Freebies/ Pumpkin Bread

There are people called Freegans. On Youtube you can find many videos on how to dumpster dive. Some of these people are professionals and others who don't need freebies but they do it
to keep perfectly good food from going into the dumpster/landfill. Some of these groups prepare meals and give them to those who have little or nothing to live on. I have not dumpster
dived except once or twice pulling something out of the dumpster when I was there to toss
something. Last summer I got a box of banana's and organic plums from a dumpster. I froze the bananas and made plum rice pudding with the plums. I have asked at local grocery stores
about the cast offs because I have chickens but the answer is always "no" .

In this small country community there is a little lady who has a second hand store and she has
organized drivers who will go to the nearby town and pick up the day old bread and produce
cast offs. She calls it a food bank because that is the only place these stores will give to. Every
day about 12:30 you can go behind her store and the truck unloads whatever they have gleaned and whoever is there can pick up whatever. The only rule is not to be greedy and let everyone there have their share. I think that is a good rule. Although I don't consider myself living in poverty, I do see this as an opportunity to pick up rejects that the store won't give me personally. I also wanted to subject myself to whatever is required to survive if you are below
the poverty line. They always have lots of bread which I use some and dry some for birds and chickens. I also give some to other families who have to watch their budget. Periodically I bag up some beans and rice from my supplies and take it in for whoever wants some. I also contribute to the gas money. I go about twice a week and the last two weeks I have been able
to pick up enough bananas not to have to buy any for my morning toast. I also get other tidbits. Like last week I picked up two green chili's and two tomatillo's. I put them in the crockpot with porkchops that had been marked down to half price. The porkchops were $4.00 for 4 very thick cut chops that had one very small bone in them. I kept one out for a baked porkchop and baked potato, the rest cooked in the chili verde sauce. I had one serving over rice and the rest I chopped up for burritos and packaged them for freezing. The left over gravy I used for green sauce in an enchilada casserole that had ground turkey, corn torteas, and cheese. I had some of that last night but have several servings left of the enchilada casserole that went into the freezer.
The last time I went they had some sweet potato's and some sad looking pears. I steamed the sweetpotato slices and they make a great snack whenever I get a little hungry. After peeling the pears they were beautiful. I sliced them and put them in a dish with a bit of my homemade granola on top. Yum.

Pumpkin bread:

I have adapted the recipe for pumpkin bread from the peterpumpkin squares listed on
http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/
Here is my recipe for the pumpkin bread I eat everymorning with half a banana and peanut butter.

In a bowl put 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats. I then add 1/2 cup of sour milk if I have it or milk mixed with cottage cheese. Let this sit while you mix the other dry ingredients.

In another bowl add 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 TBS cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup of wheat germ
4 1 serving packs of artificial sweetener
Stir well

Add 4 eggs in a small bowl and stir well
Add 1/4 cup of olive oil to eggs
Add 2 TBS molasses to egg mixture
Add 15 oz size pumpkin from can to egg mix
Stir well

Mix the egg mixture into the oats and then gradually add dry mix to wet mix. Mix very well till all dry mix is well dampened.

Preheat oven to 3.50 degrees . put mix in 8 x 8 pan that has been oiled and flour powdered. Bake 20-30 minutes until it tests done by feel in toothpick.

Remove from pan and let cool. Cut down the middle then slice. Package and freeze slices to prevent it from drying out and portion control. This loaf is under $3.00 to make. I have many dented cans of pumpkin that I got for .60 cents each. From the store shelf they run about $1.20
a can. I like this toasted for breakfast as it has oatmeal, eggs, pumpkin and is a very nourishing meal that stays with me till noon.