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Full-Price Fury Sends Writer to the Dumpster

W. Hodding Carter fed up with supermarket prices

By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 19, 2009 3:03 PM CDT

(Newser) – Since February, W. Hodding Carter's family of six has been living within their means on $550 a month, which means making hummus at home and slashing extras like candy and fancy cheese. But now, in a fury over the "unconscionably insufficient number of sale items" at his local supermarket, Carter writes in Gourmet that he's ready for Plan D.C.: Dumpster cuisine.

But his plan got off to a slow start. "The Dumpster, with its reinforced steel sides and hydraulic hatch, was like a small, odiferous Fort Knox," Carter writes. So he appeals to supermarket employees to throw him set-to-expire produce before they toss it. The guy in charge of produce isn't there, but Carter will catch up with him soon. Because of "my … um, chickens, er, I mean … my, um, pigs. Yeah, pigs."

I was going dumpster diving and would return home a hero with a cornucopia of tossed foods, W. Hodding Carter writes in Gourmet.
"I was going dumpster diving and would return home a hero with a cornucopia of tossed foods," W. Hodding Carter writes in Gourmet.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Sean Meagher works on a vegetable display in the produce department of a Kroger store in Cincinnati on July 16, 2008.
Sean Meagher works on a vegetable display in the produce department of a Kroger store in Cincinnati on July 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Al Behrman, file)
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Enough of always reacting and meekly turning in coupons. It was time for Plan D.C. I was going after the free stuff: dumpster cuisine. - W. Hodding Carter in Gourmet

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Mad
Apr 20, 2009 4:39 AM CDT
Opps.... That figure was for my geographical area... Nationwide the number of Americans living below the poverty line is nearly 40 million. One in eight
Mad
Apr 20, 2009 4:33 AM CDT
..."Reality", for 1.5 million Americans
Toon
Apr 20, 2009 2:41 AM CDT
If living on 150% of poverty is extremely frugal what is living below the poverty level called?

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