Haul

 I've blipped our community fridge/pantry which started in November 2017 , the first in Wales, many times. Over the years these outlets for surplus-but-wholesome foodstuff have become both  more widespread and less bountiful with what they offer. In some ways this is progress ie fewer edibles are being wasted, but it's also because supermarkets cottoned on to the popularity  of their cast-offs and now make them available on site as 'Good to Go' and suchlike cheaper options. 

Our Pantry (no longer Fridge) still offers rejected food items which are collected daily by volunteers from local shops and suppliers.  This stuff is available to all comers with the object of reducing waste rather than meeting need. It doesn't replace the goods distributed to people and families experiencing food poverty.

More often than not the pantry (an outdoor cupboard attached to the operations shed where the stuff is checked and sorted by the volunteers) is empty by the time I arrive but today I found: 

3 giant squashy tomatoes
some rather battered mushrooms
several withered beetroot
a few perfectly good pears
3 cinnamon swirl pastries
And a partridge in a huge tub of sour cream (sealed and in perfect condition - it's just fallen short of the dairy goods dating system.)

So.
The tomatoes, stuffed with rice, made a delicious supper along with garden greens. Followed by pears.
The mushrooms will form the basis of  a soup.
The beetroot became part of the vegetable component of the dog's diet.
The pastries will await their fate in the freezer.
The sour cream I will share with my local son who makes a mean cheesecake.

I enjoy this kind of opportunistic, hunting & gathering approach to sourcing one's food. I've become allergic to supermarket shopping: the chilly air, the lack of aroma, the ubiquitous plastic, the self-operated checkouts...

I do realise that I'm lucky to have the time, energy and opportunity to forage, glean and cook in this way. I feel I'm carrying on an old tradition but also one that will surely be required, rather than chosen, in our food-precarious future.
 Many younger people are beginning to realise that (relative) self-sufficiency is the only way forward.