Food Recovery in Las Vegas

02/23/2014

While the majority of my food recovery product has been healthy bakery items, vegetables and fruits, from Trader Joes and Whole Foods, the amount of healthy hormone free, meat products is considerable and always welcome by the non-profit agencies.

01/26/2014

About two weeks ago, at the end of my food recovery route at US Vets, my primary drop off location to help homeless veterans in transitional housing, as I started up the car - and this meant so much to me - one of the former soldiers saluted me as I began to drive off. Sometimes, thanks and respect, can be conveyed through the simplest of acts.

12/23/2013

This past weekend's food recovery efforts were bountiful. Because there was so much food to recover from Trader Joe's, about 14 boxes, I had to make a second round of pickups to accommodate the 3 and 1/2 carts of bread recovered from Whole Foods on the Strip. For much of the past - almost 3 years from this particular location - of pick ups from Whole Foods, good people like Flavio pictured here have helped me. Always good to be greeted warmly and chat as we work together to help people.

10/14/2013

Occasionally, industrial freezers go down and before a complete loss of food stuffs, sometimes, stores that invest in the community, call out their trusted food recovery partners like myself. Several weeks ago, Trader Joe's had such a problem and contacted us immediately - before the food went bad but still within the proper temperature settings. I applaud their efforts to think about us and the community when they are facing such difficult problem themselves. Their estimate loss this day was likely $15,000. When some of the agencies could not arrive immediately, Trader Joes did the right thing, and destroyed some of the food by placing it in their trash bins, so as to not risk any health issues. Trader Joes made the best of a bad decision. At no point did they have to call us or coordinate with us as they themselves were scrambling to perform their own work.

10/07/2013

It looks easy but bringing this full cart down the ramp, not so easy!

09/24/2013

Trader Joes is one of the grocery markets I pick up from. What Rauch says is correct. I hope this effort works well. On a side note - Trader Joes has been donating food since before liability protections were in place in Nevada and elsewhere -- much, much to their credit.

Doug Rauch, ex-president of Trader Joe's, sees a lot of good food going to waste because it's expired. His answer: A store that turns that food into fresh, low-priced meals.

09/23/2013

For years, the recovery of eggs has been problematic. And for good reason, mishandling eggs can cause health problems. However, when one egg goes bad - out of a dozen - the entire pack, presumably all remaining 11 are disposed of. Hopefully, at some point there can be a simple way to properly address the health issue so the remaining eggs can be utilized.

09/06/2013

Interesting article. I do find it odd that they are showing a lobster, for effect? Or by accident? Whether highly accurate or generally correct in the numbers, it is very telling. I still believe these numbers are set against the optimal or ideal, and not the normal or realistic. But again, there are a lot of individuals in need.

Source: ThinkstockAn estimated 14.5 million American households had difficulty providing enough food for their families last year, according to a recent government report. In 7 million of those homes, at least one member of the family had to skip meals or eat less because money was tight. These numb...

03/31/2013

There are seasons even in food recovery. While there are often bananas ~ it's time for extra strawberries! Today, as part of a large pickup of 15 boxes and almost two carts of bakery items - we had five flats of strawberries. And like most items, each basket has about 6-8 strawberries, of which only one is often bad, and the rest great for consumption! In fact, one of the chefs at US Vets today was legitimately happy upon seeing this -- which made me happy in return.

02/25/2013

Continuing to show the ropes to Wendy from V Village along with Roy and Jade, not pictured, two of my ESL students that wanted to pitch in to do some good, as we reached our second pick-up point. Wendy has done a marvelous job in learning the route and meeting the various POCs at each site!

02/18/2013

Sometimes, even in an cold, dark and drudgy alleyway, accomplishing a later-than-usual food recovery pickup in the early evening, packing and configuring the donations into the vehicle to make it all fit - leaving none behind to be trashed, one can spot an awesome view in the distance. But even when there is no beautiful moon rising through the clouds on the horizon, the past 6 years plus of food recovery have been rewarding in many ways.

02/10/2013

The additional food deliveries to the new Veteran's Village serving homeless veterans is transitioning smoothly. It's been several weeks and in a few more weeks I will have initiated set up, demonstrated and handed-over in part a food stream of groceries and bakery items to its clients. A work in progress!