OPEN POST! Simple Bargain Hunter, Clever Dumpster Diver or Certifiable Lunatic? What Do You Think?

Sofie Juel-Andersen's dumpster diving adventure kicked off while she was living in Sydney, Australia. At first, she only took fresh produce from designated bins, but she quickly discovered that she could find so much more! 

“My sister sent me a photo of some hidden treasures she had found while dumpster diving. I knew it was a thing, but I never thought of it as a way to keep food on my table,” she said enthusiastically. One day, she decided to team up with a friend and check out some supermarket bins around Sydney, and she was hooked! They stumbled upon a treasure trove of fresh veggies, and even though the 30-year-old could always afford to buy food, she realized this was a fun and budget-friendly way to stock up her kitchen.

“It was always the supermarket dumpsters I visited,” she noted. “I never looked behind restaurants or in private homes since that can be a bit tricky and even illegal in some places.” 

“The things I found were just amazing! The dumpsters were packed with food—some items were past their expiration date, but a lot were still perfectly good. It felt like going on a treasure hunt! I quickly realized there was so much delicious food waiting for me in those dumpsters that I didn’t need to go shopping anymore.” 

“There were actually two dumpsters behind one supermarket overflowing with all kinds of packaged goodies, like whole chickens, frozen pizzas, and drinks. One time, we even found 300 cans of Diet Coke still in their boxes, plus an entire box of kombucha bottles that got tossed just because one of them had a little dent!”

Sofie’s top tips for first-time dumpster divers:

1. In the beginning, it might be nice to take a friend with you

2. Check the law first to see if dumpster diving is illegal in your area

3. You may not always strike gold the first time–but keep going

4. Always bring wet wipes and sanitizer to keep yourself clean

5. Be kind and respectful to employees who may ask you to leave

6. If you find a big stash of the same item, share it—you never know who really needs it…

I can't. Sofie seems like a lovely young lady, but now her entire family is involved, and just to give this story a punchline, Sofie's job is as a restaurant manager. Sure, she travels the world with the money she saves, but I swear to all, above and beyond, as broke as I have been in my life, I have never passed a city dumpster and thought, Yum Yum, I bet there's some filet mignon with my name on it in there! Hey, I bet there's the makings for a chef's salad in there! Oh, let me sniff the sweet scent of day-old cookies, not freshly baked. In there! Or I don't know guys let's do a deep dive and see iffin we can rustle up some lunch sushi IN THERE!

If you would, then good for you intrepid gourmand, but I would rather skip a meal or ten than eat from a dumpster. She is in Scandiland, so maybe they are cleaner there, but you won't convince me the bin chickens in Sydney aren't hip to her game. She was one dive away from being murdered by a gang of them, so she fled, fearing for her life, clutching a jar of Vegemite for her harried travels home. 

Peckerwood's Weekly Lunocracy Post is RIGHT HERE.