Monday, December 6, 2010

Freegan Apple Crisp in Watertown, MA

Freegans are often people thinking about how to reduce waste and live differently by making use of the waste in our society. I’m not a freegan [yet]; I’m very much part of the American Capitalist Economy. And when it comes to dumpster diving in Watertown, I’m not sure of who does it or how they get into the dumpsters. With that long preamble, there’s something beautiful about taking good food that would otherwise go to waste, and making something great (or even medium ok) to eat. If you came upon this post because you want to learn which dumpsters to go to, let me know. I’ve done a survey and am happy to share. Most are locked, so it would take a braver soul than me to tap their goodness.

But there’s one nearby dumpster that isn’t locked. And as it gets colder, the food quality just gets better. So one early Friday morning, when I saw this open, Jo height dumpster, I also saw my opportunity. Eug is worried I’ll be known as the lady carrying a baby who drives an Audi and dumpster dives. [ Aside: Yes. We were given an Audi. I know.] But the reality was that Noah and I were going for a walk and I noticed that tons of food had been thrown into a dumpster. I didn’t take nearly as much as I should could have. But I got plenty of apples. I now go for walks with my bag, just in case. So most people probably just know me as the lady with the baby and the red bag.



Imagine how good this apple crisp tasted, given that it was virtually free (this is a wonderful apple crisp recipe, regardless of whether the apples were free):
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

8 comments:

Dan Archibald said...

We're jealous! Let us know if you get any other good scores.

Inspired by this post, I wrote a little bit about dumpster diving in general for today's squibix family blog post. Can we do a trackback or something? I don't actually know how those work, and if people stopped doing them in, like 2007 or something...

Dan Archibald said...

Hey... I swear I commented on this post... but now it's gone! See, the whole universe is against me commenting on The Concrete Gardener!

leah said...

Next time take the whole peck and we'll make apple sauce. The key to being freegan is making a lot of preserves. That and living in the city.

Dan Archibald said...

What follows is what I posted last night. I won't let Jo censor me!

We're jealous! Let us know if you get any other good scores.

Inspired by this post, I wrote a little bit about dumpster diving in general for today's squibix family blog post. Can we do a trackback or something? I don't actually know how those work, and if people stopped doing them in, like 2007 or something...

jonna said...

Leah has a point...it's difficult to dumpster dive in rural America. Dumpster diving brings back memories of 25 some years ago when city dumpsters weren't locked and you could come home with wonderful whole pies and baked goods from the local restaurant. Gleaning may be an equivalent to dumpster diving in rural areas.

Concrete Gardener said...

Jonna- do you glean? I agree with Leah that being in the city may be key. I think having a group of people and feeling comfortable bypassing a locked fence would be helpful. I've found, in Watertown, it's usually not the dumpster itself; it's that it's fenced in. I'm not even that bothered by the fencing-- a couple of dumpsters in Watertown actually have security cameras! whoa.

Concrete Gardener said...

Sorry Dan. Your post got labeled as Spam, but I didn't realize until just now. Can you tell me how to do a trackback? Or I can just add the link to the post... Maybe I'll do that...

Dan Archibald said...

Sorry for the delayed double post!

Our blog platform doesn't actually do trackbacks... and I don't know if the post is even really worth linking to anywhere beyond the comments here. That'll do. :D