Extreme Cheapskates

[lilwriter85]

Right now, I'm watching Terrence/Greg episode. Terrence seemed like a jerk when his wife suggested that the aunt and uncle go out to eat with them. I get a giant control freak vibe from Terrence.

[rock_girl]

I could never judge anyone for dumpster diving. The amount of food that first world countries waste is disgusting. I'm glad that there are people out there who can make use of it.

As for turning off heat and air? Yes yes yes yes yes. I don't have aircon or heat. The heat thing isn't really an issue, but it gets horribly sticky and super hot here in summer. Yesterday was a scorcher and it's still only spring. My dad keeps trying to let me have him at least buy a small portable aircon for my place and I keep rebuffing him. What a bloody waste of money.

The only thing I'm opposed to is haggling with people trying to make a living. Fair enough if you're in a country where haggling is a done thing, but even then I see other tourists taking it way too far. Don't be an arsehole to others just to save a buck.

[bellicosebroad]

I could never judge anyone for dumpster diving. The amount of food that first world countries waste is disgusting. I'm glad that there are people out there who can make use of it.

Yes, we waste a lot of food because it's been tossed instead of just given away as it should be, but it's not safe anymore when it's been with rats, roaches, etc., and garbage in the dumpster, or when it's been out of refrigeration and needs to be kept cold. As someone else here said, not worth a trip to the ER just to "make use" of something that's been turned into garbage.

[Witsec7]

Yes, we waste a lot of food because it's been tossed instead of just given away as it should be, but it's not safe anymore when it's been with rats, roaches, etc., and garbage in the dumpster, or when it's been out of refrigeration and needs to be kept cold. As someone else here said, not worth a trip to the ER just to "make use" of something that's been turned into garbage.

Our local grocery stores (national and regional chains) and restaurants all donate to the food bank and three hot meal programs here in town. Diving for food is a thing of the past in my town.

[Becket70]

My grocery store has a meat clearance section. It's usually steaks, roasts or pork and they marked down to half price. The meat in that section is due to expire that day but I will buy it and freeze it immediately after I get home. The price of beef these days is enough to give you a mild heart attack so this is the only way I can get an occasional steak or a roast to throw into the crockpot. I'm not a cheapskate but living on a fixed income as a retiree makes you frugal.

[mpheels]

My grocery store has a meat clearance section. It's usually steaks, roasts or pork and they marked down to half price. The meat in that section is due to expire that day but I will buy it and freeze it immediately after I get home. The price of beef these days is enough to give you a mild heart attack so this is the only way I can get an occasional steak or a roast to throw into the crockpot. I'm not a cheapskate but living on a fixed income as a retiree makes you frugal.

I love the meat clearance section. My store leaves the marked down packages right there with the full price packs of the same meat, so it's more challenging to find. Every time I'm in the store I walk the length of the meat section scanning for the little yellow stickers with mark downs. My best find ever was whole ~5 pound chickens for $2.50 each. They were still frozen solid, so I bought as many as I knew would fit in my freezer. They do the same thing with baked goods and produce, but they do at least put all the marked down produce together on one shelf.

[lilwriter85]

I love the meat clearance section. My store leaves the marked down packages right there with the full price packs of the same meat, so it's more challenging to find. Every time I'm in the store I walk the length of the meat section scanning for the little yellow stickers with mark downs. My best find ever was whole ~5 pound chickens for $2.50 each. They were still frozen solid, so I bought as many as I knew would fit in my freezer. They do the same thing with baked goods and produce, but they do at least put all the marked down produce together on one shelf.

One of the grocery stores in my area does the same thing and you do have fish around to find the marked down prices. I remember buying some steaks at half off a few months back.

[rock_girl]

Yes, we waste a lot of food because it's been tossed instead of just given away as it should be, but it's not safe anymore when it's been with rats, roaches, etc., and garbage in the dumpster, or when it's been out of refrigeration and needs to be kept cold. As someone else here said, not worth a trip to the ER just to "make use" of something that's been turned into garbage.

Not everything in the cold section needs to be refrigerated. If that were the case I'd be long dead. I'm eating a yoghurt right now that I bought from the markets this morning and carried around in my bag in the sun for a good five hours. If I never return to FJ, well, the yoghurt was worth it :lol:. There were plenty of posters in another dumpster diving thread who managed to do it without dying from cockroach flu. I stand by my original position - if someone out there can use thrown away food, fantastic. Personally I'd worry more about home cooks with no concept of how to prepare fish and meat. Cross-contamination is what's really going to mess a person up.

[constantgardener]

Not everything in the cold section needs to be refrigerated. If that were the case I'd be long dead. I'm eating a yoghurt right now that I bought from the markets this morning and carried around in my bag in the sun for a good five hours. If I never return to FJ, well, the yoghurt was worth it :lol:. There were plenty of posters in another dumpster diving thread who managed to do it without dying from cockroach flu. I stand by my original position - if someone out there can use thrown away food, fantastic. Personally I'd worry more about home cooks with no concept of how to prepare fish and meat. Cross-contamination is what's really going to mess a person up.

Unless it's a hot day I generally take yogurt to work with me and leave it in my bag until lunchtime. I actually prefer it because cold dairy stuff doesn't sit well on my stomach. It's only in recent years that people have had refrigerators at home. People just used to shop more often for perishable stuff and use it up more quickly.

[rock_girl]

Unless it's a hot day I generally take yogurt to work with me and leave it in my bag until lunchtime. I actually prefer it because cold dairy stuff doesn't sit well on my stomach. It's only in recent years that people have had refrigerators at home. People just used to shop more often for perishable stuff and use it up more quickly.

I know when I was younger butter lived in a butter dish out on the counters, near the eggs. It was only when we got into really muggy summer days (without aircon, of course) that the butter made it into the fridge, and only then because having your butter melt all over the counters was a waste of money. The way I see it, yoghurt and cheese are what happen when you leave milk to go bad. What harm's a little extra warmth?

Obviously if a person has a weakened immune system they'd want to adhere to food handling procedures to the letter. But for those of us who are fairly healthy... dumpster food and warm yoghurt are awesome.

[JesusFightClub]

We dumpster dive and have never had problems off it. There are things you don't touch (milk is not a great plan) but it's no different to buying the out of date food supermarkets put out at the end of the day really. Though you do end up with some weird meals depending on what was in the bin :)

[stefanilynn76]

The reusable toilet paper lady made me ill. Especially when she was babysitting all those kids and feeding them the outdated food and making them use her ass cloths. If you want to do that with your own family fine, but my kid would not be using her shitstained rags. Nasty.

[moreorlessnu]

I think it's been mentioned here before that families who use "family rags" (or whatever they are called?) usually have 'real' toilet paper on hand for guests.

[moreorlessnu]

We dumpster dive and have never had problems off it. There are things you don't touch (milk is not a great plan) but it's no different to buying the out of date food supermarkets put out at the end of the day really. Though you do end up with some weird meals depending on what was in the bin :)

I think this is where Kay went wrong when dumpster diving for food for her dinner guests. She mentioned several times that she didn't eat the types of food she was finding for her guests. If she doesn't eat meat or dairy, she's less likely to get herself sick when foraging for food. She may also not be aware of how easily it would be to get sick from meat or dairy foods left in a dumpster. She seemed crestfallen that her guests didn't appreciate her "finds", and yet she didn't seem to understand why they were so reluctant to eat (what they decided after tasting was) spoiled food.

[lilwriter85]

I think this is where Kay went wrong when dumpster diving for food for her dinner guests. She mentioned several times that she didn't eat the types of food she was finding for her guests. If she doesn't eat meat or dairy, she's less likely to get herself sick when foraging for food. She may also not be aware of how easily it would be to get sick from meat or dairy foods left in a dumpster. She seemed crestfallen that her guests didn't appreciate her "finds", and yet she didn't seem to understand why they were so reluctant to eat (what they decided after tasting was) spoiled food.

I wondered for awhile if something was off with Kay and I kind of the dinner scene showed that. The friends had good reasons to be reluctant about eating the food.

[stefanilynn76]

I think it's been mentioned here before that families who use "family rags" (or whatever they are called?) usually have 'real' toilet paper on hand for guests.

I don't know. I'm new here, so I probably missed that thread. I still think that lady is gross and I wouldn't allow my kids to eat there.

[bellicosebroad]

I think this is where Kay went wrong when dumpster diving for food for her dinner guests. She mentioned several times that she didn't eat the types of food she was finding for her guests. If she doesn't eat meat or dairy, she's less likely to get herself sick when foraging for food. She may also not be aware of how easily it would be to get sick from meat or dairy foods left in a dumpster. She seemed crestfallen that her guests didn't appreciate her "finds", and yet she didn't seem to understand why they were so reluctant to eat (what they decided after tasting was) spoiled food.

And it just seems rude. If she wants to eat dumpster food herself, fine. She's an adult and she can make that decision. If she gets sick it's her fault, and maybe lesson learned. But to try to force it on her friends? Come on. (Plus the mixing of different foods in one pot was just not the height of culinary finesse. Yuck, even if it had been good food.) She can afford to "splurge" on good fresh food this once if she wants to cook for them, or she can suck it up and actually pay her own way if they go out instead of trying to make them pay for her.

[JesusFightClub]

I think this is where Kay went wrong when dumpster diving for food for her dinner guests. She mentioned several times that she didn't eat the types of food she was finding for her guests. If she doesn't eat meat or dairy, she's less likely to get herself sick when foraging for food. She may also not be aware of how easily it would be to get sick from meat or dairy foods left in a dumpster. She seemed crestfallen that her guests didn't appreciate her "finds", and yet she didn't seem to understand why they were so reluctant to eat (what they decided after tasting was) spoiled food.

Totally agree.

Altough we didn't (I'm, um, between flats) inform our guests it was dumpster food, they probably either guessed or did it themselves ;) and we didn't use meat or milk in recipes. And we tried the food first that it wasn't spoiled or bad.

[Gypsy]

My biggest thing was her method of heating and serving it. She dumped it All into one pot and heated it at once, then stuck the pot of turkey meatloaf, chicken, asparagus, corn and other crap mixed together down on her box/table in front of them. The producers had to made her do that to up the weird factor.

[over-thinker]

I could not handle watching after she took the soap and demonstrated what she does after she "takes a dump" as she called it. I was seriously so grossed out I couldn't even stand it. Yay for saving money, but I won't be ditching toilet paper. Ever.

[lilwriter85]

I bet after Kay's episode aired, people who know her probably aren't going to trust her when it comes to food.

[Deleted06]

Can you imagine the office holiday potluck where Kate works?

[bellicosebroad]

Can you imagine the office holiday potluck where Kate works?

:P :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

"No, no, Kate, don't bring anything. We just want to enjoy your company. Really."

[lilith]

I can't imagine how much money Kay (the NYC CPA) has. When I lived in Manhattan the apartment building we lived in required you to make at least 200k a year (we did Not make that much, but that's another story). Her gas is off, her air is off and she barely uses other utilities.

I dont think I would dumpster dive for food, but furniture and home decor hell yes. I once got a brand new Sony stereo system just because its not a big deal for people in that city to throw away 300 dollar items on a whim.

The young zumba instructor guy was a douche though, charging his friends rent when he lives in the townhouse for free.

I didn't watch the show so don't know exact circumstances, but when I was at uni my parents payed my rent on a flat and I rented out the spare bedroom to a friend for spending money. I didn't feel like it was the wrong thing to do and my friend didn't feel exploited. It was my parents plan that I do it that way so I could work less and concentrate more of my time on uni, and my friend got a nice affordable place to live.

[lilwriter85]

Can you imagine the office holiday potluck where Kate works?

"No, no, Kate, don't bring anything. We just want to enjoy your company. Really."

:lol: :lol:

I can see that happening. But I also can see scenarios where Kate refuses to take food or other items for a potluck or other work event. My brother worked at a bank where potlucks and showers happened quite often. He said there were a few people known in the office who were against potlucks or other events. Those people didn't participate at all.

I also think people who have knew Kate prior to her appreance on Extreme Cheapstakes might have been leery about talking food from her. The guy friend on the show kind of had suspected that the food was from a dumpster.