A 3 Peat for the Ages: 3 Cities, $0 on Food

A few years back, my Uncle and I took a trip around Europe and Central America. This is when we first discovered how to eat for free when you travel. Or as we liked to call it “fridge torching”. We were inexperienced at first, but like a promising pair of draft picks, we were able to grow into championship-caliber players. While our tour around Europe started somewhat ordinary, we showed flashes of talent. We made a fish “pasta” in Portugal (wasn’t tasty) and salvaged some soda in Munich. It wasn’t pretty but we were getting the job done.

Runners-Up

By the time we arrived in Berlin, about 6 weeks into our trip, we showed our championship potential. At Cat’s Pajamas Hostel, we found 3 massive fridges. We quickly torched the fridge. Though we did have to pay for some groceries, it was clear we were a force to be reckoned with. With things like pasta, tomatoes, apples, we almost avoided a trip to the grocery store. On our 4th and final day, we found bratwursts and whipped up some signature currywurst, and even made enough to go around for some of our new friends. We feasted in celebration. We came up a bit short of a championship, but it was clear we would be the favorites moving forward.

The First Championship

4 days in Dublin, $0 on food

Nothing is as sweet as the first ring. When we arrived in Dublin, we were exhausted from a long day of travel but we were feeling lucky. We stayed at Jacob’s Inn, where we laid eyes on the largest fridge we had ever seen.

To the left was a shelf, neatly organized with baskets and tape for labeling. The free food was clearly marked – we were off to a nice start. The fridge wasn’t as clean. What a pain in the ass it would be for hostel staff to clean it up. That is, if we weren’t there.

The kitchen was crowded, and we got to work. Teriyaki sauce – beautiful; a bag of mushrooms and onions – oh wow; a 10lb slab of ham – GONE. We found more food, too, like a premade bowl of pasta and fruit, but we would have to save those for later. We checked the freezer, too; it wouldn’t be polite if we cleaned the fridge without cleaning the freezer. As the luck of the Irish would have it, we found ourselves some frozen fries!

I gave my Uncle a big hug. It became immensely clear that we were going to have a Teriyaki Pork Roast. I cut the veggies as Uncle Tommy sliced the ham into smaller pieces. We lathered the dead pig with a bounty of teriyaki sauce and put it into the oven, not exactly knowing what we were doing or how long it should be in there for. We grabbed another pan and loaded it up with fries.

Our defense improved dramatically. While our treats were warming up, we used that time to wash dishes and inventory the fridge for food labeled with upcoming checkout dates. We knew which food was going to be available the next day if guests didn’t finish their food.

By this point, we knew that our odds of torching this food were pretty good. On the last day in a city, travelers usually like to eat out to get a taste of the local cuisine one last time. My advice to you when traveling is buy less than you think when you first arrive.

Meanwhile, our food was ready and so were we. We put a towel down and used opposite ends of the large pan as our plate(s). Why dirty up extra dishes?

Our teriyaki pork roast was absolutely delicious. It tasted like 5-star restaurant quality. We couldn’t decide if our joy from finding and making this meal outweighed the taste. What made it even better was that we had leftovers. It was a 10lb slab of ham after all. We ate more the next day and continued to find more treats in the fridge.

By the 2nd day (of a 4-day stay), it was obvious we weren’t going to pay for groceries. We had come into our own. With a combination of juggernaut offense and relentless defense, we blew out Jacob’s Inn. 4 days in Dublin, 4 days of eating for free in Dublin. We had won our first Freegan Championship!

Back 2 Back

7 days in Puerto Viejo, $0 on food

Flash forward two months and we are in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We no longer had the luck of the Irish on our side. The ever-inept Chase Bank had inconveniently cancelled my Uncle’s debit card and my card had been stolen. We were stuck in Costa Rica waiting for a new card to arrive with only about $200 on hand. Luckily, we had found a cheap hostel in Puerto Viejo where we could rent a tent for about $8 a night ($4 per person). We had to stay there for a full week while we waited for our card to arrive. Food in Costa Rica is surprisingly expensive…

…which turned out to be irrelevant. The hostel we stayed at, Rocking J’s is absolutely massive. It was loaded with opportunity. The kitchen was massive, too, and there were bags of groceries all over the place. There wasn’t a smidgen of doubt in our minds that there would be food for the taking. We began systematically checking all of the bags and soon created a stockpile of supplies. The initial torching must have taken over 30 minutes.

It was around this time that my Uncle and I started writing different names on bags every day. Hector, Gerardo, Gretchen, Jehoshaphat, etc. This is the kinda hostel where you party, sleep in tents or hammocks, rarely wear a shirt, and can walk 2 mins and be in the Caribbean Ocean. It had the perfect vibe for not taking ourselves seriously.

This was a championship that we knew we were going to win the whole time. Clearly, we were the best team. It would just be a matter of time. Most of our meals consisted of pasta or rice and veggies. At first, we had a plethora of veggies. By the 5th day or so, it was just rice and a couple of veggies, like carrots and tomatoes. It was bland as all get out. What choice did we have? My name is Freddy Freegan and I was with my Uncle T. We had a championship to win.

Eventually, we grinded our way through a couple of more days until my card arrived and we were finally on our way. We had done it. A full week without groceries! Blown to bits! It wasn’t as pretty as our first championship, but it got the job done. We were also thankful to change locations in search of something more flavorful than rice and a few veggies.

3 Peat Free Peat

2 days in Valladolid, $0 on food

This was the kind of championship where the defending champs are back in the finals and are going to win, exactly as everyone had predicted at the start of the year. We were vibin’ super hard even before we got to Valladolid, Mexico. Valladolid is slightly off the beaten trail which helped make it fun – we highly recommend it. We were a nephew and an uncle in the south of Mexico, what do you expect?!

When we got to La Candelaria Hostel, we were so excited to see there were 2 fridges. We first looked at the main one in the back. Tons of sauces, chips, peppers. There was a variety of food, mainly Mexican.

“I like what we’re working with!”

We had to take a look at the fridge in front before we got to torching. A healthy amount of food for our torching disposal. When we saw some juicy-looking tacos with a check-out date of two days prior, we ate them right on sight. Didn’t even sit down.

We began to torch and sort our food into our bag. Looking through both fridges and it was obvious we were set for our stay. We loved the fridge in the back, because the kitchen was in a fairly secluded area. The fridge was tucked away as well. Morally, we know we are doing the right thing, but there is still the nervousness about getting caught. Maybe it’s the thrill of it all that makes it fun in the first place.

In our haul, there was a bag of chips. There was also a jumble of hot sauces. We took a bowl and poured a little bit of each sauce into the bowl. It was fun trying a chip with each sauce and ranking our favorites. We mixed some together and tried those combos and eventually just mixed all the sauces together. It was insane and we absolutely loved it.

Needless to say, we won another ring. Were we like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson? Jordan and Pippen?

One thing was for sure: We were 3 peat champs. 3 cities, no groceries, a whole lot of food saved from a landfill, and a whole lot of time saved for hostel staff having to clean out their fridges.

-Freddy

P.S.Here are a few hostels we recommend specifically for torching:

Europe:

Jacob’s Inn, Dublin, Ireland

Cat’s Pajamas, Berlin, Germany

Eden House, Porto, Portugal

Meininger Hotel, Salzburg, Austria

Blue Sky Hostel, Glasgow, Scotland

Fat Margaret’s, Tallinn, Estonia

Central America:

Rocking J’s, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

La Candelaria, Valladolid, México

Mamallena Backpackers, Panama City, Panama

Quintana Roots, Tulum Mexico

Nomadas, Mérida, Mexico

Hostal Centro Historico Regina, Mexico City, Mexico

Middle East:

Abraham’s Hostel, Tel Aviv, Israel