IN FOCUS: Fighting food waste and saving money – a week as a freegan in Singapore

They all shared as well as information on how to reduce waste with me. I’d certainly not had so many people eager to feed me within my life – and my initial stress at not having enough food seemed rather odd by the end of the week.

I started this particular experiment thinking that as being a freegan was about obtaining free stuff, but ended up being much more aware of how much waste materials we are generating, plus being more connected to my local community.

It is possible to save money and minimize waste – yet only with the generosity of others and because nowadays there are more community groupings, social enterprises plus platforms organising such programmes – and am had barely scratched the surface of the possibilities.

THERE’S NO HUMAN RESOURCES FOR WASTE 

During my week of freeganism, besides the S$30 I spent on clothes swapping, I also tapped away S$15 on public transport — which adds up to S$45.

I did not spend any money on food at all, even though strictly speaking, the meals plus meat paid for simply by my loved ones came up to about S$30.  

In contrast, I put spent about S$200 eating out the 7 days before – including a treat for our cousin at a Western restaurant for her birthday celebration. I had also invested about S$300 upon groceries, online and off-line shopping and a crimson packet for my mother as the lady was going on a vacation.

Mr Tay, who shared with myself his personal costs for the month associated with June, spent simply S$158 the entire month – including S$50 in donations. But his typical month-to-month expenditure, which includes insurance premiums and medical expenses, is about S$300 in order to S$500.

Before he became the freegan, he invested about S$2, 000 a month.

I had been incredulous at first, but I realised that it was possible, although it entails a significant shift in lifestyle. Certainly, I actually spent a lot more period cooking and acquiring public transport than I normally do.  

The primary impediment to getting freegan was not a lack of food, free or perhaps. On the contrary, the sufficiency of food about me meant it turned out hard to resist. But a wholly freegan diet made it difficult to eat with others who were not freegans. For example , I postponed two meetings along with friends that 7 days.