How sad; but you are not the first.... nor last... that this has happened to. I'm glad to hear that there is someone you can visit.

No one will buy what's "out-of-date" but is still usually good and usable. Unfortunately the charities won't/can't accept it either. So what's to be done?

Surprisingly, there are dumpster divers out there who are finding places to distribute some of these goods. Of course, there is an excellent chance some ”rules” are being broken. But, if you do a brief bit of research, you’ll find that the expiration dates that are put on most foods have nothing to do with the safety, or even quality, of the food. They’re more random and serve to keep merchandice moving.

Docmom, I'm sorry for the rough patch, and - a significant patch it is. I hope things begin to return to a pattern that pleases you and makes you fulfilled again. Soon.

I don't have experience preserving dated things. But for years, my immigrant FIL had a verbal agreement with a local store where they saved produce for him - for his livestock. There may have been more, but its the produce I remember.

A good amount of it did go to the animals but after he'd sorted it. Not a man who would ever consider waste. Tomatoes went into sauce to be eaten, frozen, apples for sauce and pies, lots of garlic and carrot soups...which we all ate regularly at Sunday dinner. He didn't can or dehydrate, but made good use of 'free'. Food was never anything to be taken for granted and I'm sure that came from being hungry in the old country - not something one forgets.

I worked with spec ed students at a fancy grocery store for several years. It drove me crazy, the stuff they would throw away when there were people hungry on the streets and a lot of the produce was just fine if you cut the little bruises or bad spots off!

They informed me that they did give at a certain point to the food banks, but due to liability, they couldn't distribute to people after a certain point.

The farmers in the area had to sign something that they were oNLY giving it to the animals and was not for human consumption.

IDK if this is Ca law, or just our county.

Personally, I would have frozen some of this produce or made something freezable if I had the chance!

I agree the food waste is awful, when so many people are going hungry. We will continue to cook up the produce we find, and keep an eye out for more shelf-stable items.

docmon, I'm a bit late on this, and I don't dumpster dive, but I've purchased "deer carrots" as well as turnips, parsnips and apples, in 50 pound bags. They are all the culls from local farms/orchards, the items that are too big, too small, too misshapen, have a bruise on one side, whatever. When I was still a single Mom and had much less money and lived in town with no garden space, I utilized those items regularly. I washed them well and used some for apple cider, jam or roasted vegetables, I canned one particularly nice batch of carrots, leaving the huge or unusable ones for the animals with my Dad at the farm. He died in 2008, so some time ago, but I lived to tell the tale, LOL.

I do hope things have improved for you, but regardless of life circumstances, I agree that there is far too much food waste and solutions need to be found.

Annie

There's also something I think called Imperfect food.com?????