The media tends to present freeganism as all about "skipping" or "dumpster diving", i.e. finding food in supermarket bins. There's so much more to it than that.
"Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."
- http://freegan.info/?page_id=2
I think of freeganism as an anti-consumerist way of life that revolves around minimising waste.
One of the areas where it's given me insight is the importance of not just appreciating my food and being thankful for it, but of thinking about where it came from and all the products and processes that went into producing it. Giving time to acknowledge and explicitly giving thanks is something I'm struggling to incorporate into my life - it's so easy to just eat without thinking.
It's not just about food though but about reducing all kinds of waste.
So many practices come under the freegan banner, e.g. FreeCycle and Freegle, where people who have stuff they don't want can let other people claim it for free, thus saving items from the tip, as well as saving people money and reducing the demand for products.
Free shops work on the same principles - they're like charity shops, but with no money involved. The brilliant free shop on Commercial Road was recently evicted but you might be able to find some smaller ones. Or maybe start your own with some friends. The seed swap parties my friends have are freegan, as is fixing something instead of throwing it away and buying a new one.
Community & Sharing
Food Not Bombs is an initiaitve where people collect vegetables that would otherwise be wasted, cook hot meals and share them with their local communities. There are groups all over the world - I think our nearest is Hackney, East London.
Sometimes people squat unused properties, sometimes coming to an agreement with the landlord. I know a few that are flourishing community centres, offering free use of the space for events, such as concerts to raise money for good causes and free schools - where people come together to swap skills and learn from each other. There's a vast array of creativity: One of them recently started hosting clown workshops!
It's often really easy to get involved - just turn up and let people know you're interested. You can find out about things on the internet and/or by hanging out with anarchists. Do feel free to ask me if you're interested. :)
Other freegan practices listed on Wikipedia include foraging, veganism, working less and humanure composting.
Sustainability & Spirituality
For me, being freegan is about trying to lead a radically more sustainable and holistic life and it's very much connected to my spirituality: It's trying to live out my love for life, seeing divinity in everything around me... in animals, trees, myself. It's trying to more fully appreciate the harm of the endless drive towards excessive consumption promoted by capitalism. It's challenging myself when I say I "need" something. It's remembering how amazing it is to be involved with communities trying to make things better. I fall short all the time, but trying to be mindful is one way I get closer to achieving it.
Interested in finding out more? Feel free to ask me or write to me at inspirewithhope@gmail.com. Plus, there's lots of info at http://freegan.org.uk/
Published in Kensington Unitarians' May 2010 newsletter (pdf), on page 6.