This week was absolutely crazy in the reclaimed food department. ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. I was so caught up in trying to figure out how I was going to use/distribute 15 watermelon halves that I forgot to take a picture of everything we salvaged.
In the end The Girl and I were able to save –
- 15 watermelon halves
- 5 papaya halves
- 3 honey dew halves
- 2 cantaloupe halves
- 2 pineapple halves
- a boatload of strawberries
- 3 green peppers
- 2 pears
- a whole lot of chicken scraps
It seems like my neighbor Girly Girl, is always entertaining on the weekends, so I gave her a ring.
“Hey Girly Girl, I have a bunch of free melon, do you want some?”
“Do I want to know where it came from?”
“No.”
“Alright, leave it on the porch and I’ll have Chino grab it as soon as we get home. We are at Costco right now buying food for the Little Man’s birthday party.”
“What? Well whatever you do, don’t buy any fruit.”
So then The Girl and I packed up 2 banana boxes, and drove over to Girly Girls house. We dropped off a box of fruit on her porch, and then went around back and fed her chickens the contents of the second box.
When we got back home, we stuffed our refrigerator with melon, and brought all the extra fruit down to our chickens.
And then proceeded to steal their eggs.
Life is good. Free melon and fresh eggs. Does it get any better than this?
To see what else I’ve brought home over the past few months? Check out the stories below.
Elizabeth Karmel’s 13-inch Porcelain Egg Crate, 12-Egg Capacity ~ $14.99 Amazon
Cher says
Watermelon can be use with orange juice in smoothies…never tried but could probably blend and freeze the melon to use in smoothies this winter.
Megan says
I was thinking this too… I think it would work best to freeze the melon in chunks, rather then pre-blend it…?
Heather S. says
We use watermelon in smoothies a lot. You can use it fresh with everything else frozen (it acts like the liquid – but then again, I don’t have a fantastic blender like you). Otherwise, cut it up in chunks and freeze it (it makes it easier to break off for later – trust me) and throw it in smoothies as well. One of my kids favorite is with watermelon, strawberries, and mangos – SUPER delicious!
Helen in Meridian says
They were showing grilled watermelon. Also watermelon chunks with thin sliced red onion and feta cheese is a great salad. Your namesake Auntie, Mrs. Butterworth has a hot red white and blue bottle for the 4th and Olympics. I couldn’t resist it for bottle sake, tho I make my own syrup or use a dollup of dh’s real bottle from Costco he gets for xmas and his birthday to use frugally.
Lissa says
Wow I have such a craving for watermelon now! Keep hoping to get some in my boxes, but no luck so far. I just may *gulp* have to buy one.
This week was a bit more of a dud in the reclaimed food department for me. Does anyone know what to do with parsnips and rutabagas?
5 rutabagas
3 large parsnips
2lbs radishes
1 mango
1lb strawberries
1 head romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes
5 ears corn
Ashley says
Shepard’s Pie or Boiled Dinner (a soup with ham, tatoes, carrot, celery and other root veggies in broth). Although, not sure where you live, but neither are very heat wave friendly.
Lissa says
I’m in the pacific NW so no worries about heat waves! Would just be happy to see the sun and 70 degrees at this point. Thanks ashley!
Kara says
I haven’t tried it, but i’ve heard you can dehydrate watermelon. It’s supposed to be really sweet and yummy, and kind of like fruit leather… sounds a little weird, but may be worth a try 🙂
Jules says
My husband’s family dehydrated watermelon back in the dark ages, and he says it was SO good, very sweet.