My local food bank can only provide 8 packages with referrals every time before you run out, and I have, but my situation hasn’t improved financially due to various set backs and I’m struggling to feed myself. I’ve heard that supermarkets throw out massive amounts, but have never been in a position where dumpster diving seemed feasible. People who do it, what time of day do you do it and how do you find good spots? UK resident for ref
If you’re in the US you might want to look into applying for EBT/food stamps at your local social security office if you haven’t. It’s not a ton of money for food, but it helps in combination with food banks and such. They’ll give you a card you can use at grocery stores and such.
As for dumpster diving, back when I was homeless I would dumpster dive sometimes, Aldi was a good source because they do this stupid thing where they package all their produce in cellophane wrap, but they’ll do six tomatos to a package or whatever, and when one gets mold or damage they chuck the whole thing. So a lot of times we’d find perfectly good, wrapped produce just hanging out.
Bakeries are also good for day-olds. Though they also often donate their day olds to food banks and soup kitchens and stuff. If so, they might be able to tell you where.
I would just be careful as some store owners will spray bleach or other poisons into their foid dumpster to stop people getting the food. I never saw it myself, and I believe it is illegal, but it was something other homeless folks I ran across talked about.
Sorry that you’re struggling to meet your basic needs.