My First Grocery Store Dumpster Dive!

I recently joined a Facebook page for dumpster divers, where people post photos and stories of their "scores". I was amazed at how many folks find perfectly good food behind some supermarkets - particularly Aldi's! I did a run behind my Giant and Harris Teeter supermarkets, only to find that they have giant compactors connected to the back of the store by a tube, so that whatever they toss gets smashed and shipped to a landfill. 

This morning my husband had an errand in Winchester, so I tagged along just to check out the Aldi's there. I went inside first and didn't find any really hot deals. The prices were lower than the grocery stores in my area, but nowhere near as low as what I am used to paying with coupons. Aldi's is a German chain with a no-nonsense system and does not accept coupons. I did buy a 3 lb. bag of apples for $3.39, which at $1.13 pound is a pretty good price.

Then we drove around back and I peeked into the dumpster. I couldn't believe my eyes! About 15 loaves of bread, a box of cereal, and other assorted goodies were inside, but they were all out of my reach. I grabbed what I could get easily and ran back to the truck! 

Here is what I brought home:

The orange juice says "best by April 9, 2014" and was tossed because the top was smashed in! It was tricky to open, but we managed to cut it with scissors and poured it into a pitcher.

I suspect the hummus just didn't move because it was spicy (it has cayenne pepper in it) and was disposed of to make room for fresher merchandise. It still has a tight plastic seal on the top, under the lid, and says "sell by April 14, 2014".

The bread says "sell by February 28, 2014" and I have no idea why it was thrown out. I opened it, and and it smelled fresh, so we used it to make tuna melts for dinner!