Our Daily Bread

Photo by: smaku

The wheels of commerce are pretty cut and dry, or at least they seem to be. We trot off to work at some ridiculous hour, punch our time cards for eight or more hours, and then dutifully turn over the proceeds for stuff like food and clothes. This is fairly routine and most of us think little about it. But a growing number of folks are starting to find a new way of living that takes recycling to extreme sport heights. Meet the Freegans.

Just as the name implies, the Freegans like free stuff so much so that they've resolved to opt out of the economy. Embracing radical environmentalism, Freegans are dedicated to anticapitalist, non-consumerism subsistence living. Just how fanatical are they? If they have a choice between paying $2 for a loaf of bread or eating the bakery's leftovers from the trash, they'll gladly dumpster dive. This way of living either grosses you out or excites you, depending on how cheap, er, frugal, you are.

The Freegan society is inching above 500 in the New York City area and other communities are growing throughout the United States, especially in larger cities. They prefer the freedom of being trash freeloaders and minimal buyers to "giving in" to corporate America.

One gal featured in a Delish article, Leia MonDragon, made out with a week's worth of produce—including tomatoes, melons, and kale—from a local grocer who can't sell them past their "prime". She has managed to score every bit of living equipment, from plates to furniture, directly from the street. The Freegan lifestyle is less vagrancy than a consumer choice to live within one's means and limit waste. In this context, trash-roving takes on a new concept—not only to reduce unused buildup but to also avoid paying for food.

Many of the Freegans' tactics are quite sketchy for the average greenie—they even advocate vandalism on trash compactors. While some practices of these educated vagrants may be far out of your comfort zone, the basic tenet of consuming and wasting less stands as a smart strategy for us and our environment. I don't advocate dumpster diving, but we can take a few cues from these freeloading extremists to save money and still eat well. Stock your fridge and pantry wisely to fill the tummy healthfully on a dime without over-consuming.

Next: Buy Produce in Season