Mad world: Waste not, feast lots

Sofie Juel Anderson says she salvages edible food from waste bins. Pics/Instagram

This 29-year-old stands firmly against food waste and because of her frugal eating habits, Sofie Juel Andersen spends just £70 a month on groceries. Sofie has salvaged fresh produce, meat, cheese and other packaged snacks from supermarket bins, which she claimed have designated dumpsters for different types of food.

She has become a pro at spotting food, and said she can tell when supermarkets start to get rid of Christmas food judging by the amount of flour, butter, duck and pork which gets thrown away - and she will jump to retrieve the excess items.

Christmas is no different. The restaurant manager will contribute to her family dinner with a winter salad, made from greens from a shop bin, as well pickled red cabbage which she found in a restaurant skip - and all her family asks is that it's clean.

"My entire family knows I dumpster dive - my mum says it's not an issue. I'll be bringing a winter salad and pickled red cabbage to Christmas. There's no need for me to go out and buy stuff - my family supports my fight against food waste," Sofie, from Denmark shared.

Savvy with her food finds, Sofie has managed to find enough food to feed her large extended family of 20, and will be serving up cheese, nuts, fruits and pre-made salads she has scavenged from different bins. Even when pre-made salads look wilted, she will just take the salad cream and claims she has "hundreds" of packets.

Despite her food contribution to the family coming from bins, Sofie stressed that her family has never had an issue with it. "I'd never bring anything dirty or expired, I always make sure I can actually eat the food before I bring it home. In the new year, I'll be getting together with my friends who dive and putting on a massive dinner party, made with food from dumpsters only."

Twinkle tussle

One family's World Record winning light display bugs neighbours

The New York family with the Guinness World Record for the most lights on a residential property said this year's Christmas display is their biggest ever - but not all neighbours are amused. Tim Gay, whose family first set the record for most lights on a residential property with 3,46,283 Christmas lights in 2012 before topping it with their 2014 display, said the latest version of the ERDAJT Holiday Lights Display - named for his children's initials - now sports 7,20,426 lights. The opulent Christmas displays are a tradition for the Gay family, but some nearby residents have complained of the crowds leaving their yards littered with discarded alcohol bottles, trash, and human urine.

Santa has rizz

Now, you can flirt with Father Christmas - or one of his elves - on the erotic app Bloom, which boasts AI chat and audio message capabilities. So far, over six million messages have been exchanged since its September launch.

Vintage Christmas

PIC/INSTAGRAM

A 103-year-old artificial Christmas tree, one of the first to be mass-produced, was auctioned for more than $4,000 (R3,33,341) in Britain. The tree was brought to Dorothy Grant's home when she was eight years old in 1920 and it became a staple of the family's holidays.

Good luck, good health, good poo

Caganer, which translates to "the crapper", is a staple of the Catalan Christmas scene. You'll often find him camped outside the manger while he defecates. Historian Enric Ucelay-Da Cal suggests that the tradition started because defecating was historically linked to good luck.

Getting frisky is risky!

Pic/NY POST

Men are being warned against engaging in energetic Christmas romps, as chances of suffering a painful penile fracture dramatically rise during the holiday week. Scientists studied 3,421 German men between 2005 and 2021 and found that chances of sustaining the painful groin injury, especially among those in middle age, rose significantly between 24 to 26 December.

Paws in the pine

Pic/NY POST

A Texas woman has gone viral after capturing the moment she found an uninvited guest hiding in her Christmas tree. Brett Ingram, 29, based in Texas, was finishing up some work at home when she heard a soft sneeze. At first she thought her cat had brought in a rat, or that some small kittens somehow entered her home, she said. When she made her way around the front of the tree, she located the culprit - an opossum.