"Freegan", a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan", is derived from the observation that even a vegan lifestyle is not free of exploitation. A product's veganness does not guarantee that:

Freeganism is a lifestyle based around the belief that almost all work and monetary exchanges within a capitalist economy contribute to myriad forms of exploitation - worker abuse, animal exploitation, hunger, ecological destruction, mass incarceration, war, inequitable distribution of resources, commodification of women - almost all issues addressed by social, ecological, and animal rights advocacy groups.

* Workers were not exploited in the product's production;

* Pesticides were not used in its growing;

* Non-renewable resources (such as petroleum) were not used in production and shipping;

* Rainforest was not cleared to generate plantation land;

* Wildlife was not harmed in production;

* Wasteful packaging was not used.

For these reasons true freegans avoid both shoplifting and shopping as consumption, if at all possible.

Freegans argue that people sincerely committed to living the "cruelty-free" lifestyle espoused by vegans must strive to abstain not only from eating, wearing, and using animal skins, secretions (e.g. milk and its by-products), flesh, and animal-tested products, but must strive to the greatest degree possible to remove themselves from participation in the capitalist economy altogether as workers and consumers.

Similarly to veganism, freeganism is a philosophy of living, a range of living strategies, a community, a culture, and an ideal.