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Janet Kalish travels to a Fresh Meadows food market a few days a week after her work day is done. But rather than fill her cart and check out at the cash register like the rest of the shoppers do, Kalish takes part in a covert supermarket operation.

Once the manager sees her, he swiftly scurries to the back, emerges with large black garbage bags of newly-expired food for Kalish to “rescue” and quickly hurries her out the door. If the supply is low, Kalish will use the assortment of packaged crackers, cereals and pretzels as her food for the week. If it is a large, she will take what she needs and donate the rest to a Queens drug rehabilitation center.

Kalish is a modern-day forager – a Freegan – who finds her food supply through agreements with understanding store owners or rummaging through trash bins after dark. She clothes herself with outfits she finds while dumpster diving or through barters deals at local “free markets.”

And she is not alone. Kalish says the Freegan community boasts hundreds of members across the City, including a handful from Queens, although she says it is difficult to count just how many in total.

According to Kalish, Freegans are environmental- and waste-conscious; rally against consumerism and over-consumption; are committed to enhancing a sense of community by sharing, repairing and assisting; and although they understand it takes “longer to clean up then to make a mess,” they are committed to remedying society’s problems with pollution and waste.

Kalish, 46, who got involved in Freeganism five years ago after taking part in an introductory trash tour, said throughout her life she was committed to sustainability and conservation, characteristics she credits to an innate sensibility as well as her accountant father. Kalish said she even remembers budgeting her chocolate into rations as a young child.

Kalish is a rarity in the Freegan community. As a veteran of the New York City educational system, Kalish makes a top-tier salary. She owns a home in Richmond Hill as well as a residence in upstate New York that she currently rents out but plans to live in when she retires, which will be in the next few years since she has saved more than enough money to sustain herself.

Kalish said most Freegans work very little, since their expenses are so low, and dedicate their lives to ventures they are passionate about like activism and peace movements. Kalish, on the other hand, works full-time as a Spanish teacher at Cardozo High School, in addition to her extensive involvement in the Freegan movement.

This year, since she was featured on the WETV show “Secret Lives of Women: Extreme Diets,” she choose to speak about her Freeganism in the classroom.

“I spent the next day in class saying ‘I’ll talk about it today because you have questions but I’m not going to keep on talking about freeganism because I’m a Spanish teacher,’” she said.

Kalish said she addressed the issue so that the students could understand her perspective and so that it would not affect their ability to learn from her.

“I don’t want them to be disgusted with me and think I’m the grossest person in the world for the rest of the semester,” she said. “It might make them not even want to learn from me. It does seem disgusting to get your food from the trash.”

Kalish also said it is strange to be in a high school environment – where pop culture trends reign supreme and teenagers are often on a constant quest to keep up with the Jonses – seemingly, the antithesis of Freegan values. In fact, this year there was no interest in the environmental club Kalish usually heads and instead students asked her to advise their fashion club, which she deems “more sexy” from a teenaged point of view.

“I guess it keeps me with my finger on the pulse of what I’m up against and I’m not against the teenager,” she said. “I feel like maybe they need me to have a balanced influence to show them that they don’t have to zombie-like obey the ads.”

She said with her students – as well as friends, family and colleagues – some respect her lifestyle while others and are repulsed by it. Kalish said regardless of whether they admire or abhor Freeganism, she hopes learning about her makes them recognize there is a larger problem in society.

“I can understand that people are not attracted to taking food from the garbage but I like to get the message out there that I’m eating well and it shouldn’t happen that there is so much good food in the garbage,” Kalish said.

She said although she understands some may deem the Freegan movement too idealistic, she often looks to a Margaret Meade quote as her creed: “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”

Kalish, whose perfect world would include crops in everyone’s front yards rather than perfectly manicured lawns and landscaping, and an end to the manufacturing of so many logo t-shirts, said she feels her desire for change is a driving force in her life.

“I almost see not having hope, not believing that there’s any reason to live,” she said. “We shouldn’t each live our own selfish life trying to accumulate stuff in our living rooms and storage places.”

For more information about the Freegan movement, visit freegan.info.

Reach Reporter Kaitlyn Kilmetis at kkilmetis@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.