Granville Island Market is the best spot for diving in Vancouver (JJ Beans Coffee-house, Stuart’s Bakery, Deep Dish Pie Shop, Island Pizza). The market closes at 7:00 pm.
The businesses in the market stress the freshness of their products, which means there’s a lot of waste. They can’t charge a premium price for a bruised apple, so it gets tossed.
Show up at 6:55 pm at JJ Beans coffee-house for a free cup of coffee – bring your own cup or thermos. Step outside, cross the street and grab a seat on the bench beside the two green dumpsters.
Stuart’s Bakery bags up all the left-over baking from the day and leaves the bags on the bench for us so we don’t have to get into the dumpster. There’s usually white, whole wheat bread, but often sesame challah (egg bread), muffins, cinnamon loaves. One time the clerk brought out a large plate with left-over pastries cut up into small pieces. From time to time we get a deep dish pie. Last week a bananna cream pie.
Around 7:30 pm the clerk from the pizza shop drops by with a box containing the left-over pizza slices: Hawaiian, Mediterranean, Pepperoni, and Cheese.
Head over to Triangle Square (50 feet away), to La Baguette (a French Bakery). They have up to 5 bags a day of artisan loaves, french baguettes, and buns leftover. Grab a bag and carry it across the street to the Market Building where it’s divided up. The owner of the bakery is a very decent guy. Last Friday he passed us a bag of chocolate eclairs still warm from the oven to share. Heaven. On rare occasions there are left-over sandwiches.
Contributed March 2019:
Fruiticana, 6257 Fraser St
Great dumpster outback for fruit and veg.
They lock it at night but it is open during business hours. Staff have not seemed to mind divers. Parking lot can fill up during busy hours, so take this into consideration.
Safeway in Horseshoe Bay, BC (20 min north of Vancouver): The green organics bins outside have been great for dumpster diving in the past. Tons of veggies and bread. Sometimes some coffee grounds from Starbucks are mixed in. Sometimes bins are locked behind fence during bear season. Worth a look through.