Manhattan

This directory is organized from north to south, and east and west sides. Keep scrolling down to find more neighborhoods and more stuff.

We need your input to keep this directory up to date! If anything you see here is wrong, or you find new sites, please send the info to ask@freegan.info.

Inwood
Know what’s happening here? Have ideas for a trailblaze? Send your ideas to ask@freegan.info.

Washington Heights

Bravo Supermarket
Broadway near 181st
Good selection of produce, includes some Latin American specialty items

Mike’s Bagels
4033 Broadway at W 168th Street

Harlem and East Harlem
Know what’s happening here? Have ideas for a trailblaze? Send your ideas to ask@freegan.info.

Morningside Heights

Morton-Williams
Broadway and 115th Street. When I’ve gone the staff have been in the process of throwing stuff out, so 9 or 9:30, and they were friendly enough about letting us dive away. It’s a very busy corner, and well-lit, so its high-profile dumpster diving, not for the shy.

D’Agostino
Broadway and 110th Street. I’m not sure what the best time is, but I think 9-9:30 is when I’ve had good luck there.

Absolute Bagel
Broadway and 108th St. The usual bagel abundance, plenty fresh.

Garden of Eden
Broadway between 108th and 109th Streets. One of the best diving sites in the city‚Äîsuper-high end fresh produce in huge plastic barrels, bags of fresh-made packaged entrees, loose buffet bar food, lots more. Enormous volume. Lots of exotic produce. You’ll find stuff there from 9:30 or 10 on.

Upper West Side

Silver Moon Bakery
Broadway and 105th Street
We found meat and cheese sandwiches as well as bread.

Hot and Crusty
2 Broadway locations: at 105th St, and between 87th and 88th Sts.
All the bready stuff– muffins, pizza slices, rolls, croissants, etc. We had more luck with the store in the 80s.

Gristedes
Broadway and 103rd St.
Normal supermarket stuff, although we didn’t find much produce. Lots of eggs and bread though.

Health Nuts
Broadway between 98th and 99th Sts.
We found mostly prepared foods, some vegetarian and vegan, some not.

Gary Null’s Uptown Whole Foods
Broadway and 89th Street
Produce, pretty much. Food’s out by 10:30 pm, perhaps earlier.

Barzini’s
Broadway between 90th and 91st
Lots of good produce.

Supersol
Amsterdam betwen 85th and 86h, west side
Kosher supermarket. On 2 trips, we found many non-vegan protein staples not often found elsewhere, such as whitefish and cheese, plus dry macaroni, etc.

Godiva
Broadway at 84th Street
Often throws out fancy quality strawberries that they dip in chocolate. Sometimes chocolate as well.

Barnes & Noble
Broadway at 82nd Street
Barnes & Noble recently instituted a country-wide recycling policy, so their dumpster may no longer hold loads of “stripped” magazines and paperbacks. Direct reuse is always more resource-efficient than recycle, so if the books are still there it’s worth saving them. In the past we have also occasionally found sealed boxes of hardcover books at this location. If you’re in the neighborhood, please check and let us know what you find. Boxcutter recommended.

Zabars (at 79th St) and Fairway (at 74th) would seem like sure bets, but we haven’t seen anything there yet. If anyone does, please email us.

Gracefully
65th and West End Avenue
On a first run (October 2012), we found cheese packs, individual drinks, hotdogs, sushi, packaged and unpackaged produce,  and more. Worth further exploration.

Western Beef:
West End Avenue on 62nd Street , dumpster against the building on 62nd
On a first run (October 2012), plentiful packaged and unpackaged produce, some non-perishables (like crackers). Worth further exploration.

Upper East Side

In our experience, the goods get fancier and fresher as you go south.

Dunkin Donuts
E 92nd & Lex
E 86th St near 1st Ave
Reliable source of high-fat, low nutrition calories.

Key Food
2nd Avenue and 92nd Street, in the Rupert Towers building
On our first foray, we found only some shrink-wrapped produce, plus local street people hanging out seemed hungry. If folks find more another time, please email us.

Eli’s Vinegar Factory
91st between 1st and York
In the past we’ve found this store continuously throwing away recycling dumpsters full of bread every day. At 11pm on Jan 2, 2012, we found nothing.

Patak’s (Gourmet Deli)
Madison Avenue between 89th and 90th Streets
Lots of black bags, but comparatively little good food. Some pre-made sandwiches and bread.

Gristedes
Lexington Avenue and 89th Street
Dairy and eggs galore, a little not-so-great quality produce.

C Town
1st Ave between 88th and 89th St
Accessible supermarket food (produce, dairy, etc), although on 1/2/12 we found very little that was useable.

Elm Health & Pharmacy
1st Ave at 88th St
Deserves more checking; let us know what you find. On a trailblaze in 2011 we found a huge amount of organic packaged goods– but we could have stumbled upon a once-a-quarter shelf emptying. When we came back in early 2012, there was loads of yogurt, including soy and almond milk varieties, but every container had had a hole cut in it and the bags were a complete mess.

Bagel Bob’s
York between 86 and 87
Like all Bagel Bob’s, no shortage of bagels of all varieties. Alex was thankful there were no onion bagels stinking up the bag.

Tal Bagels
E 86th Street east of 1st Ave.
Here you will find…bagels!

Duane Reade
Northeast corner of 86th Street and 1st Ave
At last check of this location (Jan 2013) we found a bunch of candy, pudding, babyfood and other odds and ends.

Eli’s
3rd Avenue between 80th and 81st Sts.
Most of their trash goes through a compactor, but on our first dive we found about five bags of uncompacted food including yogurt, almonds and butter.

Associated
1st Avenue between 81st and 82nd Sts.
Produce, bread and more.

Gristedes
2nd Avenue between 75th & 76th
Huge piles of bags on blindingly lit stretch of 2nd Avenue– not for the shy. Similar to what’s found at Gristedes in other parts of town, including produce, bread, dairy and more.

Food Emporium
1st Avenue at 71st
We’ve checked this one twice recently (Nov 2010). First time, produce (some of which packaged), some past-date staples. It was on a high trolley that we unpacked and needed to re-pack. Second time, Cindy’s comments: “INSANE amounts of trash – 4 or 5 of those small dumpsters, all piled over head-high.  Tons of bread, still frozen foods, sweets, produce, and more, and I only got through one or two dumpsters.”

Grace’s Market
71st and 3rd Avenue: (north east corner)
This is a large gourmet supermarket where in the past we’ve found lots of stuff. Most recently (Nov 2010), nothing– but we may have been too late.

Walgreen
2nd Ave and 70th St
Our group has found loads of stuff on 2 recent occasions (autumn 2010). Everything from halloween costumes to sodas and bottled water to a surprising amount of deli-type packaged food, as well as some produce.

Gourmet Garage
301 E 64th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
At other locations in the city, this retailer has been locking its dumpsters or has “disappeared” them from the street. However, as of April 2010 we have reports that good food is accessible in the morning. A contributor writes: “I pass at 8:00am on weekdays. Two days in a row there has been a clear bag with rolls/bread, and varying packages of ready made salads (some with chicken added, etc).  The expiration date is of the day before.” This is a “mini” Gourmet Garbage; in several passes in 2012, Freegan.info members haven’t found anything in the evening, although morning may still be fine.

Midtown West

Morton Williams
917 9th Avenue, between 58th and 59th Streets
Produce, bagels, bread, sweets, packaged goods, clean packaged sandwiches. (updated October 2012).

Morton Williams
58th Street just east of Broadway (store entrance is on 57th, but the trash is on 58th)
On the messy side, but on a pretty quiet street, so a good place for the shy. In October 2012 we found a bunch of produce and bread, some dairy products and a whole heap of cookies.

Dunkin Donuts
54th and 10th Avenue
May vary. In October 2012, no donuts were out, but there was a lot of pumpkin donut mix.

Gristedes
8th Avenue and 54th Street
Lots  of produce, bread, eggs, and packaged goods here. In the past employees got a bit angry with us, but didn’t try to stop us. (Updated October 2012)

Pick a Bagel
53 and 8th
croissants and bagels. Updated October 2012.

Duane Reade
53rd and 8th
This chain is becoming one of NYC’s bigger wasters. Here’s a report for this location from October 2012:
“One of the largest curbside piles of usable goods I have ever seen! You could have opened up a pop-up store with the finds here! (no exaggeration) bagful of gum!   bagful of cookies, snacks (Pirate’s booty stuff), cans of baked beans, mac and cheese, cologne, chocolate (Hersheys), soap, some pills (prenatal, still not expired!), hair care products, baby care products (soaps, lotions), scar-away (ideal for c-section), many other drugstore-type things…
I can’t imagine this was a typical night… I can’t even guess why so much was tossed that night… at least a couple of other passers-by took some.  wild!”

Food Emporium
Dumpsters are on 49th Street just east of 8th Avenue
Loads of stuff. We found veggies, tofu, bread, dairy, nuts and seeds. It’s a bit overwhelming here, as there is a lot of stuff. (updated Jan. 2010)

Dunkin Donuts
9th Avenue between 48th and 49th
Typical DD fare! (updated Jan. 2010)

Hale and Hearty Soup
42nd between 5th and 6th
Bread, salads.

Pret A Manger
Lots of locations, including:
135 W.50th Street between 50th and 7th Av.
42nd Street between 5th and 6th Aves (north side of Street)
As of September 2009, a former employee says they donate all their leftovers. Experienced divers know many stores make this claim; however, the pickings have been slim for a while.

Pax
42nd Street between 7th and 8th.
Wrap sandwiches, pizza, baked goods.
Fairly narrow time window‚ stuff goes out late and is picked up by 1:30 AM or so.

Walgreens
42nd and 7th
I have repeatedly found 20 or so black bags full of merchandise, from food to toiletries to drugs to weird tourist crap. Trash goes out around 9 PM and is collected by about 10:20.

Godiva Chocolates
Broadway, between 41st and 42nd
Chocolate covered strawberries, and other varieties of chocolate.
Not too much volume usually. Be careful of their really thin bags that fall apart easily.
9-11 PM except Saturdays

Pax
40th Street and 6th Avenue
Bagels, rolls, variety of other stuff. Less consistent than other Pax stores.

Midtown Comics
W. 40th Street at 7th Avenue
Comics books, magazines, paperback novels, comic book protective bags and boards. Check the black bags and the sealed cardboard boxes. With the store to your back (entrance on 40th St, NOT 7th Ave), you will see a street sign right in front of you. Everything to the immediate right of the sign pole is Midtown Comics trash. Everything to the left is their neighbors.

Pax
Broadway between W 35th and W 36th Streets
LOTS of really expensive sandwiches, esp. wraps. Muffins, bagels. Very popular, so sometimes stuff is gone by the time you get there.

Hale and Hearty Soup
35th and 7th Avenue
Entire bag of cut romaine lettuce, packaged mixed salads in plastic sealed bowls. Soup veggies and beans sometimes.

Midtown East

D’Agostino
1st Avenue and 56th
Bread and good produce in large quantities; recent dives (2011/12) we found plenty of produce plus pies, eggs, soy protein things. Previous finds include fancy items like organic drink mix and olive oil. There are regular neighborhood divers so please share.

Dunkin Donuts
1st Avenue and 56th
The normal DD stuff; bags are on 1st Ave side by city trash can.

Cosi
56th St between Madison & Park
We found focaccia bread and fresh unbaked dough, but kind of a “2nd choice” location.

Tal Bagels
1st Ave near 54th St
Very fresh bagels, not mixed with trash.

Walgreens
2nd Ave between 52 and 53
Mixed results in the evening– sometimes lots of household goods, packaged sandwiches, salads, canned goods, etc., sometimes nothing.

D’Agostino
1st Ave & 53rd
Massive amounts of produce in a several mini-dumpsters on the sidewalk.

Pain Quotidien
937 Second Avenue  at 50th St
Huge rounds of crusty whole grain sourdough bread that stay moist inside for many days after being tossed. Even on days when the whole loaves aren’t there, you’ll find quarter and half loaves and/or sliced bread. Also some baguettes, croissants, muffins. See their store listings and let us know what you find at other locations.

Associated
2nd Avenue between 48th and 49th.
A contributor wrote in Jan 2011: “Every week night around 10:30 the trash hits the curb (clear bags, no dumpsters!).  The garbage truck comes around 11:00. Fresh bagels, rolls, cranberries, grapes, lettuce, tomatoes, apples, bananas, corn….wow!  In all the months I’ve been going there, nobody has joined me yet.  Oh come all ye’ faithful! Freekin’ Freegan Goldmine!”

Café Europa
42nd Street between 5th and Madison
Pizza, salads, sandwiches

Hell’s Kitchen

Bread Factory
9th Avenue and 43rd St
Pies and pizza slices, unwrapped, messy. 10:20pm was too early for this place. (updated Jan. 2010)

International Grocery
543 9th Ave, at 40th Street
Worth checking if you’re blowing through the Port Authority bus terminal. We found Kabul brand flatbread and some produce, but not a lot. We didn’t find anything of note here on a Monday night. (updated Jan. 2010)

Nice & Natural
673 9th Ave, between 46th and 47th Streets
We found lots of packaged vegan prepared foods. At 10:30pm on a Monday night, we found nothing here. (updated Jan. 2010)

Stiles Market
41st Street between 9th and 10th Aves.
This is a semi-open-air produce market. The night we went their dumpster didn’t yield a lot of usable produce, but if you’re in the area it’s worth a look.
(updated Jan. 2010)

Murray Hill/Kips Bay

As of late 2011 this area became something of a “dumpster desert”, with both D’Ag supermarkets switching to putting trash out in the morning. The Gristedes at 3rd & 32nd had already started locking up trash in the spring of ’11. There are still some resources in the area:

Zaro’s
41st between Madison and Lex.
Sent to our mailbox: “Friday evenings starting at 6:30 or so, bags and bags and BAGS of bread and bagels are put out. In addition, more bags of raw bread/bagel dough (shaped and portioned already) are also put out… take it home, pop it in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees, and voila – freshly baked breads (and really good!!). Doesn’t get much more freshly made than that. Haven’t tried other days and times – honestly, we get enough on one visit on Fridays that there’s no need to go back. And we take maybe 1/20th of what’s there, so there’s plenty to go around.”

Pain Quotidien
40th, just a bit east of 6th Ave, across from Bryant Park
Throws out even on Saturdays (and also Sundays), starting early, around 7:00 or 7:30, with the usual delectable pastries and huge breads and good breadsticks and sliced bread too…. abundant!

Daniel’s Bagels
569 3rd Avenue, between 37th & 38th Streets
What else? Bagels!

Dunkin Donuts
567 3rd Avenue, right next to the bagel place
Enuff donuts to stuff a kop, plus they have…bagels!

Hotel Tuscany,  used to be the W
39th St between Park and Lexington
good for soaps and shampoos, not food

Courtyard Marriott
40th St between 5th and Madison
also for soaps and stuff, not food

Chelsea

Guy and Gallard
29th Street at 7th Ave
Dumpster on 29th Street side
Bagels, bread, salads, fruit salads, sandwiches, prepared gourmet meal thing-ies, fresh squeezed juice, yogurt and granola, etc. Kind of have to really reach in the bags to find good stuff sometimes, but there’s lots of it.

Flower market
28th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues
Stores throughout the block.The stores all close by 6pm; regulars check early, but there are still flowers and plants for all until late at night.

Gristedes
several locations:
– 8th Avenue and 26th Street; recessed dumpster is on 26th between 8th and 9th Avenues.
– 9th Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets
– “Megastore”, west side of 8th Avenue between 21st and 22nd Streets
A New York City mega-waster is up to its usual tricks in Chelsea. The usual assortment of produce, dairy and eggs, bread and prepared foods. On the night freegan.info scouted, all locations had usable food, although at the “Megastore” and 26th Street dumpster it was in messy condition. At the 9th Avenue location a worker said we “couldn’t go through the garbage” (but we did anyway and found produce and boxes of cereal).

Murray’s Bagels
249 8th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets
Clean bagels, no muss no fuss.

Garden of Eden
162 West 23rd Street
Yupscale NYC based chain that specializes in produce, prepared foods and luxury products.

Krispy Creme
W 23rd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues
Donuts, of course.

Duane Reade
8th Ave. between 16th and 17th Streets
This new store was reported to us in March 2010 as as having “TONS of fabulous food… Gourmet salads, breads, sandwiches and much much more. It’s all packaged, sealed and with today’s expiration date. It’s a brand new store that few people know about yet so there’s a TON of food to go around.” We were there in Aug 2011 and yes, there was some stuff but don’t expect miracles.

Le Pain Quotidien
7th Ave. between 17th and 18th Streets; also, 52 9th Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets.
Huge rounds of crusty whole grain sourdough bread that stay moist inside for many days after being tossed. Even on days when the whole loaves aren’t there, you’ll find quarter and half loaves. Also some baguettes, croissants, muffins. In July 2011 at the 9th Ave location I found what looked like an unbaked round but turned out to be an entire chocolate mousse cake.
Sometimes the stuff at these stores is in bags that had been held for City Harvest– folks there confirm that if their bags are on the sidewalk with the trash, which they shouldn’t be of course, then City Harvest is definitely NOT picking up the food.

Manhattan Fruit Exchange
South side of 16th Street between 9th and 10th Aves. Not for the shy, or for big groups. You need to climb onto the loading dock and root through big dumpsters, but the quantity and quality at this wholesaler make it worthwhile. Workers there are pretty friendly and tolerant, but huge trucks are coming in and out; if you are in the way you will be asked to leave.

Western Beef
North side of West 16th Street between 9th and 10th ave.
A reader wrote us, “I got 6 bags of perfectly good rotisserie chicken and friend chicken in the trash.” We were there in Aug 2011 and found some stuff, mainly dairy and veggies. Messy, in mid-size dumpsters.

Associated
North side of 14th Street between 7th and 8th Aves.
Produce and more.

Gramercy/Flatiron

Garden of Eden
310 3rd Avenue at 23rd Street
Yupscale NYC based chain that specializes in produce, prepared foods and luxury products.

Zaro’s
920 Broadway between 20th and 21st; dumpsters are on the south side of 21st St just east of Broadway
Tip came in from a worker there: “Every night, a huge load of bread and pastries from that morning are discarded. Last night, I put out two bags of bread so heavy I could hardly lift them. I try to put the bags of clean food on the right or left side of the dumpsters rather than IN them.” It’s worth checking other Zaro’s locations as well, including Penn Station and Grand Central.

Associated Supermarket
Park Ave around 22nd
mainly produce

Natural Green Market
16th at 3rd Ave
health food store
closes at 10:30, collects after 12:30

David’s Bagels
1st Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets

Gramercy Bagels
3rd Avenue and 20th Street

Manhattan Carpets
South side of 23rd Street, just a few stores east of Third Avenue.
Every evening, they put out large black Hefty bags full of carpet remnants – clean, unused, cut from the jobs of the day. Some pieces are large enough to cover large closets or small rooms.

Around Union Square

Profiting from the success of the farmers market (which collaborates with City Harvest to find homes for the farm-fresh produce), upscale chains are moving in.

Whole Foods
Back of store: north side of 13th St between University and Broadway
A sneaky one and has sometimes been hostile to dumpster divers. In the post-Occupy era, the compost has been moved much deeper into the indoor loading bays, so much harder to get to without being noticed or confronted.  Their stuff is in compost-type bins. Mainly it’s fruits and vegetables, sometimes in remarkable quantity and excellent condition; they also dump flowers and bread in these bins.

Trader Joe’s
South side of 14th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues
At its best/worst,  there are mountains of citrus, nut butters, tofu products, dairy, cookies and cereals in perfect condition, cases of prepared foods with one container damaged, dozens of not even “expired” eggs, loads of meats. It’s easiest to wait until after 10 pm, when they roll their mini dumpsters to the curb and employees tend not to hassle dumpster divers. (Although this spot is so well known, please play nice!) It’s possible to do a quick dive at almost any time that one of the containers is on the sidewalk– worth checking in the daytime if you’re in the area. Lately (winter 2012) folks have been reporting finding a lot less stuff. We hope that means more is being donated. There’s also a shift in worker attitude– lately even people foraging in containers next to the building have been told, “you know, I’m supposed to tell you not to do this…”

Garden of Eden
14th Street between 5th and University
What a mess, all piled onto mini-dumpsters. In addition to their bags, in the dumpsters and outside when they overflow, sometimes yielding raw meat and fish (think pet food!), check the large rolling garbage containers, which hold all the deli hot food (a specialty of this chain; may contain cooked chickens) as well as salad bar and other produce.

Petco
Union Square North and Broadway
Lots of companion animal food.
(Keep in mind that carnivorous companions generally love the meat and fish fit for human consumption that all the supermarkets throw out. With a little care — don’t take lukewarm animal products; wash everything in cold water and wrap in clean packaging; freeze what you can; use right way; always cook before you serve it– your companions need never eat over-processed byproduct kibble again.)

West Village

Bagelry
14th Street and 7th Ave
Puts out more bagels than Bagel Bob’s, and sometimes Krispy Kreme donuts or salads as well

Food Emporium
6th Ave below 12th
upscale supermarket chain
Latest check (winter 2012) finds this place wasting plenty of produce and other goods, with stuff available– even fairly picked over — by 11pm. Very popular, because of its former hyper-wastefulness, but still seldom gets completely cleaned out, especially if you dig deep in the miscellaneous bags.

Lifethyme Natural Market
6th Ave between 8th and 9th
Large health food store
Closes at 10. Not the most wasteful in the neighborhood, but still, they toss some decent stuff.  Their  black bags sometimes yield packs of nuts, vegan baked goods, dried fruit, small amounts of produce, lots of patches of cut live wheatgrass. For the intrepid, dig into the hot food bags– they empty loads of cooked organic food every night, all mixed together in big messy bags. They used to let folks take the hot food before they dumped it, but no more, sad to say.

Citarella
6th Ave between 9th and 10th
Conspicuous upscale market
For years it was impossible to find the trash. Lately (spring 2012) they’re putting out mountains of plastic bags, like their less chichi competitors. Found gorgeous greens, clean and in bags by themselves, plus assorted produce in mixed mess. There were also lots of stripped fish carcasses– stew for the intrepid pescavore.

Gristedes
Barrow between 7th Avenue and W. 4th Street.
The trash is around the corner from the market itself, next to a parking garage, across from One if By Land (fancy restaurant) and west of the trash for the apartment building. Lotsa stuff, not often seriously dived.

Gristedes
Bank St west of Hudson.
Trash also around the corner from the market. The usual Gristedes assortment.

Le Pain Quotidien
8th St just west of 5th Ave
Huge rounds of crusty whole grain sourdough bread, stays moist inside for many days after being tossed. Even on days when the whole loaves aren’t there, you’ll find quarter and half loaves. Also some baguettes and occasionally sweets– muffins, croissants, scones, pain chocolat.

Integral Yoga
13th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues
small health food store; no produce.

Peanut Butter and Co.
3rd St. and Sullivan, below Washington Sq. Park
Peanut butter and banana sandwiches, whole grain bread, celery and carrot sticks, cups of peanut butter

produce market (large, I forget the name)
Carmine at Varick St.
Several cartons of very good produce

East Village

Agata and Valentina
64 University Place (Between 10th and 11th)
When to Look: Every night after 10 PM
What You’ll Find: Gourmet Food

Bagel Bob’s
University between 9th and 10th
An East Village freegan legend; out of the many bags of plain old trash, feel for the one to three bags that contains obvious bagel and bialy shapes. Huge bags of bagels, mini bagels, bagel bits (sort of like Munchkins, but bagels), cinnamon buns, strudels, and bialys not intermingled with other food and garbage Very popular. Don’t bother on Mondays.

Gristedes
University between 8th and 9th Street
As of winter 2012, no trash to be seen at this formerly reliable and well-known spot. Have you figured out where and when they’re dumping? If so let us know.

Au Bon Pain
8th Street and Mercer
Bread and pastry chain. This one tosses lots of pastries when it closes around 11:30 pm. Also, bagels, rolls, breadsticks, etc.

Gristedes
Mercer St and 3rd St
fruit and other produce. Bread, hummus, dairy, eggs, packaged foods.

Pain Quotidien
Bleeker St. east of Broadway
Huge rounds of crusty whole grain sourdough bread that stay moist inside for many days after being tossed. Even on days when the whole loaves aren’t there, you’ll find quarter and half loaves and/or sliced bread. Also some baguettes, croissants, muffins. See their store listings and let us know what you find at other locations.

Taylors
2nd Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets
Old news: tray of sandwiches used to get thrown out every night. Can someone check if that’s still the case?

Dunkin Donuts
1st Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets
Not a particularly fruitful location of this serial waster.

Commodities
1st Ave and 10th St
This health food store has had small but good finds recently (Jan 2013), including produce, juice, packaged vegan salads.

Lime Tree
1st Avenue and 9th Street
This is a fruit and vegetable store with loads of good produce and sometimes the day’s sandwiches.

Gourmet Deli
East side of 1st Avenue between 8th and 9th
At last check (Jan 2013) we found produce, flowers and more at this location.

Healthfully
4th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue
Small health food store – we used to find some produce and such here, but at last check (Jan 2013) we saw no trash at 10:30 on a Monday.

Produce stand
Northeast corner of 1st Ave and 7th Street – at last check (Jan 2013) we saw no trash at 10:30 on a Monday.

Caravan of Dreams
6th St east of 1st Ave
vegan restaurant
Not much to be found, but what was there reported as good. Has not been checked for a while so let us know what you find.

4th Street Food Co-op
E 4th Street between 2nd Ave. and Bowery
Some produce in the compost bin, which, as of Feb. 2012, is put out Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Houston Village Farm
1st Ave. and E 4th Street
some produce available

Union Market
Northeast corner of Houston and Avenue A
This chronic waster from Brooklyn has come to Manhattan, and brought bags of produce, bread and fancy packaged goods.

Soho

Gourmet Garage
453 Broome Street at Wooster
This branch moved since the last time our group had checked. As of December 2012 there were small compost-type dumpsters,  empty at 10:30pm. If you’re in that area frequently and know the new pattern please let us know. Here is old news (April 2012) from the location on Mercer: “On trash nights, these guys seem to watch over the trash until about 9:30 p.m., and the truck seems to come by around 10:00 p.m. I know it’s not much of a window, but on a recent Sunday evening, I found bagels, a mango, cottage cheeses, fresh squeezed citrus juices, expensive sausages and ham. All the refrigerated items were very cold and most items were not even expired. I didn’t even look very thoroughly. Also, on a Tuesday or a Thursday night at about 9:45 p.m., I found bagels and flowers easily.” The freegan group had also had good results at the old location.

Dean & Deluca
450 Broadway between Prince and Spring Sts
Sushi, bread, sandwiches, fancy salads, pastries, etc., plus a bit of produce. Quantity goes up and down but some nights it’s a mountain.

Housing Works
126 Crosby
Clothing and books. Stuff can be pulled out at all hours of the day. Quite well known in NYC. Last time the group was there (Dec 2012), no dumpster was present– let us know if you still find stuff there.

Bari
Broadway and Spring
Coffee place. On a 2012 trailblaze we found rolls and cupcakes– worth looking again.

produce stand
Southeast corner of Houston and Broadway
Grey barrels have compostable food.

Soho Garden
Prince between Mulberry and Mott. We found produce, cheese and tofu.

unnamed grocery store
Mulberry south of Prince St.
lots of produce available here, and some other miscellaneous goods.

Lower East Side

Whole Foods
Houston and Chrystie
Lately (2011-2012) everything has been behind closed doors, which was not the case in the past. If you find this changes, let us know.

Finest Produce
119 Christie
This is a wholesaler. Dumpster with bulk produce; sometimes quite a lot, sometimes very little in good shape.

Earth Matters
Ludlow between Houston and Stanton
Small health food store.

Essex Street Market
Essex between Rivington and Delancey
Large indoor market; check dumpsters in the afternoon.

Economy Candy
Rivington between Essex and Ludlow
Candy and nuts.

Chinatown

Fay Da Bakery
82 Elizabeth St. between Hester & Grand
Mott & Canal
Sweet & meaty baked goods.

Tribeca

Food Emporium
316 Greenwich St at Duane St
Lots of produce, meat, prepared foods, and all manner of other items in chest-high dumpsters in front of the store. Very exposed location, super wide sidewalk. Confirmed this site 3/5/12.

‘Wichcraft
397 Greenwich St at Beach St
From a contributor, November 2011: “At the end of the night, the restaurant ‘Wichcraft throws away between 10-20 sandwiches which were made earlier in the day. They are all cold sandwiches (goat cheese, chicken salad, chickpea, tuna) and can be eaten or stored for a few days. If you go after closing (around 830 on weekdays and 530 on weekends) they will probably happily give you a bag of sandwiches. There are 10 others around the city.” Confirmed this site 3/5/12.

Pain Quotidien
81 West Broadway at Warren St.
Huge rounds of crusty whole grain sourdough bread that stay moist inside for many days after being tossed. Even on days when the whole loaves aren’t there, you’ll find quarter and half loaves and/or sliced bread. Also some baguettes, croissants, muffins.

Whole Foods in Tribeca/Financial District: we’ve only tried there once (3/5/12) but didn’t find anything. If you find the secret, email us so we can share!

Financial District/Battery Park City

Bento Nouveau Sushi
173 Broadway at Cortland
AND 32 Broadway between Wall and Beaver
HUGE clear garbage bags full of plastic box wrapped sushi thrown out when they close, very easy to find.

Gristedes
90 Maiden Lane (but trash is out back on Cedar, between William and Pearl, between Liberato’s pizza and a parking garage)
Standard grocery that is easy to get at. As of Jan 2012, lots of prepared foods on a consistent basis– roast chicken, meat-n-2-veg ready meals, hummus, produce, bread. Plus produce in more limited quantities.

Duane Reade
Wall Street (but trash is out back on Pine near William)
Throws out late. As of winter 2012 being used by OWS folks meeting nearby, but check anyway; this serial waster shouldn’t have any good stuff going to landfills or incinerators.
There are several other Duane Reade stores in the area, bottom of Broadway, on Broad, in Battery Park City– always worth checking if you’re there late at night.

Jubilee Marketplace
90 John Street (but trash is on an unnamed alley off Gold St between John and Fulton)
The night we went, this was daunting– 2 gigantic dumpsters with a high ratio of garbage to food. More exploration would be helpful, as this seems to be a very high end grocery.

Pain Quotidien?
2 River Terrace (way far west, past end of Murray St) – sure enough, bread!

Gristedes
315 South End Avenue – the usual grocery assortment produce, bread, bakery, pasta, a few sandwiches, but not lots of pre-made stuff

Izzy & Nats
311 South End Avenue – bagels and some hash brown patties

Hudson Produce
300 Albany St, 1/2 block south of Gristedes, trash is on South End Ave. – lots of good produce, plus flowers.

Gristedes
71 South End Ave (trash on W. Thames St.)
A motherlode on our first check but we didn’t stay long due to cold. Just skimming the top of the small dumpster we found cookies, cereal, lots of produce – and that was just at the top. Bring a light to explore more, as this is a pretty dark street.

All within 2 blocks of each other on Maiden Lane we found the following chains, all of which had some usable food:
Pret a Manger– interesting, since this chain claims they donate all of their food. We found wrapped sandwiches and boxed sushi.

Hale & Hearty– wrapped sandwiches.

Starbucks– this is generally hit or miss, but we did find some usable stuff, wholesale-size bottle of their drink mixes. Other times one can find sandwiches, salads, etc at this chain.

Dunkin Donuts– just about every outlet in this chain throws out donuts, bagels and other baked/fried goods. This one was no exception. If you are starving in NYC, just look around for a Dunkin D, the calories are there.

No luck at:

Zeytuna on Maiden Lane– may have stuff, let us know
Key Food on Fulton: very small, can’t locate trash
C-Town on at Pearl & James: behind locked gate
Pathmark on Cherry: has compactor