I've heard food banks and some eastern religion temples like Buddhist and Sikh temples will serve free food for the needy.

In the UK there is the "Too good to go" app.

I save a lot of money on groceries this way and provide others as well. You pay a third of the original price.

If you don't have any luck dumpster diving it might be worth checking if any of your local supermarkets (or even bakeries) are using Too Good to Go. They decide how much to put in the package, but a generous place will give you a bunch of food for very little money.

If you have a little Caesars near you that does hot n readies, they generally throw out a lot of expired ones. They sit in the warmer for like 30 minutes and then would be moved to the top of the oven until someone brought them out to the dumpster. It was my job at one time, but if anyone asked me for any of the pizzas on the way, I'd give them the full stack if they wanted that much. YMMV. I wasn't supposed to according to the owner but fuck him, he wasn't even in the same town 98% of the time and the closing managers didn't care (one of them even had me bring it out to someone's trunk that they wanted to help out).

I hated that food waste.

I hate to refer you back there, but there's a dumpster diving subreddit.

And I don't know what the schedule in the UK is, but here in the States, people are moving out of their dorms for the summer. If the schedule is the same and you can get over to your local university or college or whatever, you may be able to score not just food, but other things that people just don't have the energy/ability to drag home.

A friend of mine used to offer end-of-termers $10 for their mini-fridges, clean them up in his shed over the summer, then sell them to next year's freshers for $40-50. Even if you don't have a car, you might find some small stuff you can clean up and resell.

Here is a free book about it: https://archive.org/details/the-art-and-science-of-dumpster-diving-paladin-press

Many excellent tips and tricks.

Best wishes.

Jesus. Nobody should ever go hungry. Have you tried asking the manager/owner of the local grocery if you can have food destined for the dumpster? Talk to some of the employees too. While I'm not hard up for food, i got friendly with the folks running the deli section. If I show up when they close the deli, they'll give me everything left in the hot deli case for the price of one serving, because otherwise they're going to throw it away.

Some good tips here already (look for another food bank/pantry/church in your area that could help, follow dumpster diving youtube channels for advice), you could also try some of these, or look for similar sites (I've only skimmed these, not vouching for the content):

https://www.thebrokebackpacker.com/dumster-diving-for-dummies

https://wheeliebinsolutions.co.uk/blogs/advice/a-guide-to-bin-diving

https://www.woodfordrecycling.co.uk/news/skip-diving-junk-hunting-and-freeganism-the-need-to-know/

But more importantly, please have a look at/chat to turn2us, you are almost certainly entitled to some benefits, they will help you figure out which you are entitled to, and there are then benefits advisers in almost every town who can help you through the process if you find it too daunting and/or difficult.

Solidarity.

https://archive.org/details/TheArtScienceOfDumpsterDiving

This is the definitive text on the subject.

fallingfruit.org used to list a few dumpsters that reliably held good food; bakeries especially toss a lot of product at the end of the day

as for tips, check for rat poison first

Check local churches which will sometimes run food pantries

A lot of restaurants end up throwing out food that would otherwise be perfectly edible.

If you're a polite and patient individual, you might be able to build up some rapport with the owner or the workers. When my friend was in college, he could barely afford to feed himself most of the time. He was friendly with the cashier at a local fast food place and asked if they could set aside any orders that get sent back (due to being wrong) and give them to him instead of tossing them in the garbage. Not everybody will do this for you, but it's worth asking. I think generally store employees and managers are sympathetic enough to not care about what happens to product that was destined for the garbage anyway so they typically agree.

I would start by observing the places around you that serve food. Stop by 30 minutes to an hour before close and see when and where they typically throw things out and what condition the food is still in.

In the States the 211 service should be able to give you info on your local options as well as food stamps/EBT. The more destitute and challenging your current situation, the more benefits you'll be eligible for, IIRC.

That said, the wealthier areas may very well have unlocked/unguarded dumpsters, but getting there without being harassed by the local pigs is the obstacle there. I mean, that's one of their main jobs: keep whitey happy.

There’s a couple of YouTube channels of Dumpster Diving in the Uk

I had a friend that was very good at it.

Get in and get out. Dont hang around. Don't hesitate.

He said he thought it was like fishing in that you just didn't know what you were going to get.

I’ve rarely done it myself but my roommate did often and she got lots of things. Fancier grocery stores are usually the best. Depending on the neighborhood they can be locked though. Wealthier areas will have fewer people scrounging so more likely to be unlocked.

If you are a novice, start with non-perishable goods. Perishable goods can sometimes be fine too but requires more judgement.

That said, I have to believe that there must be more services available to you somewhere. Is there some office in your local government that can provide advice?

Never done it myself, but wouldn't dive anywhere that serves cooked food, it can go off real quick (and they're probably trashing the stuff that has already gone off) and could contaminate other stuff or get you sick. If you're looking for help fuck managers; get to know the lowest rung, we're usually spiteful to whatever hellhole we're working at and will gladly give you stuff if we know how to get away with it.

I used to find good stuff behind all kinds of stores. Anywhere that sells food and doesnt have a trash compactor. Gas stations etc for expired packaged food. (USA)

Unfortunately, all the edible food at grocery stores gets taken to the food bank.

Large grocers have Garbage's that are not accessible from the outside, but the only food they throw in there is from the hot bars.

Your best bet is trying at a local health food store, if they have a hot bar or deli counter. Their dump times are between 2-3 and around 7:30-8 (food must be dumped after sitting in hot plates for four hours, assume the hot bar opens at 10 and closes at 7).

Search for a "Food not Bombs" group in your area. They can help you out with meals and tips for sourcing free food.

Talk to a local restaurant if you've got any and ask for help - if they're not an ass they might be able to hook you up with food that's reasonably safe to eat.

Good dumpster diving usually involves getting it before its in a dumpster.

I wouldn't trust food in a dumpster, I think the goal of most dumpster divers is to find something of value and sell it. You can try restaurants and stuff when they're closing if food is all your looking for.

If you're in the US you might want to look into applying for EBT/food stamps at your local social security office if you haven't. It's not a ton of money for food, but it helps in combination with food banks and such. They'll give you a card you can use at grocery stores and such.

As for dumpster diving, back when I was homeless I would dumpster dive sometimes, Aldi was a good source because they do this stupid thing where they package all their produce in cellophane wrap, but they'll do six tomatos to a package or whatever, and when one gets mold or damage they chuck the whole thing. So a lot of times we'd find perfectly good, wrapped produce just hanging out.

Bakeries are also good for day-olds. Though they also often donate their day olds to food banks and soup kitchens and stuff. If so, they might be able to tell you where.

I would just be careful as some store owners will spray bleach or other poisons into their foid dumpster to stop people getting the food. I never saw it myself, and I believe it is illegal, but it was something other homeless folks I ran across talked about.

Sorry that you're struggling to meet your basic needs.

Here’s some recipes and methods.