Today I spent almost a whole day at Pasir Panjang (PP) wholesale market.
After I sent my wife down to her office, I came home and changed and took a train down to PP.
The freegans have expanded their operations so I was interested in what more they were doing.
It's quite interesting, cos in my previous posts, I thought that I was going to stop collecting vegetables and fruits cos I thought it wasn't worth the trouble, and continue doing light dumpster diving for fun.
But as I think about it more, I might flip that around, and do more vegetable collection and do less dumpster diving.
It's really still an exploration cos although dumpster diving results in more merchandise, it creates clutter in the house, and I don't need 90% of the stuff I find and it's really just a waste of space.
Whereas, for vegetable collection, we don't eat much veges, but I can always collect more fruits which we don't usually buy cos it's really expensive. Transportation is around $2-$3, so it's quite easy to make the trip worth it.
So anyway, I was pretty interested in how much the operations of the freegans have expanded since I last went there, so I decided to drop by and help out as well.
Ok, simply put, they now have a lorry to transport the vegetables given by the vendors to charitable organizations.
So previously, the freegans would approach the vendors and just ask for fruits and vegetables which they were unable to sell. And it was usually for personal consumption.
They now have a relationship with a vegetable seller who is willing to lend them his lorry for 2 days of the week. Wednesday and Saturdays.
So the freegans would go to the vendors and still ask for the unsold fruits and vegetables but now, they can say that it is also for charity, so many of the vendors are very willing to pass on their unsold produce to the freegans.
The freegans would get some of the food to consume for themselves and the rest would be transported to charitable organizations like Free Food for All or Willing Hearts, who will cook the produce and distribute it to the less fortunate.
Today, the collection was so much that the freegans had to take more stuff than normal, cos the excess just could not fit into the truck. The truck was filled to the edges of the doors. It was really quite insane.
I think it's cos now the freegans are not doing this for themselves so the vendors are more supportive and give more of their unsold produce. I think it's pretty much a win-win situation. The charity gets free food, the freegans volunteer and get "paid" with the fruits and vegetables, the freegans will help approach the vendors and transport the stuff to the charitable organizations.
It was pretty fun for me. Although it lasted a lot longer than I expected. I got easily $50 worth of mushrooms. For the people who cook and do grocery shopping, I'm sure you all know. Mushrooms aren't cheap. I got Portobello mushrooms, white/brown button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms. Enough to last til next Wednesday. But hopefully I will be able to preserve them well so that they don't turn bad.
Got loads of other stuff as well, like potatoes, cabbages, pumpkin, pineapples, etc...
Took what I thought would be enough to last me til next Wednesday cos I'll likely go and help out again.
It's been a real lot of learning and changing my mind and changing my perceptions and re-learning stuff. Cos initially, I thought I would do more vege collection instead of dumpster diving...
Then somewhere in the middle, I thought I would do more dumpster diving instead of collecting vegetables.
Then now, I realize that I would likely keep coming back for more vegetables cos it's something which I need on a regular basis, instead of merchandise which I don't really need.
So I think everything is truly about exploration and finding the path that best works for yourself, not only in this case for me, but life in general, to not take things for granted and when new ideas or when circumstances change, to quickly adapt to it and recognize that things are different, and that maybe doing something another way might be different and more suitable for yourself.
And to keep trying out new things, cos you never know where the road takes you. Try it out, if you don't like it, can always not do it again, I never thought that this whole freegan mentality would impact me so much.
It's not only about saving money, but also letting go of material stuff, to give away stuff, cos... I don't need them anymore. I know where to get them already. I don't need to stash away things cos... "You never know when you might need it."
Yes, I may need it again, but I'll know how to find it or obtain it again, and this time, I'll likely get it for free.
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