This week there were 2 boxes of chicken scraps to pick up from Mr. Produce Guy. At first glance I wasn’t sure there would be much to reclaim. But after I lifted up the bags of grapes and knew I had hit the jackpot.
Mama Mia! Holy tomatoes batman!
We did have to toss a few tomatoes but we made several batches of homemade tomato sauce with the rest.
There were also lot of of salad greens but strawberries and other veggies were tossed into the leafy greens. Instead of digging through them we decided to give the entire box of salad to the chickens.
2 tubs of Organic Girl super greens were free because of the sale date stamped on the container.
Fresh grapes! We LOVE grapes around here and the kids especially love to pack them in their lunches.
A huge box of tomatoes, organic salad greens and grapes. Not to shabby for free if you ask me.
Have YOU been successful trying to get your local grocery to give you their scraps? Does your store donate their extra produce or is it tossed in to a dumpster?
Mavis wants to know.
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.
Tammy says
I’m not sure about the smaller stores, but I do know that the Meijers in my area try to sell their moldy produce first and then they donate to the local food bank. By the time it gets to the food bank most of it is compost, not fit for consumption. I occasionally glance at the cart with the produce marked down, but typically it is growing mold and not marked down much.
Lisa in IL says
http://www.divethefilm.com/
If you haven’t seen this one yet, you’ll find it very informative. I highly recommend it.
Lisa says
You got some good stuff – how fun! I thought you would have made some salsa with those tomotatoes. In my reclaimed boxes yesterday I got 5 red peppers, 3 yellow peppers, 4 orange peppers and 1 green pepper (I slice them up and freeze them), an entire bowl of mushrooms and lots of lettuces (organic romaine, green leaf, red leaf and the bagged stuff too). So thankful for all the green leaf since my rabbit, guinea pig, tortoise and water turtle all prefer it. Anxious to see what I pick up tomorrow;Wednesday’s always seem to be the best day!
Samantha M. says
The Meijers near us has a discounted shelf for veggies past their best, I love it best when peppers are selling for $1 each in the main section of the store and I can pick up a bag of 4 for 25c, I clear out the whole supply and now even have my husband trained to look out for them. We cut them up and freeze them. Pretty much everything else they put there though is at the compost stage by the time it gets to the discount bin, it’s weird they don’t seem to have anything in the intermediate stage, it’s either for sale and fine or compost.
Jen says
Boo… None of our local stores will give old produce because of liability risks. 🙁 they they just throw it all away. I’m going to check with the fruit stands and farmers market folks when they open.
Amberlee says
I have called around to the stores around me to pick up reclaimed food. What store do you get yours from Mavis? I think I might see if Costco would be willing? What other stores do you suggest to get the food from?
Kaia says
Not successful! One store donates to a food bank and one returns it to their company for compost.