I’m not sure why but I always get a little excited when I see bagged lettuce in the produce “scrap boxes” Mr. Produce Guy sets aside for me each week. Maybe because I know the chances are really high that is only one or two bad leaves in there and that we’ll be eating salad out of season.
See what I mean. In the consumers eye, one leaf ruins the whole bag. If you were to spot a package on a grocers shelf you’d totally pick a different bag of lettuce.
I have no idea what was wrong with this beet, or the two other I found in the boxes of reclaimed food. Maybe you see something I don’t because all I see is a plate of free roasted beets.
Lucy and her peppers. I bagged up the good ones and tossed them in the refrigerator for her to eat/play with later in the week. When the weather is nice she likes to sun herself on the back lawn and chase raw vegetables around the yard. She doesn’t seem to mind that they don’t chase her back, but she sure has a good time.
She also stole some perfectly good lettuce.
In case you didn’t know, puggles like zucchini.
Not a huge week, but I think I did pretty good. 2 giant bags of lettuce which I’ll use for salads and tacos, apples for lunches, bananas and spinach for smoothies, beets for roasting, and a few radishes for snacking.
If I had to guess, I’d say there is about $20 worth of free produce right there.
Wahooo! I love free fruits and vegetables.
Have you tried asking your grocer for their cast offs yet? If so, was it a big chain store or a local market? Let us know in the comments below.
Have a great day,
~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.
Paty says
Hi Mavis, I don’t have a store that will share produce yet, but sure do enjoy seeing what you’re able to save from your own weekly produce gifts. It’s even more fun now that Lucy the Puggle Dog is helping unload the boxes! (She’s such a cutie-pie!)
Jenn says
Only your puppy would love to chase raw vege’s around the garden 🙂 One of my dogs LOVES veges of almost any kind. The other one just looks at us like he’s saying “Are you crazy… Where’s the meat?”
Michelle says
Lucy is adorable. I have asked my local produce guy and he said that they already give them away to a shelter? I think? Not sure I believe him though. He didn’t sound real convincing…
Mavis says
Hi Figgy, thanks. 🙂 Keep trying. 🙂
Lisa says
For about six months I’ve been getting 2 boxes of reclaimed produce 3 times a week from a local grocery store. I’m very grateful and have not had to purchase any produce for my pets since then! Yesterday I got over 75 Cuties, 2 containers of strawberries, wheat grass, 3 kinds of peppers, 2 bags of carrots and 5 bags of organic lettuce! Can’t wait to see what is in the boxes tomorrow!
liz says
Lisa,
I’m curiuos if you are getting this stuff from a big store or a mom and pop type store. When I asked at our largers grocery stores they said they couldn’t give anything out do to laws. If I got sick form something, I could sue them. so they trash it instead. I’m just curious.!
Lisa says
It’s a chain grocery store, but a smaller one. My cousin works in the office there, so I asked her about it first. She hooked me up with the produce manager!
pat Lewis says
I’m hopeful to get some Cuties in the near future- I found an easy recipe to can them and no longer buy Mandarin oranges for our Asian cooking as well as salads! I’ll be taking a friend with me when I go for reduced produce at my Meijer’s tomorrow! Every day they mark down a huge amount of beautiful produce to 35 cents a pound! Then I’ll go to my chain grocery for free “discards”! What a blessing and opportunity!
Samantha M. says
Lucy is so going to start helping herself to the garden when the veggies start coming in. I had a dog that used to like to dig up and eat carrots out of the garden.
Susan Reid says
I got a big box full of lettuce scraps from Coles for our chickens, nothing for us though. It was a spare of the moment thing, as i was buying a lettuce as the lady was setting them out on display and putting the yucky leaves in a box. She said she normally takes the scraps for her chikens, but let me have a box. Looks like the staff probably get first choice on the good left overs!
carol says
I do think it is great that you rescue perfectly good produce to feed your family, Mavis. We throw away way too much food in our country! Like Michelle’s situation, the large grocery stores in my town give such produce to our local food bank. I live in a small enough town that I know this really happens. I often see the food bank manager picking up the produce at the stores and unloading it at the food bank, during my wanderings. The home gardeners here are also encouraged to give extra produce to the food bank. A neat thing that happened here last year was the installation of a food bank greenhouse and the beginnings of a food bank garden. We have a lot of retired folks here, who volunteer their time for such projects.
Mavis says
I think a food bank greenhouse is a wonderful idea.
Desi says
I think it’s great that you are still getting so much produce. Ours is hit and miss. Who ever gets there first gets it all. Which is fine for us, our chickens love going though the piles I give them and we always have oranges and apples in a bowl for us.
Dogs do crazy things. Our border collie loves to play with 1 gallon pots. He will toss them in the air with his mouth and run around the yard with it covering his entire face. Then again he will also chase a rake, and the school bus. At least Lucy likes her veggies.
Kirsty Gibbons says
Here in Australia our bigger stores do : pay $3 for the bag and fill it up with anything u want from the “must go” box
It’s the same day every week and only for 15 min or until the “must go” boxes are empty – but defenetly worth getting up of the chair for 🙂
The day after, in summer, we have a “home grown swap” in town , so no money swaps hands but for my grapefruits, lemons and tomatoes I get bread and eggs and whatever’s there,
I love it!
It’s such rewarding feeling
I love reading what ever one else dose too :):):)
Keep up the good job:)
Mavis says
Thanks Kristy!
Desi says
I love your swap idea.
Kaia says
I’m currently trying to work up the nerve to ask another store.. the first one donates it to a food bank. I know the worst thing they can say is “no” but I’m not good with talking to people in the first place!
pat Lewis says
2 weeks ago, I got up my nerve again and asked the produce man who was sorting through his produce aisles and tossing stuff into a large plastic trash can on wheels and he said I could have some. He gave me a box and then he put stuff in for me- I got grapes (really nice), cucumbers and zucchini (was able to make 3 pints of pickle relish from them). Didn’t get back last week, but today I stopped in and he was sorting. I called him by name and thanked him again for two weeks ago and asked if he might have anything. This time, he got an empty box out and told me that if I would like to, I could just go through the rolling can and pick out whatever I wanted. I got a dozen beautiful Poblano peppers, 10 nice Jalapeños, 4 bell peppers, 6 carrots, 2 large cukes, a 2 lb bag of green beans, 2 heads of lettuce and a huge eggplant! Could have probably taken more, but I am grateful for this!! Free and at one of the largest grocery chains in the US. I live in a very large city also! Amazing!
Mavis says
Pretty awesome if you ask me. 🙂 Good Job!
Charity says
That is brilliant! When I was a kid, the produce manager at the local grocery store used to phone my mother and give us boxes of apples and oranges and such all the time. I hadn’t thought to ask for it though.. I am just the next town over from you and I do know the produce managers at one of the markets here locally. I am going to give him a ring and see what he says. Thanks for the wonderful idea!
mel says
I love that puppy – I have a dac/chiwi mix who loves tomatoes….it kills me to see them eat veggies like they are the best thing!! Tooooo cute!
Shannon says
Our local Hannaford won’t share produce unless I’m a farmer and fill out a form.
Dee says
I am so glad to see that other stores are doing more than just throwing away perfectly good food. I work in the meat, bake and produce section of a very large chain store and the majority of food I have to pull from the shelves are just thrown out; a portion of it is donated to the LA Food Bank, though. If any of the employees were caught allowing the customers to take the castoffs there would be disciplinary action or job loss; the explanation were concerns over being sued if someone were to become ill.
A while back the employees were allowed to consume the bread and bake items that were to be thrown out but upper management is putting a halt to it because a few employees were taking the items home. They said it was “stealing” (even though us supervisors made sure to mark it out of the system before distributing it).
If you live in a large city – try your local farmers market or a smaller chain store for unsold/”bad”/unwanted produce and bake. Avoid the bigger (i.e. more “well known”) grocery and big box stores – convincing an employee to allow you to take home a few castoffs can cost them their job.