A care worker has eaten free for a month after 'waiting around bins' outside supermarkets after being 'sickened' by the food they waste.
Jill Bennett, 62, says she has rescued hundreds of pounds of fresh products about to be thrown away - without her spending a penny.
The 'Freegan' also donates the food to her local community since she started waiting outside supermarkets for leftover food to be thrown out.
The inspiration came to her when she saw a supermarket worker binning more than ten bags of fresh fruit, veg, meat and ready meals in the bin.
Jill decided to take home the waste where she was amazed to find she had recovered more than £200 of edible grub.
She then began waiting outside shops at 'throwing out time' every Sunday ready to intercept the worker before they binned the items.
And for the last month alone, Jill has lived of the waste she's found including curries, lamb chops, whole chickens, ready meals, apple pies and even fancy chocolates.
Jill, from Northampton, East Midlands, said: "I've eaten for free for a month now and I've eaten better, fresher food than I've ever eaten. I eat fresh food every day.
"Yesterday I had scrambled eggs on toast, all free, for lunch I had potato, spinach and tomato curry, the only things I had myself were oil and spices and in the evening, I had roasted vegetables and couscous and apple pie.
"Every day I eat really well and I've got piles of fresh fruit and veg. I find meat, lamb chops, whole chickens, ready meals, cakes, chocolate, fresh fruit and veg, all in date and every week, that's what it is.
"I don't take things that are out of date or go in old bins for old food. All the food would have been sold ten minutes earlier.
"All this food is being thrown away every single day in every single shop and it's criminal. There's food poverty, food waste and people can't afford to pay their bills and eat.
"Probably five minutes away from them the shops are throwing fully good food away and then we get the government saying there isn't a problem here, people don't know how to cook or budget. It makes me sick.
"It got me thinking that this is happening in every single shop in every town, every city."
And now every Sunday, Jill collects a minimum of two bags full of in date food and shares it with her local community.
Jill said: "I went to my local shop and as I was walking in a member of staff was coming out with a whole load of food in bin bags. I thought 'surely they're not going to throw that out' so I followed her.
"I stopped her, asked her if I could have it and she gave it to me. I hadn't ever done it before. There were around 10 bin bags full of food. When I looked, I thought 'bloody hell'.
"I was gobsmacked, I was disgusted and thrilled and excited. I was really pleased to be able to save the food and to share it.
"There was too much for me to take home.
"I went to another supermarket in the next village. I went in the bin that time and found about £200 worth of chocolates and flowers that had been thrown away.
"All the chocolates were in date and all the flowers were fresh so I came back to where I live and I gave them all away.
"Everyone was very excited, I went back the next week and waiting at 3.30pm for throwing out time.
"The manager came out and he was about to throw it in the bin so I got out of my car and asked him if he was binning it, he gave it to me and said he hates throwing all the food away.
"Ever since then, I've gone back at 3.30pm, waited for them and taken the food. I saved about £100 this month that I would have spent on food, I've also shared four times as much of that with my local community."
The care worker hopes to shine a light on how much food goes to waste and is encouraging supermarkets to cut down.
Jill said: "It's not everyone's cup of tea to wait around a bin but it's every supermarket. People need to know that they can do this on a practical level.
"A lot of the food I haven't scavenged, I've been given because I've asked for it.
"It's disgusting that this amount of food is being thrown away by shops around the country.
"For me this is a very practical thing and political. I eat for free and eat really well but I'm passionate and sickened by all this food waste and really believe something needs to be done about it.
"Especially in this day and age when people are really struggling with paying their bills and food."
