It was another fantastic week gleaning from the free chicken scrap boxes.
Lucy discovered she likes watermelon!
There were so many strawberries to go through this week it was crazy! We made a few smoothies and ended up freezing the rest to use later in the year. If I remember correctly this is around the time we start to see a lot of those giant California strawberries start to hit the stores.
Lucky for us they have a pretty short shelf life so we are able to fill our freezer up all summer long with “seconds” to enjoy during the winter months.
Spotted bananas. Who wants to buy those? No one apparently. But we love them. Here is a recipe for banana pancakes. Make a stack of those and they’ll fill you up until lunch.
Check out the corn. We pulled the husks back and a few of them looked great.
Others, not so much.
This is the food we kept for ourselves and the rest went to the chickens. The hens will pretty much eat anything but they really love pecking and the corn and lettuce.
What a bounty and all for free thanks to Mr. Produce Guy.
If I had to guess, I’d save that’s about $30 of fresh fruits and vegetables for free. What do you think?
~Mavis
Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past year?
Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.
If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.
Sarah says
Lucky Lucy! My dogs looooove watermelon, especially on a hot day.
Jessica says
I am so tempted to try this but it’s only me and I don’t know what I would do with all that food. You can only self preserve so much! lol
Mavis says
Ha!
Annette shaw says
I think you have at least $24 in strawberries right there alone.
Mavis says
Really? I haven’t priced them lately. All I know is I’m happy to see them in the freezer instead of the trash. 🙂
sarah says
Our store marks down their banged up stuff. you can get go deals if you are there on the right day. that stuff gets frozen or used right away when I get a good deal. last one was 5 days worth of applesauce for my baby for 1.40 and a bit of cooking. The other major store in our area uses “ugly” stuff in their in house kitchens since it’s fine for that.
Jen says
My pup loves watermelon, too! Oh, Lucy. You’re such a cutie.
schmei says
Who buys spotty bananas? ME! I try to get to the store when they’ve just put out the little bargain sacks of bruised bananas – they’re perfect for baking or throwing in to a smoothie. My dad calls them “used bananas”, which always makes me chuckle.
subienkow says
Let the bananas go all brown then you can use them for banana cake. Not bread, but cake, same idea but whole different texture. Even better if you throw in some chocolate chips. Unless you already do this, then nevermind!
Lisa says
I think you got about $40 worth of produce. This time of year – that watermelon is expensive! I saw some in Fred Meyer the other day and it was $9.00 for the size you have. Today in our reclaimed produce boxes we received 16 pears (pear cake and frozen for smoothies), 6 zucchini (the cocounut zocchini bread is in the oven), 7 tomatoes (homemade salsa), 4 bags of salad, 1 corn on the cob, 1 cucumber, celery and collard greens. What do I do with collard greens? The produce guy said to come back tomorrow;he has 40 boxes of strawberries to sort through. He’s going to save them for me. My daughter LOVES to eat frozen sliced strawberries. She told me they taste like candy to her!
Dawn K. Thomson says
That is awesome you are gleaning so much food. I would love to get into this, I just know where to start. Any ideas.
Diane says
Does anyone do this in Camada?
Diane