Dave the cheapster reflects on staying true to cheapsterhood and gives some tips on dumpster diving.
By Dave Fried
So by the time this goes to “print,” I’ll have already turned 30 years old. Now that I’m 30, I have a message to many of you younger people out there.
It just seems like a wake-up call that I’m turning 30, and not really living the life I know I want to. I don’t want to just gripe about every injustice or nugget of bullshit that’s rolled downhill. That would make me come off as an ingrate. I just want to live the life I know is possible. A life not dominated by work and obligations to things that don’t matter to me. I’m sick of working for someone else. I’m sick of being unhappy. In a lot of ways, I’m kinda sick of me. I can either center my life around being free (aka: living cheap) or just go buy a jar of mayonnaise. I’m 30 now and it’s time to either live by my beliefs or just give up on any kind of punk ideals. It’s cheapness or nothin’.
So my response–since most people only respond to anything when money is involved–is cheapness. Cheapness is me trying to desperately trying to establish boundaries with capitalism. To say to the world of work, finance and commerce: “This is what I’m willing to give you; please respect that.” As opposed to: “Here, have my life. I wasn’t doing much with it anyways.” And it’s just not happening. Everywhere I go, everything’s trying to get more out of me. More time, more money, more energy.
And I know things are bad for a lot of people. And everyone should be grateful for all they have. And there are lots of working people, who, for whatever reasons, literally can’t afford to stick to their guns. Nobody gripes about their jobs as much, because the only response you’ll get is “be happy you have one.” But I swear, I’m going to plotz if I hear one more time, “Well, in this economy.”
That being said….
I haven’t been out dumpster diving in quite a long time. I live cheap, but just not that cheap any more. Life used to be “dumpster dive cheap,” but now having the reality of a home mortgage, I’m more “make food for the week” type of cheap. I’m not opposed to dumpster diving in any form, and even last week I ate a lion’s share of a pastry that was heading to the dumpster.
Here’s some points of light about what I like about eating food from the dumpster:
Free fucking food. If you combine a meal of, say dumpstered veggies, set that with either an .85 cent block of tofu , and you’ve got yourself a meal. You can even afford to buy a few kinds of sauces to cook with. Always think about the price of each individual meal you consume. Then you can laugh yourself stupid about the idea of going out to eat, or justify it once in a while.
Portion size. When you find something in the dumpster, you usually find more than just one of whatever it is. So you end up with a lot of food. You can totally go nuts with portion size, not having to 
ration out your waffles, because they were free. Who cares, eat up! Extra everything on everything. Avocados till you explode.
Bananas. I think bananas are the most common item in supermarket dumpsters. I enjoy this immensely, because the stage of where they toss most of them out are the ripeness I prefer. So not only do I get free bananas, but I get free bananas of the kind I like! The soft brown ones are good for banana cakes and can be frozen to use for blended drinks. I can easily make a meal out of bananas if it ever came down to it. Plus, they’re good dehydrated.
All in all, have fun dumpster diving!
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