freegan followup

So here's the scoop.
We got nothin'.

I can't tell you what a weird excitement I felt all day. I was actually giddy about jumping in to garbage. And then it was such a let down! I didn't cry or anything, but I admit that I felt mildly depressed for a couple of days.
In my craziness I pictured us bringing home more food than we could possibly consume as a family. So much that I could share it with others.
We met up at my house, decked out in camouflage and rubber gloves. I brought along Lysol and wipes. We brought lots of plastic bags and a big stick with a hook on it in hopes it would save us from actually having to jump in to the dumpsters to just shift bags around. We headed straight for Whole Foods. As with all the major grocery store chains, we found that their dumpster actually backs in to their building. Whole Foods does compost all fresh produce and donates left over bread and expired canned goods (that's the good news). So from there we hit restaurant dumpsters and a few small bakeries and grocery chains.
The youngest (and most limber) of our threesome did most of the actual "diving". (If and when we do this again, she is totally on our team again!) Our fearless friend would just hop on in if there was even a hint of buried treasure. I would try to hold up the occasional lid and direct her to promising-looking bags.
We got away with very little mishap, except for a small cut and singed nose hairs. We were offered dinner by a mildly attractive male- which came to nothing since we lamely explained it was a sorority dare.
In the end, we hit close to 25 dumpsters and spent probably $1000 in gas. Our "big score" were three teeny-weeny snack bags of Keebler Pecan Sandies- the 100 calorie diet ones for goodness sake. And they were our of date. As darkness fell we began to feel desperate... so when we found a dumpster full of boxes, we took some. Boxes. Yes, boxes. I guess I can organize some closets or something.

Although the bounty of the evening turned out to be non-existent, it was surprisingly super fun. We laughed a ton and cried together as the disgusting stench hit our nostrils. It is amazing to think that people do this, not as an experiment or adrenaline rush, but out of necessity. As the night wore on and our spirits took a dive, two of us began to complain a little. I was totally hit head on when our third friend quietly said, "hey, if we were homeless and hungry we would be ecstatic about these three little bags of cookies." At that moment I felt a wave of gratitude that my existence didn't depend on regular trash digging. And you know what else? I was also hit with the realization of how many friends I have. I had many phone calls from concerned friends leading up to the evening of scavenging. Were times really this hard? Did I truly need to trash dig to provide food for our kids? Did I need money? I tried to explain that it wasn't out of need, but out of concern for all the needless waste going in to our earth. But that night, as I thought about how thankful I was, I thought of all my friends who would step in in a moment if my motive shifted and we became hungry.
So I take it back. The evening was not bounty-less. Actually, it was overflowing with gratitude and friendship and adventure.
Would I do it again? Absolutely.