have a black trash bag solar shower set up outside. I collect rainwater for it and the laundry.
I unplug every electric device in the house when I turn in for the night (saves 16.00 a month for us), when we do bathe inside, I leave the bathwater in the tub for its heat, leaving it there till it turns cool then I flip the valve on the drain so that instead of going to our septic, the water goes to a system of three barrels, the last barrel is clean enough to drink out of. I do the same thing with our dishwater. Using very green 'soap' (Yucca root), I divert the graywater to my cold frame tank in front of the house where I grow my greens through the Winter.
I have built houses out of what others would throw away.
Its freeing really, to outsmart the 'wants' and focus on the 'needs'.
And being so frugal frees me up to work less thus I have more free time.
You can't buy time.
It really isn't free.

[Beacool]

55. Next time freeze some of it.

I don't blame your wife, if you had made me eat chili for 9 days I would have left you.

:puke:

[BlooInBloo]

11. Conceivably I could do that *myself*, but I can't imagine giving food to my *family*...

from a dumpster. Unless I had no alternative, of course.

[here_is_to_hope]

22. I think I have a 'thing' for putting myself in anothers shoes...

I mean, I don't have to be so cheap and no, I would not find something like this and share it with my clan.
I do not know what my own limits would be, I know I would eat shit for ten grand though, so would my wife...what does that say about us? (don't laugh, this was an actual discussion a few night ago)
It may mean we both know her and I will never see that much money in one place with our name on it.
And we are ok with that.

[troubledamerican]

12. Top 5 Reasons NOT to eat from trash

I have been homeless. I have eaten from trash cans.

Here is what I learned:

Rejected items are placed in garbage cans for a reason, very often.

Reasons NOT to eat from trash:

(1) The first croissant was found with pieces of broken glass in it. The others were trashed as a precaution.

(2) The first croissant tasted like oven cleaner, which it probably fell in a patch of. The others were trashed.

(3) The first croissant contained a dead cockroach, or a living one. The others were trashed.

(4) The first croissant had a dirty boot-print on the inside of the wrapper. The others were trashed.

(5) The first croissant had rancid meat product, or human hair, or human fluids angrily put there by an employee.

There's very often a reason why useful-looking items are in the trash.

[theboss]

13. I don't feel so good now

Thank you.

(I've thrown out shoes that I've worn in bathrooms at sporting events and concerts where the plumbing was not meeting the demands. I can't imagine a universe in which I would eat out of a garbage can).

[here_is_to_hope]

23. And thats ok, you are comfortable with what you feel you have to do.

I have no worries, you tossing shoes you felt were nasty is what you needed to do.
I in turn, might find those shoes and get happy.
We both win.
:toast:

And if we have have dinner together, I aint sayin' where it came from! :evilgrin:

[havocmom]

14. Second Harvest

One of my fav organizations.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

26. "This land of so much hunger." Seriously, what the fuck are you talking about?

Compared to what? Italy? Nova Scotia?

[here_is_to_hope]

28. I am only mentioning what I see, here In Coos County

...we have 17 percent unemployment, no industry to speak of, no 'middle class' that really is middle class.
We have a food bank that is overrun, a Salvation Army pantry that treats you like Jesus when you show up with a case of canned tuna, yeah, I live in the land of hungry people.
You?
By the way, and I ain't shitting you, we had pancakes for dinner tonight.
Pancakes.
mmmm, cuz the wife is never here for breakfast.

[PSzymeczek]

32. We're having fried eggs

and hashbrowns. :)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. Really? How many kids do you see who look like this?

[here_is_to_hope]

36. I don't see that type of severe hunger here where I live.

I know it exists, I have used those same images to convey the point that there is hunger in our World.
Images such as that one made my daughter scream.
I am not getting where you are coming from though.:hi:
om edit, see post 20

[Arugula Latte]

49. You're denying that kids in West Va., Mississippi, Michigan, and every other state are hungry?

You don't understand there is a major strain on food banks these days?
You don't get that lots of kids are malnourished, even if they have some food (because of poor quality).

How far up your ass is your head?

[gleaner]

35. I don't think......

that the fact that hunger exists in this country needs a comparison to other countries. There is a legal term which I don't know the Latin for, but it translates to "the thing speaks for itself." Hunger exists here. It exists in the U.S. at large, it exists in my state and my city, and yours too, I'll bet.

People are homeless here too. They routinely do without medical or dental care or eyeglasses or prescriptions. They can't find jobs even though they try and they live at the very bottom of subsistence.

Instead of worrying so much about the "quality" of our hunger, why not look around you and see for yourself. Go into an area where there is poverty and need and really try to look without judging. After all you could find yourself in that situation too. All it would take would be a serious illness, even if you have health insurance, the loss of a job, or a catastrophe which destroyed your house. None of us is that far from nothingness unless we are very wealthy; and how many of us are?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

37. We're not talking about illness or lack of health insurance.

When is the last time a person died in the United States strictly from hunger, except in the case of a child whose parents were nutcases?

[here_is_to_hope]

39. Thats hard to say. eom

[gleaner]

41. That would be a good question for you...

to research. Without doing specific research I could not give you a specific instance off the top of my head. I could find one, though, I'm sure. But so could you, and you came forward boldly to state a fact not in evidence, that hunger in the U.S. is not really hunger unless it compares with hunger in a place other than the U.S. Maybe it would be a good exercise for you to check it out for yourself. If you have difficulty with research, let me know and I'll see what I can do for you.

And yes we are talking about illness and health insurance. We are also talking about unemployment. They are all factors which can place individuals above or below the poverty line. Below the poverty line is where the hunger comes in. They are factors which help most of us to stay afloat, but none of us is immune to loss, poverty or hunger if our safety net breaks.

Granted, we are not in the same league as Darfur when it comes to hunger and want, but don't you find it even a tiny bit disquieting that people in the U.S. want for so much, and other people capable of helping them refuse to even see their need?

[here_is_to_hope]

40. "gleaner" lol....

Do you recall all of those who turned out to glean the potato fields near Ft. Collins, Co. a few months back?
They expected 200 hundred and 10, 000 came IIRC.
I think gleaning is something I will look into locally.

[gleaner]

42. Yes, I do recall that...

I was saddened that there were so many hungry people. Gleaning is an old and time honored tradition. My mother and father were raised on farms and came to California in 1939 at the height of the depression when they could not find jobs or even food in their home states.

They told me about the people who used to follow the corn and wheat harvests to take what food they could find. That is why I took this name. I'm gleaning for information and ideas. They feed the mind the way food feeds the body, only you have to eat before you can think, so my gleaning can be considered a luxury.

Thanks for recognizing the reference and for reading my posts. Community gardens are also a good idea, as is gleaning where there are crops available. A better idea would be for the government, whomever is running it, to put back the social programs the Republicans took away from this country. I'm in an urban area. It's harder to find viable food sources here.

My relatives who stayed behind when my parents fled the dust bowl lived in poverty for years. Real grinding hopeless poverty. My parents brought them here a family at a time. My father who was a carpenter used to spend his vacations putting floors in their houses, weatherproofing against the snowy winters, piping the houses and putting in indoor plumbing. Unfortunately other that take them what food we could afford, we could not help them much with that. They lived in a very conservative state which does not to this day believe in helping the poor. I guess the first hand sights and knowledge of that is what shaped my responses to poverty and disenfranchisement.

[Gabi Hayes]

34. so sad..... check this:

According to Kathy Koch, writer of "Hunger in America: How Bad is the Problem?", written in 2000, she states that "New government statistics show that amid the nation's prosperity 31 million Americans --including 12 million children -- suffer from hunger or face the risk of hunger".

just think how many there are now


here's a site with lots of info on this



http://www.bukisa.com/articles/67090_dumpster-diving-legality-vs-morality

[theboss]

50. Put me in the camp of people who really doesn't understand how you can be a "hungry child" in Americ

Between free breakfast and lunch programs at school, TANF, food stamps, soup kitchens, and the fact that you can get a cheeseburger for 99 cents at McDonalds...it's not clear to me how anyone can be "hungry" or what else can be done to stop it.

I mean, we've been talking about this issue since the 30s and doesn't seem like we have the first clue what to do about it.

[sandnsea]

53. hungry vs starving

July, school's out, mom works so she only gets $100 of food stamps, car breaks down, fix the car or lose the job, run out of food. Times a million or two.

[exman]

44. The worst of it is...

:shrug: It is socially OK to throw away perfectly good food, and shameful to climb into a dumpster and make use of it. I found a half package of oreos that way once. Stank like roach spray. but I ate it anyway. Can I describe real hunger? No, I only went a couple of days at a time without food, but I was sure grateful for those cookies, bug spray and all.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beacool]

56. I thought that I was being good by cooking more at home,

but you people make me feel positively wasteful. Fishing food out of the garbage, making soup with peels?

:(