Mr. Produce Guy had 2 boxes of reclaimed produce waiting for us when we stopped by the local market this week. There was more lettuce than you could imagine along with grapes, pears and corn.
Inspector Lucy learned she likes celery.
As for the rest of the produce, well, we decided to sit this one out. If would have had the extra time, I could have cut out the good parts out of the corn and froze it. But I didn’t.
I also didn’t bother with the pears {too mushy} or the grapes.
It’s kind of weird in a way how we’ve become accustomed to getting so much great produce over the past year. If we were truly needy, or this were the depression era or even if I was living in The Glass Castle, I would have saved every ounce of the produce.
And now after looking at these pictures again, I feel bad The Girl and I didn’t pick through the boxes and save any of the fruits and vegetables.
It’s pretty rare around here that all the free produce goes to the chickens, but this week, they got it all.
~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 M. says
Don’t feel bad, what you are doing is amazing. You took something that would have been thrown away, and by giving it to your chickens, turned it into eggs!
I was at the grocery store this week when I saw them tidying up the produce section. They had a large trash bin and were going through the bags of salad, slitting them open, and throwing them away. I looked in the trash bin and felt sick, it was full of slightly blemished produce that looked perfectly edible, just a little wrinkled. I asked the manager if he ever considered selling the older produce at a reduced price (like brown bananas) and he said no, because they’d been sued before. Boo.
I hate to think how much is wasted on a daily basis because it isn’t perfect.
Krista says
Do you have a dehydrator? If so, you could make raisins with the grapes. Not much prep for that and it doesn’t matter if they aren’t perfectly firm.
Lisa says
This past week my cousins family came over and brought pizza. I pulled out two “OragnicGirl fresh herbs & greens” tubs of reclaimed salad and served it with red pepper dressing. Everyone loved it! I kept thinking in my mind how this delicious salad we just ate, was intended for the garbage!
Yesterday when I got my reclaimed food boxes, it was slim pickins’, but still worth it. I got: 2 cantelopes, 2 bunches of asparagas, 5 bags of lettuce, 3 potatoes, 6 tomatoes, 2 apples and an orange pepper.
AJ says
Since Lucy seems to love veggies, you could use up some of those free veggies that might be past their prime by making her these dog treats:
http://www.17apart.com/2011/09/how-to-homemade-natural-dog-treat.html
I made some last week using an apple and carrot that had both seen better days and both my dogs love them!!
Gretchan says
Hi, I am interested in how you get the produce. We raise animals for meat. I would love to feed them the extras but I can seem to find anywhere to get it. The places I have asked have polices that don’t allow them to give it away. Any suggestions?
Mavis says
All you can do is keep asking until you find a store that allows you to pick it up.