Food That Is Thrown Away

Today, there are so many people starving and hungry in the world, but what does anyone do about it? Nothing. I have recently done some research on local merchant chains who serve food like fast food establishments. Everyone one of them throw their extra food out into the dumpsters and write it off as waste.

The other night while my husband and I were coming home from a friend’s house, we stopped into one of the local convenience stores for some drinks. When I walked into the store, the donut vendor was collecting the days donuts and replacing them with fresh ones. He had a clear plastic bag that had the contents of at least 25 donuts in it which he was taking back to the manufacturer.

When I approached him and asked what he does with them, he stated that they go back to the plant and are thrown out in the trash. Now, these were perfectly good donuts that were going into the trash. Why not donate them to the local food banks to help feed the homeless and hungry?

I remember my days of being homeless and pulling out trash bags from fast food places and finding perfectly good food in them to eat. That bag of food fed at least ten of us until we were full, with some left over for the next day.

These places knew we were eating from their dumpsters and back in the day they didn’t care. Some of us would stand outside the back doors of pizza shops and were given the extra pizzas they had left over or the mistakes. It was a good thing back then to help feed the homeless, but nowadays, all the dumpsters are locked after the food is thrown away.

Our country has a high percentage of food waste and so many that are hungry. It puzzles my mind why they would not allow the homeless to grab a clean bag full of food from their dumpsters at night just so they can have something to eat. Many go to sleep hungry and fall ill because of malnutrition.

The shelters are at maximum capacity which leaves so many sleeping outside with nothing to eat. Why can we not just give the extra food to outreaches and food banks where the merchant can get a tax write-off for a donation instead of a waste write off which causes a loss in the company which forces them to raise food prices.

Eating at some of these local food chains can break your wallet for two meals. We ate at a Hardees last week and it cost us $20 for two combo meals which is ridiculous. We will never eat there again I can assure you. Taco Bell used to have soft tacos for under a $1 and now they are almost a $1.50.

When asked why they can not hand out a bag of food at the end of the night, they say it is a food and health safety policy. To me that is saying that I need to be worried about the food you serve. To me the food is still good if it is made the same day and eaten the same night. I just don’t know what these companies are thinking. Do they have a problem with feeding someone who is hungry? Or, is it because they live on the streets?

I know that people should stand up and fight for the homeless and those that are hungry and can’t afford something to eat. Food stamps don’t go far for someone who sleeps outside because they have to buy food day by day and then there is the problem with no way to cook anything. You can’t buy hot food with food stamps so most individuals buy snacks and eat cold food right out of the can which is costly on a per day agenda.

Isn’t there some way we can make it so these merchants can feed the homeless with their leftover food, at the end of the night, by taking the bag to where the homeless people sleep? The manager who is usually one of the last people to leave the establishment could drop the bag off on his way home and know in his heart that he did a good thing.