For some people, that’s a completely insane question.  After all, who would pull food out of a trash can?  Especially if you don’t need it?

Well, someone I know did just that.  To protect my friend, who did what I probably would have done, I will change some the details in this story or be very generic in my descriptions.

After a large meeting, where they sometimes bring food, my friend saw someone throw away a plastic tray full of McDonald’s breakfast burritos.  Several minutes after the person walked away, my friend, still bothered by the wasteful act, looked around to see if anyone was looking, and when they weren’t, pulled them out of the trash.  My friend gave me the tray and told me the story.

Would you eat one of these? I did.  Yes, they were sitting on top of the trash, but protected in a thick, plastic bubble.  I really don’t care for McDonald’s food, nor do I like to eat food with meat in it, but I ate one because I dislike waste WAY more.

I suppose people at work will be more careful as to what they swipe out of the fridge and I’m guessing nobody will take any food I offer after reading this.  Unfortunately, these don’t make good leftovers, heck, I’m sure they don’t even make good food, which is why this happened.  Here’s a few tips for buying food for large groups.

• Will this be okay as leftovers? There’s always food left from large groups, so make sure it’s something that will not go to waste.
• If there’s a lot of leftover food, is there a place to donate it? Is this food purchase something that is able to be donated or given away?  Recently, 2 events in my church had leftovers and they were able to take a lot of cooked food to the homeless shelter and feed the day laborers downtown.
• Will people like this?  Let’s face it, if I have to bring food, I try to think of the cheapest and fastest thing.  You can do that, but do it with the thought that you have to eat this too.

I’m not beyond pulling good stuff, even food, out of trash cans.  :)