This week Mr. Produce guy set aside 3 boxes of “chicken scraps” for me, and honestly, I don’t think I could have asked for a better assortment of fruits and vegetables. After picking through the boxes I was able to salvage about $50? worth of produce that was still edible. Not to shabby if you ask me.
The chickens also scored big with free watermelon, cucumbers, grapes and lots of greens {spinach, lettuce and cabbage}.
So what am I going to do with all of this free food? The pears will be turned into pear butter, the strawberries will be transformed into homemade strawberry ice cream, the lettuce will be used in tacos this week, and the cantaloupe and watermelon will be eaten fresh for a yummy after school snack.
The banana’s will be turned into banana bread, the peppers will be used for heirloom tomato salsa, the organic grapes will be bagged into smaller portions and packed in the kids lunches for school. And the mushrooms? Maybe I’ll dehydrate the mushrooms, or just toss them on the grill. I haven’t gotten that far yet.
All I know is free food rocks. Whether it has been reclaimed, gleaned, bartered or grown in your very own backyard. Learning how to feed your family on less, and having fun with it, is a pretty cool pastime if you ask me.
Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day, I’ve got some preserving to do.
~Mavis
Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 5 months?
Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.
Looking for a few yummy ways to cook what you harvest? Check out Grow Cook Eat By Willi Galloway. The reviews rock and the pictures are so AMAZING I want to lick the pages. Yum!!!
Andrea says
That really is a great assortment this time.
Carrie says
Organic Grapes – what a great deal!!!
Jen J says
Mavis, what did you ever do with all that lettuce from last week?
Mavis says
Tacos, Tacos and more Tacos. We ate them 3 times last week. Plus I gave some away. I know, not very exciting. 🙂
Jen J says
Tacos are always a hit in my house; my kids would have been cheering 🙂
Kari says
You can also freeze grapes for an equally yummy after school snack!!! That is IF you have any freezer space left.
Lisa says
You scored the best stuff this time!!!
Mavis says
I think so too! 🙂
Teresa A says
Well still can’t get any reclaimed food, but I have found a local small grocer that has marked down fruits and veggies as they reach expiration. They vary daily and from .20 cents to a few dollars. Today I found 21.5 lbs of pears for 2.00 and 9 banana’s for .99. i will make banana bread and pear sauce tonight. A few days ago I got 2 heads of cauliflower for .60, a few cantelope for .39. Not free or in your abundance, but still a great find!
Susie says
Teresa, that’s great! It would be nice if we could all score some low-priced produce like that every once in awhile. Good job!
Helen in Meridian says
Today on a web site I have been on for 12 years, someone posted that at her grocery store, she was told that by March all food would be marked up 35%. More of us are looking at your survival skills, and thinking we should devote more of our “perfect green grass areas” into good olde garden space.
Oh, what did you do with your ONE grape from Albertsons? Did you get some of the BC cake mix at .69 today for your cup cake extravaganza for the kids school?
Mavis says
I brought the grape home and divided it into 4 pieces. Ha Ha Ha. No I did not get the cake mix. I bet it will go lower closer to baking season. 🙂
Lissa says
An ok week here. It has been strangely quiet the last month or so in the reclaimed food department……
1 head romaine
1 head green leaf lettuce
1.5lbs strawberries
1.5 carrots
3 celery sticks
5 roma tomatoes
Tomatoes were oven-dried for salads, strawberries for snacks, used the carrots & celery w/ hummus.
On the other hand, today I was very busy in the kitchen. Made a batch of homemade tomato sauce, some oven-dried tomatoes, canned a batch of blackberry jam (last of the berries, *sniff*), (3) 1/2 pints of vanilla pear jam (OMG! this is good! Only made a half batch because that’s all the sugar I had – more will come since it’s still pear season), and 6 pints of canned peaches. Oh, and a bottle of blackberry liquor with all the seeds/skin from the blackberries. Was definitely ready for dinner (lemon pepper chicken + spicey barley/spinach + roasted veggies) with vodka lemonades and Dancing with the Stars.
Helen in Meridian says
Today on Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn on Hallmark, she made stuffed mushroom caps. They looked so good using bread crumbs she made and seasoned up with onion and other things she stir fried. YUM. Maybe you could do stuffed mushroom caps some night for the HH and mouths.