Jumbo

"Jumbo" is a supermarket chain in the Netherlands. The nice thing about it is when you find produce which has its expiration date over that day or the day after, you can take them for free. Even though it is in their fresh and cleanness policy (and not many people use it), it forms a very nice contrast to the full and locked up food dump bins behind supermarkets. Be nice, do not abuse it (e.g. hide products that they run out of date)!!!

http://www.jumbosupermarkten.nl/page/page.aspx?ItemId=2205 Rules:
Vers is ook écht vers
Producten met een houdbaarheidsdatum van vandaag of morgen mag u gratis meenemen. 
Vanwege het dagverse karakter zijn van deze regeling  uitgezonderd:
    * vers brood, gekoeld brood, vers gebak en vers banket
    * vers vlees en verse sushi
Indien u onverhoopt een product vindt waarvan de houdbaarheidsdatum is verstreken, 
ontvangt u één product met een goede datum gratis.

Om redenen van productaansprakelijkheid worden producten met een verstreken 
houdbaarheidsdatum nooit meegegeven, ook niet ten behoeve  van goede doelen zoals 
voedselbanken, kinderboerderijen, enz.

Find a shop close to you through this link: http://www.jumbosupermarkten.nl/stores/storelist.aspx?ItemId=2000

Personal experiences

"By far the nicest thing I discovered in the Netherlands (regarding good free food) was a special thing of the supermarket "Jumbo". Not only they have a lot of biological food and tofu products, they also give away (for free) produce that runs out of date that very same day or the day after: milk, fish, fresh pizzas... At the same time, it shows that there is not a hug demand for Tofu and stuff as they regularly are over date - the more 'alternative' people demand to have this choice and at the same time the demand is to little to be adequately served by the system." (User:Regen)

Log

An average day at Jumbo ([Maastricht/20090128/regen]).

[Maastricht/20090128/regen] If you do not have the demand to live 100% organic, here a little snapshot of what you can get when you go shopping in a larger Jumbo supermarket: 3 x tofu fake meat stuff, 4 x kinder pinguin (never got them before!), 1 x actimel (I've got one as a replacement for two -long- over date), 2 x cut potatoes, and a lovely pizza (one of my housemates will be happy - I don't eat meat) - together with some lettuce it will be a delicious meal! PS: I think that is an average day at a Jumbo after they already put new products into the shelves... and chucked stuff into the bins!!