This week there was a little bit of everything in our free produce scrap boxes.
Mr. Produce Guy knows our chickens LOVE lettuce and so we typically end up with at least one full box of leafy greens. There were also organic apples, organic strawberries and even some cut cantaloupe melon this time around.
Now we like lettuce, but what does one do with an entire case of it?
I mean, it’s not like you can freeze it or anything.
Luckily our pet chickens LOVE lettuce. I thought about dropping some of the extra lettuce off at the food bank, but the deal I made with Mr. Produce Guy way back when, was that the produce was for my birds. Not human consumption. So even though I salvage a few things here and there from the free produce boxes for my family, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble by donating the extra edibles. Which is kind of silly really.
But a deal is a deal.
Any anyway, what the chickens don’t eat is composted into new soil for next years garden, so it’s not like the food is going completely to waste. I just wish ALL grocery stores had some sort of donation program in place where all their unsaleable merchandise could somehow be donated to an organization in need.
I’m sure Squirrely, our bantam chicken wouldn’t mind sharing.
This week I was able to reclaim 4 pound sor strawberries, 2 heads of lettuce, a bowl of cantaloupe, and about 10 pounds of apples. Not a bad day at the office if you ask me.
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.
Julie @ Growing Days says
OK, I’m heading over right now to read how you got all of these freebies, because our chickens are jealous! Seriously, I asked the produce guy at our Publix, and he said they’re not allowed to give out the older produce. (I explained it was for our chickens.) I think I need to ask the manager. Right now, I’m just growing some extra greens for the girls (and sometimes, I’m embarrassed to admit, buying some lettuce for them, too.) I think we have the same greenhouse, BTW–love it!
Lorraine says
Julie, in regard to the cantaloupe….I just discovered how good it is as a smoothie. I used to throw away melons that I could not use right away or we would eat it till we were sick of it. (You know how melons in your garden are all ripe at the same time…) Well, I started chopping them into large bite-sized pieces and I froze them. When I make smoothies with them, I add some pineapple juice if I have it fresh or frozen ice cubes of juice that I have bagged and waiting in the freezer. I throw in a banana (either fresh or frozen) and it makes a scrumptious smoothie. If it’s bland, I add a smidge of lemon juice. This a.m. I had some coconut milk and so added it to the mix. So good!