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Nurse eats out of bins for four years to buy $1 million home

A savvy nurse bought a $1 million Sydney apartment after eating out of bins for four years to save $30,000 on groceries.

Dumpster diver Mel Humphreys trawls garbage bins outside supermarkets, caterers and bakeries three or four times a week for fresh meat, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables and bread.

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Eating rubbish allowed the 34-year-old super saver to slash her weekly food bill from $175 to just $40 and buy a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s Inner West.

Dumpster diver Mel Humphreys trawls garbage bins outside supermarkets, caterers and bakeries three or four times a week for fresh meat, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables and bread. Photo: Caters News
Dumpster diver Mel Humphreys trawls garbage bins outside supermarkets, caterers and bakeries three or four times a week for fresh meat, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables and bread. Photo: Caters News

“I first heard of dumpster diving four years ago and started looking out of the back of shops for the bins and going out to see what was there,” Emergency and oncology nurse Mel said.

“The more and more places I found, the bigger the hauls and the more stable it could be as a lifestyle – now I’d say 75 per cent of what I eat comes from a bin.

“I never have to shop and am really reticent to buy things now, because I know if I wait long enough I will just find it in a bin.

“The average weekly food budget might have been $150 to $200 and now my whole spend will be about $40, including going out for meals.

“It means I don’t have to worry if I want to go out and have a nice meal, because I know the rest of the week I will be eating from the bins.”

Mel saves over $7,000 a year by eating out of bins. Photo: Caters News
Mel saves over $7,000 a year by eating out of bins. Photo: Caters News

Mel now has a circuit of four bins in Sydney that she visits about three times a week.

In the past, she has even picked up large quantities of rice, sugar, sausage rolls and croissants as well as household staples like washing powder and butter.

This has allowed her to save a staggering $7020 AUD a year – almost $30,000 in the four years she has been bin diving.

“Often there is just more than you can do anything with. Sometimes you won’t find things, but when you do find things you don’t have enough hands to carry it all.

“So I take things to work, give them to my family and my friends.

“People are always surprised when I tell them the food is from bins, and some of them might be a bit grossed out. Others can’t believe it came from a bin, and want to know where I go.

“My freezer is absolutely chock full of meat, so now I take it over to my mum’s place.

Mel now has a two-bedroom apartment worth $1 million. Photo: Caters News
Mel now has a two-bedroom apartment worth $1 million. Photo: Caters News

Mel said she has never yet been ill as a result of eating food from a bin but does make sure meat and fish is still cold with the plastic sealing unbroken to ensure it is safe to eat.

She never eats food which is unwrapped and has been left loose in the bin or which has puffy plastic sealing and avoids fruit and vegetables which have gone soft.

Reporting by Caters News

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