4d ago

"You can't have our trash because we don't have a way to charge you for it"

I've been calling around various grocery stores this week, trying to get a hold of pork fat trimmings so that I can make my own lard for some recipes. One of the stores I called today said that they couldn't give me the trimmings because they don't have a code for it. I forget exactly what I said, but it was something to the effect of, "so you're just going to throw it away instead?" "Yes."

I understand that it does require some effort to separate from the rest of the waste, so I don't mind paying a bit, but its upsetting that they have no way to pass scraps along to someone who will use them instead of just tossing them in the waste.

Edit for anyone invested: I called around to a few other stores after making this post. One or two mentioned that they don't necessarily throw all of those bits away, but often use them for other products, such as sausages. I also found a store that will be putting aside their trimmings for me tomorrow, and they should have more than I need. It's almost an hour away on the bus, but right next to another store that should have any other hard to find ingredients that I'll need for the tamales.

Also interesting was that different locations of the same chains had different answers for me regarding even their ability to provide the scraps to me, so the suggestions that a manager might be able to make it happen are probably very accurate.

69 comments

Reminds me of the time I created the Triple Whopper for all of Germany. The Burger King in the Cologne Main Station had a "Your Way" section where you could make them assemble a Whopper exactly how you want it Subway style.
One day I encountered an especially enthusiastic cook and asked her for three patties instead of the maximum of two they had on the menu. She obliged me and also put on a ton of salad and onions and lots of love. I've never had a better Whopper in my life.
Anyways, she didn't know what to charge me so she just pulled a number out of her arse and let me pay that. A few months later the Triple Whopper appeared on the menu at a much higher price point than what I paid. I like to think that it's my fault.
- Meanwhile in America, in 1996 McDonalds had a regional burger that was quarter pounder meat. Meaning each patty is 1/4th a pound of meat before cooking. They put 8 of these patties and 7 middle buns, and 10 slices of cheese. They called it the "Big Mac Daddy". My mom called it "The Big Mac McHeart Attack"
  Just to be clear, even in 1996, the Big Mac, while it was bigger than it is today, it was NEVER quarter pounder meat by default. It was always the same meat the standard cheeseburger would have, with 2 patties, and 1 middle bun. This thing was huge. The local news measured it. It was 7 inches tall. I was 13 at the time, but kinda dumb. I said "Imagine putting 7 inches of meat inside you....." and my sister, who's 11 years older than me, would not stop laughing. I didn't know why........now I know why, and I'm cringing all these years later. It's just as bad as when I was 7, and wouldn't eat my brocoli. When my mom asked why, I said I didn't like the texture burning on my tongue. She said "Brocoli isn't spicy." And I said "No, not spicy. It's more like a carpet burn on your tongue". And my mom was confused. I said "It's like when slide really really fast over the carpet, and your belly burns because you did it too fast.......well licking brocoli is like licking carpet. You get carpet burn"
  And my sister would not stop laughing. Again, I didn't know why then, but now I'm cringing so hard. I'm sure my mom nor my sister would remember those things, but I remember it was maybe a week before thanksgiving 1993, and I also remember it was Saturday morning, because X-Men was playing on tv in the background, but it was on commercial. So this must have been between 11:00-11:30 on a Saturday in November.
  Back on topic, my mom refused to let me buy the Big Mac Daddy. She said "YOU'RE NOT EATING THAT MUCH FAST FOOD AT ONCE! IT'S NOT HEALTHY!!!" And, while she wasn't wrong per se, she WAS still taking us to McDonalds......and when is that EVER healthy? So, she was right, but also.....was she really the one to stand on that point?
- Wow, that's crazy! I actually worked at a Subway for a while, and we definitely had an "extra meat" button, but as long as the manager wasn't around, we could get away with lots of freebies. I think the only things that were actually inventoried, and therefore had to be paid for, were bread and drink cups.
  This meant that we could go crazy with our shift sandwiches. As long as we rang in the "sandwich" part, the add ons didnt matter. We could have all the fountain soda we wanted in our own cups, but if we wanted a paper cup, we had to pay full price for the cup.
  I also recall a story where someone's friend came in with a loaf of bread (French loaf or something from the grocery store next door, basically a mini party sub) in the evening, and the employee made them a free (giant) sandwich.
- I remember a friend of mine once ordering a Double Triple Whopper and being annoyed that Burger King's definition of "double" is "with one extra patty". So he had to order a Double Double Double Triple Whopper to get the desired result.
  They delivered the thing to our table together with a knife and fork. I guess ordering an unholy totem pole of meat like that gets you table service at a BK.
  The other thing that was notable about it was that the three "Double"s only added three patties to the burger and nothing else. As a result this caricature of a burger was now 80% overcooked ground beef and extremely dry.
  He ate half of it. We took the other half home, put it in the microwave and drowned it in ketchup, which greatly increased it's edibility. It still sucked, though.

They don't actually dump em in the trash. They have a bone barrel where they toss scraps they gets sent off to a facility for processing.
But yeah, if you're talking to an employee who doesn't wanna go through the effort of figuring it out, they won't help you.
- Min wage min effort.
  
  what you do is, you bribe them with some of the lard
  
  I am totally okay with that.
- I hope you're right, but I'm in the US, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's only true elsewhere.
  I've been asking around for a while in order to plan for my holiday cookiing, and got a small amount from another store this morning, but when I asked about getting more another day, they basically said they were doing me a favor and wouldn't be able to provide more. The reasoning they gave me was that most of the pork they receive now is pretrimmed, but they did say that they could provide lots of beef fat trimmings, if that's what I wanted. I'm sure that would be close enough (for central American tamales), but I'm already modifying the family recipe a decent amount to work with what I can get locally, so I'm hesitant to make more modifications when I do still have some less convenient options available to acquire the proper ingredients.
  
  I'm in the US too,though. The bone barrel thing is what they do at the grocery store chain I work at.
  Grocery stores don't want to throw anything away. They'd rather make money off of waste than have to pay to dispose of it.

Find a local, independently owned meat market. That is where we get beef tallow for making deer burger. They will sell anything they have that someone will pay for.
- One of the other markets around here said they can offer lots of beef tallow, and suggested I try some of the Asian markets, but the challenge is that most of those are a hassle to get to via public transit. I did find at least one other that says they can provide pork fat on Saturday, and I still have a few other places to call too. Worst case, I make a special trip to the Mexican market to buy rendered lard. Just wanted to try rendering it myself this time, and found it super frustrating that no code = trash.

Here is the anti-story to the above:
Back when I was in school I needed a handful of 35mm film canisters for some damn fool project or another. I don't remember exactly what I was planning to use them for. So I went to the local camera store and asked the clerk there if I could just buy like 20 or 30 empty film canisters figuring they'd have a fair few lying around. This was, of course, in the days when 35mm film was still the predominant photography standard, and consumer grade digital cameras that could even achieve one real world megapixel were very new, very exciting, and very expensive.
Apparently I was right, because they guy said, "Good god, please take some" and gave me an entire shopping bag full of the damn things. For free. Apparently just to be rid of them.
I was using film canisters to store everything and anything for years after that.
- Same thing applies to cardboard boxes at the liquor store. Most retailers have plenty of strong boxes and the clerks hate having to break them down for the trashman.
- I used to store quarters for the laundromat in empty film canisters.
- Awww nostalgia! I remember those containers, we would fight over them in my family. Funny how now they've disappeared and I'm not even sure what replaced them (as miscellaneous containers)
- That's awesome!
  I did get a small bit of pork lard from another store today, but they basically told me it was a one time thing. I was definitely hoping it would be free since it's otherwise garbage, but I also wasn't surprised that they charged a small fee for it. But then again, it's a national chain, not some small, local shop. The "no code = trash" store is also a national chain, so I'm a little surprised by the differences.
  
  Another factor to add is that major retailers use anything they throw away as a tax write-off "loss" and they are therefore extremely cagey about giving any of it away for any reason, even to employees, I guess because if this is found out it could have some kind of implications, I dunno.
  My nephew works for Target and apparently they do this. He tells me a manager will stand there and watch them crushing perfectly good floor model TV's and other electronics in the trash compactor so he can sign off that they did it and none of those items were used for any beneficial purpose whatsoever, because weaseling out of $0.02 in taxes is apparently more worthwhile to corporate than giving a dedicated employee a new but slightly scuffed TV they were going to throw away anyway.
  It's positively infuriating. I'm sure the perishable goods/food sector is even worse.

Not sure if they still exist, but look for a butcher or maybe a deli. Chain stores have no humanity left.
- I did eventually find a store that said they'd have some for me tomorrow, and said they'd put aside about 10lb! I think I only need about 5lb, but depending on what they're charging, I might just take it all.
  
  It keeps forever in the freezer. It's great for tortillas and pie crust too. I'd take it all.

Unfortunately most local managers don’t actually have the ability to negotiate. Their job is to administer the machine, and avoid getting sued.
It sucks because it often means they can’t make decisions even if they would make the store more money.
I worked at a big box store for a while and my department was turning away customers simply because we couldn’t serve them. Hiring more help would have brought in revenue far beyond their wages, but my stores hands were tied by centralized corporate policy that dictated how many people they could hire.
I had like $500k in the sales pipeline. I had an excellent conversion rate on the customers I actually had time to work with. But I was forced to spend my time stocking shelves and cleaning while my customers called in frustrated why I wasn’t helping them.
People say it’s all about profit but that’s not actually true. It’s about maximizing the ability of the central corporate office to model and predict the money flows. I wish it were all about profit.
I’ve worked for startups and other small locally-owned businesses and it’s so great to see the flexibility they have. Working for a huge corporation sucked because it was like twelve layers of command structure to get to someone who could make a decision.
- If you want trimmings from a big chain talk to the butcher that does the cutting. You'll likely get better results.

Did you talk to whoever picked up the phone or a manager? A manager should be able to deal with the code issue, while a cashier probably couldn’t. If it was someone that could fix it and just refused or didn’t care, that’s indeed infuriating
- I specifically asked for the meat department, so it was whoever picked up the phone in the meat department, but they did put me on hold to ask someone else.
  
  Yeah, that's probably still not a manager, or someone that can make a decision outside of their normal procedure. Try again and talk to the Meat Manager or Store Director. Good Luck!

unfortunately, a lot of the time they really don't have a choice at the store level. I know it's not the most helpful suggestion, but maybe reaching out to corporate to let them know there are people who want that could help. good luck on your lard quest.
- Thanks! I did finally find a store that will be setting aside way more than I probably need tomorrow. One of the interesting findings as I called around was that Location A and Location B of the same chain would give me different answers, so I think a lot of it may just be employee knowledge/interest.
  
  Whew, that's good news. My MIL always just buys a bucket of Manteca but I don't like to do that either.

They made this bullshit illegal in New York. All food waste has to be donated to the city. They even come pick it up. You can be fined extremely heavily for throwing edible food away. This applies for restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
- As another commenter mentioned, it may not be truly sent to the landfill, but sent to some sort of scrap processing facility.
  https://lemmy.zip/comment/15409560
  After calling around more, at least one other store told me that they use the fat trimmings for other things, such as sausages.
- In my area they give a tax break to companies that donate food for the food banks.
  Walmart is feeding those in need

If you have one, a local butcher might be a better solution.

I always figured this was for health and safety reasons
- It almost certainly is.

I hear you, I hear you and here's my two stories:
Once at Large Chain Supermarket I found some lamb chops on special. Took them to the self serve checkouts but the item didn't scan. The team member had a look and said, it's because it's past its expiry date ( the date was the day before). The meat was in perfect condition though, no dark spots or dry edges or any discoloration. So I asked if I could take it for free, and she said no, and she put it in the trash bin right next to the checkout.
Now I'm not blaming her since I understand that's what she has to say since it's her job, and I also understand the supermarket would be liable if they sold me something that caused me food poisoning. But I believe the real motivation is profits. It would be all to easy to have a law saying supermarkets are not liable for expired items if they are taken for free; but if that was the case most people would be waiting for the nearly expired items and sales would plummet. I think this is messed up, I don't know. I have no idea about what do supermarkets do with fresh nearly expired food but I have the naive hope they at least use some for their bakery/rotisserie section.
(I took the meat out of the bin after paying for my other groceries so I did, in the end, get it for free. And it was delicious)
The other story happened while working for Well Known Retailer. I had to grab a wheelie cart/trolley or whatever they're called, to put stock on the floor. But the only cart left was full with old merchandise. So the manager led us to where the big dumpster bins were, and said, okay help me chuck these out. And she started throwing away all these very expensive scented candles in perfect condition with no other flaw than being old. I'm talking about $30 - $50 candles. I asked if I could take some for free, and she said we weren't allowed. I asked about buying them with a discount, and she said that was also not allowed because the items weren't even part of the inventory anymore. So we just trashed roughly $1500 worth of merchandise. It's just messed, those could have gone to a Salvation Army store or something instead of getting dumped (and broken in the process).
- That isn't up to the grocery store. That is purely FDA regulations. In the past there were no regulations and everyone was sick and the food was nasty. If you are curious you could read some of the muchracker journalism such as the book titled "The jungle"
  
  I'm not saying there shouldn't be regulations. If I'm paying for something I expect a certain level of quality and safety.
  I'm also saying people should have the right to take a risk if they want to eat something out of a trash can for free. "You can't take our trash for free because you might sue us" is very much mildly infuriating to me
  
  Everyone who hasn't needs to go read the jungle. It's an incredible book.
- I heard France has laws that require supermarkets to donate food that barely over expiration date.
  It's ridiculous that within 24h food goes from totally safe to totally unsafe.
- Love you! I'm all about dumpster diving, finding free shit, etc.
  Coworker of mine used to go out with her husband, crack of dawn, twice a week. They'd pick of trash before the garbage truck arrived, have a garage sale every Saturday. Give away what ever didn't go.
  LMFAO, they would make $300-$400 every weekend! "Yeah, we pick up our neighbor's trash and sell it back to them."
  In the 90s I had a paper route. Used to pick up vacuum cleaners on the curb. Cleaned with a new belt and bag? Done. I couldn't keep any in stock. Nice beer money!
  Another friend of mine picks up free washers and dryers. The parts are mostly the same and the shit's free. He'd make $500-$800 a week flipping 'em on Marketplace. And this guy was already clocking $100K at his day job!
- Wow! I don't know where you live, but where I live, meats generally have a "sell by" date, not a "use by" date, and I very often see meats that have almost reached their "sell by" date in the discount bin. Also, I was recently visiting a town where crabbing is a popular activity, and some of the grocery stores sell meat that's past it's expiration date as crab bait at a significant mark down.
  The needless waste is so frustrating. One explanation that I've heard is that allowing employees take "waste" merchandise may incentivize employees to create more "waste", but I'm not sure why donating the "waste" would be a problem.
  
  I'm in Australia. Here when meats approach their date they mark them down, but you don't see them still for sale after the date. I found an item that wasn't supposed to be on the shelves anymore. Yeah the waste is really frustrating.

It's a trade off, if you want old school butcher store service, you're gonna pay old school butcher store specialty pricing (which is usually at least double what you're going to pay for the same cut in a supermarket)

We make food "from scratch" on a regular basis.
We've found a few different sources for fats. I'll focus on the pork-fat ones.
The most common source is to just collect fat any time we make pork things. The advantage is that it's cheap and easy; just let it cool and add it to a jar in the fridge. The disadvantage is that it will have a lot of other flavors (especially salt).
Sometimes we just by processed lard. That's basically the opposite end of the spectrum. It's very pure and has no flavor besides the fat itself.
Often we'll wet render our own fat. Traditionally that would be the trimmings off of other cuts. Unless you're butchering a pig (or have bought into a fractional pig through something like a CSA) those bits usually aren't available. Typically we'll just buy cuts that are very high in fat. For pork, that would be pork belly. We'll just buy an uncut slab and wet-render it. Trim any meat you want to cook with (belly is the part that bacon is made of) throw the rest in a pot of water an simmer it for a few hours. The fat layer that collects on top is almost pure lard.
We've also found that duck fat is a great substitute for lard. It has a similar smoke point to lard (slightly higher). It tastes different from lard but it's also good enough that the flavor itself will improve meals. Duck breasts are about 50% fat if you buy them with skins. You can also buy duck fat on its own.

In the southeastern US, we have plenty of fatback in stores, among other odds and ends. The employees laughed when I had to ask what it was.

Separating the trimmings from the rest of the waste isn't the only thing that requires effort. I presume that the management doesn't want to give ordinary employees the authority to just give stuff away, which makes sense. Even if it isn't a problem in this specific case, it can be a problem because employees won't always be knowledgeable or honest. Having management review what is being given away involves overhead, and deciding how much to charge you because of that overhead involves more overhead. I probably wouldn't bother with all that if I ran the supermarket unless I really hated throwing things out, because I would assume you won't be willing to pay enough to make it worth my time.

Try a butcher shop or ethnic grocery store with a meat counter.

If it's so much effort to try and get fat trimmings from butchers, why not just buy a block of lard from the supermarket?
- My main reasoning is that I just wanted to try making it from scratch at least once, just for the experience. A secondary reason is that I guess I'm technically looking for "manteca de puerco", which has more pork flavor than the shelf stable lard available at the closest grocery stores, so I have to make a special trip to get the right stuff anyway, and I'm just exploring my options as to how to get a hold of the necessary ingredients.
  Where I grew up, there's multiple huge Mexican grocery stores, so it's easy to get exactly what I need in one stop, but where I live now, I have to go to multiple stores to get everything, and still have to make do with some minor substitutions (eg. frozen banana leaves instead of fresh).
  
  Fair enough, I agree the situation is mildly infuriating, whatever the reason you wanted it. A lot of restaurant/pub chains over here will throw out extra food if they prepped too much, rather than letting staff take it, probably because they don't want people creating waste on purpose but also don't want to spend the minimal effort required to stop people abusing the system if they allowed people to take excess food home. The distrust of low paid workers leads to most stores being unable to deal with special requests unless you are speaking to the manager and I don't know where I'm going with this...
  
  Is it really from scratch if you don't raise the piglet and butcher it yourself?
- The point, tho, maybe, could've been donation.
  Possibly, I'm reaching. Maybe OP means something else.

Not an answer for you right now, but I just make lard whenever we get a big hunk of pork, I get the one with a bone and skin cut the skin & fat off and render it and it's quite a project but makes enough for my purposes though the year, I don't use it often. I wouldn't expect a shop to do that for me for any amount I'd be willing to pay!
- I'm making tamales, and while I will be buying a big hunk of pork for them, it won't have enough fat to make enough lard, plus I also wanted to make the lard ahead of time, since it doesn't need to be super duper fresh. Looking at my notes from last year, I used about 7lb pork shoulder and 2lb lard. The thing is, I asked around about it last year and had multiple butchers say it would be no problem, so I was caught off guard when the staff at those same stotes all said no now. Anyway, I did finally find a butcher that will be saving the fat trimmings for me tomorrow.
  
  My kids have asked for tamales every year since I made them for Christmas about ten years ago, but I am not yet rested up from that batch. Even though we had a tamalada and they helped wrap them, the days ahead making tamale dough (two versions because we have vegans) and fillings (several versions because, again, vegans) it was exhausting. I think it will be either gumbo or oxtail soup this year, and a big pot of beans.
- If I buy one of those roasted whole chickens from the store I strip a bunch of meat off then I boil the skeleton in a crock pot. Makes great bone broth.
  
  Me too! So flavorful. I don't do bone broth exactly, can't get them that clean. But there are some in my freezer right now waiting.

What you are told on the phone and what will actually happen in the store are two completely different things.

Why you are not charging a single penny?

69 comments