I cannot remember a time when we have had such a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in the house. Even at the peak of summer harvest, the selection isn’t this vast. I’ve been feeding my family “chicken scraps” for the last 5 weeks and I still find it mind boggling.
Last weeks edible castoffs included:
- 2 gallons of grapes
- 3 gallons of strawberries
- apples, apples and more apples
- pears
- corn
- broccoli
- mushrooms
- carrots
- green and yellow peppers
- 1 lonely zucchini
- salad greens we didn’t have time to eat
Just because a pear is ugly,or slightly bruised, does not mean it’s inedible.
The pear just needs someone to take 5 minutes to give it a little love.
Maybe the public won’t buy apples with a small bruise, but I’ll take them. And then I’ll turn them into fresh applesauce and apple spice cake to feed my family.
And the corn, I’m beginning to wonder what the criteria is for tossing corn. I have no idea what was so visually unappealing about the corn, but I can tell you it sure tasted good hot off the grill.
Oh, and the stir fry I was able to make for my kids as an after school snack last week, that wasn’t too bad either. I mean, for scraps.
So Mr. Produce Man, you keep lining your produce section with perfect fruit and vegetables for your customers. And I’ll continue to stop by and take your scraps. Any day of the week.
Free Food Week # 4 Reclaimed Food: Show and Tell
Free Food Week # 3 Reclaimed Food: Show and Tell
How To Get Free Food Week #2
How to Get Free Food Week #1
To read more on the topic of food waste. Check out the book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
LaurelB says
We have tried all our local markets and even a couple of big markets and no one will do it. One used to do this but someone did not pick it up one week and it left them in a mess and no more. So sad.
Talaena says
My folks have chickens and goats that would love the un-salvageable scraps! But when they went around asking the markets in their area they were told no because some selfish (my word) pig farmer in the area has all the supermarkets on CONTRACT to give him all their scraps! 😮 I mean really? A CONTRACT for scraps? I say first come first serve, but I guess some people have no boundaries.
Mary Ann says
I LOVE seeing what you do with these “scraps” every week. You’re amazing. Inspirational!
LaToya says
I love these posts. I contacted 3 places in my area. One was a no – they use or have a purpose for all their “scraps” – which I guess is good that it’s not going to waste. And the others I didn’t hear back from. The one that was a no suggested I ask the bigger stores – like an Albertsons or something. I don’t know why but I’m chicken to do that. I have seen the food bank trucks out there so they may already be doing it. Need to just cowgirl up and ask. I want the produce that you have! 🙁 wah crybaby wah 🙁
Krista says
The corn and the stir fry have my mouth watering and it’s only 11 am! Looks so delish, Mavis!
Lindsey says
Day 2 Reclaimed food
1 green pear
46 red apples
22 green apples
3 cantaloupes
1 carton raspberries
2+ lbs strawberries
8 oranges
Thank you Mavis for the great ideas!! Applesauce tommorrow!!
Mavis says
Nice job Lindsey!
Lissa says
Reclaimed food week 3: WOW! I have 2 stores in the neighborhood, one I swing by on Sat. morning and the produce guy has a bag for me, one I have finally figured out the right time of day to go by (they won’t put stuff aside for people but are happy to have you go through the big bins in the back) and I go there on Tuesday – then figure out what to do with everything!
2 whole cantalope – organic
3 red bell peppers – organic
5 zucchini – organic
15 tomatoes – some organic
4 bundles of asparagus – 6lbs? – organic
~2lbs of oyster mushrooms
2 big bunches of parsley – organic
~1 lb celery
~1 lb carrots – organic
1 fuji apple – organic
1 peach
1 apricot
1 lb strawberries
8 ears of corn
few florets of broccoli
Mavis says
Wow! You made out like a bandit! 🙂
Shar says
First off, your blog rocks. When I found the “How to Get Free Food” post I had to find out if I could pull this off in my VERY rural neck of the woods. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy but I’m glad I tried.
I’m able to get a free ginormous bag of old bread, donuts, bagels, muffins, etc. as “chicken scraps” once a week from the local bakery. Many of the bread products are really decent. Others look like moss covered rocks. Yikes! So I’m curious as to how brave do you get with mold on bread?
Also, one of the grocery stores agreed to sell me banana boxes full of produce at $5 each and calls me whenever they get one or two filled. I picked up my first two boxes yesterday. And here’s what I scored:
6 strawberries
1/2 cantelope
1 orange
a chunk of pineapple
(all these I made into a sorbet for dessert last night)
3 ears of corn
1 pear
4 roma tomatoes
4 small potatoes
1/3 of zucchini
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 and a half yellow peppers
3 orange peppers
I don’t think I did too terrible considering peppers alone are around a buck a piece. Plus, our backyard flock of 25 chickens really enjoyed their share of the loot. It is probably going to be a hit or miss thing from week to week.
Thanks so much for sharing your free food foraging skills. This is really going to help our family out. 🙂
Holly says
Today was a wonderful surprise. I tried to post a photo on Facebook, but couldn’t get it figured out with an explanation. I stopped by the market today and they were getting rid of at least 6 dozen roses; red, pink and white – just beautiful. I also picked up a huge bouquet for my moth-in-law and a great bunch of curly willow branches. Yesterday there were several bags of salad greens, spinach and mixed veg. The chickens really like the shredded mixes for slaw. Thanks again for the inspiration to try this – it’s so much fun.