It was another banner week in the food scrap department. We have had a steady flow of bananas over the past few weeks and I am seriously running out of ideas on how to use them up.

Help!

Here is what we decided to keep for ourselves this week -

• 10 + pounds bananas
• 1 head of cauliflower {cauliflower hummus is awesome!}
• 7 apples
• 1 head iceberg lettuce 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1/2 personal watermelon
• 4 1/2 cantaloupes

No to shabby for free. Being able to pick up these free chicken scraps over the past year has really helped reduce our feed bill for the chickens.  It’s pretty crazy when you think about it. Oh how I wish more stores would allow people to pick up their castoffs.

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 8 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

You can read more on the topic of food waste in Jonathan Bloom’s book American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food {and What We Can Do About It}.

It must have been a slow week in the organic section because this week we were able to pick up 4 boxes of chicken scraps from Mr. Produce Guy.  There was a huge box of  organic grapes and 11 pounds of organic bananas to recover, as well as strawberries and lettuce.

The Girl and I divided up the lettuce, soft pears, overripe melon and a few bags of grapes between our chickens and Girly Girls hens.

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed our birds are not eating as much of their feed as they normally do.  I’m not sure if it’s because the days are getting shorter and they are not outside as much, or if it’s because we have been keeping less of the produce for ourselves, and giving more to the chickens.

No matter how you look at it, the boxes of free produce have been a blessing.  We get free food, the chickens get fresh fruits and vegetables, and our feed costs are way down over last year.  Life is good!

Have you tried asking your local grocery store, produce stand, or farm for their scraps? Have you had success?  Been turned down?  Do you have any tips for others?

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 8 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

Hot Diggety Dog, take a look at the boxes of produce we were able to reclaim this week. I guess you were right, people are not spending money on melon this time of year.  Not only was there plenty of fresh melon for us to keep, but there was plenty of  fresh grapes and lettuce for the chickens too.

This is what were able to reclaim -

• 9  watermelons
• 3 halved honey dew melons
• 2 halved cantaloupes
• 2 heads of lettuce {perfect for taco night}
• 4 halved pineapples {YUM!}
• 2 apples
• 3 bags of red seedless grapes

I’ll have to give Girly Girl and Mrs. Hillbilly a call and see if they want some of this melon. There is no way we’ll be able to finish it before it goes bad.  I’d consider freezing the watermelon for smoothies later in the winter, but I need to defrost my freezers so it’s not really an option at this time.

Were you able to pick up anything for free this past week? If so, let us know in the comment section below.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day.

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 7+ months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

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When I started this whole “Do you have any scraps I could take home to my chickens” journey, on a whim back in April of 2012, I couldn’t have possibly known that after 7 months, I would have been able to reclaim all of this produce.  By just looking at these pictures alone, I’d say we’ve been able to save a few thousand pounds of edible goods from going into the trash.  Wheather we were eating it or the chickens, I know we’ve been blessed.

Food is an amazing thing.  Some of us have too much of it, and others not enough.  So just remember, don’t let it go to waste.  If you can’t eat it all, find someone who will.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

~Mavis

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

14,000 Things to be Happy About ~ Available from Amazon.com

Hmmm. I wonder if chicken scraps are in there?

I’m thinking about breaking up with Mr. Produce Guy.

This was the 4th week in a row I have received boxes of “chicken scraps” that have been mostly, well, scraps.  Gone are the days of finding ridiculous amounts of fresh fruit and veggies. Freezing quarts and quarts of fresh strawberries, heaping bowls of mushrooms, tropical fruit and corn is now a thing of the past.

These days it seems like a lot of work to pick up the boxes and sort through them to find a few gems.  Maybe I’m being greedy, maybe I’m just tired, or maybe it’s true, people do buy less produce in the winter time.

Maybe folks actually load up on root crops, potatoes and apples instead of shelling out big bucks for out of season produce shipped in from Mexico and Florida.

Maybe there is hope for us after all.

What do you think? Is it time to put this free produce romance on the back burner?

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 7 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

The Produce Bible By Leanne Kitchen ~ Available on Amazon.com

Celebrating the explosion of interest in locally grown and hand-picked produce, this comprehensive volume features 200 recipes that bring out the special qualities of each ingredient, from tender spring peas to earthy autumnal tubers. In addition, the book is filled with practical advice on how to choose, store, and prepare fresh produce, as well as basic cooking techniques, nutritional information, and suggestions for companion foods.

I think this may have been the first in a very long time there were not strawberries in our boxes of free chicken scraps.  This time around it was mostly water melon, cantaloup and apples.  Plus a few grapes.  Kind of a snooze fest of you ask me.

In the summer Mr. Produce Guy was giving us 4 to 5 boxes a week full of all sorts of produce.  But the last few weeks there have been only 3 boxes.  I’m guessing it’s a seasonal thing.  I suppose the chances of getting boxes of sweet potatoes and cranberries for Thanksgiving are pretty slim.  But we’ll see.

A lot of the watermelon didn’t look so great, so we decided to give it to the chickens instead.  The papaya could have been salvaged, but Black Fatty loves them to so we decided to toss it her was as well.

Here is what we decided to keep-

• Grapes {for lunch snacks}
• Melon {for breakfast}
• Lettuce {for taco night}
• 1 pear {snack}
• Giant owl of apples {for homemade applesauce}

Free food?  I’ll take it, any day of the week! But my fingers are totally crossed for free cranberries and yams next time. Ha!

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day.  Now go forth and find some scraps!

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 7 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

Looking for a juicer?  Amazon has several in stock and ready to ship.  Including this Breville Compact Juice Extractor.*

*Direct link to an Amazon.com product

When I picked up my 4 free boxes of “chicken scraps” from Mr. Produce Guy this week I was pretty hopeful.  As I quickly placed the boxes in the back of the car, I was thinking, cool we’d have grapes and cantaloupe for lunches, and plenty of lettuce for soft tacos this week.  Sweet!

Then I went home and sorted the loot.

Whoop. T. Do.  This was all I was able to reclaim.  The grapes were soft, the rinds on the melon looked iffy, and I was only able to salvage 1 head of lettuce from the entire box.  Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers right?  Ha! I can’t hit the jackpot every week now can I?

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day.  Now go forth and save something from the trash!

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 6 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

14,000 Things to be Happy About ~ Available from Amazon.com

Hmmm.  I wonder if chicken scraps are in there?

It’s been over 6 months now since I got up the nerve to ask my local produce market for their scraps.  What a life changer.  I wish I could go back in time to when the Handsome Husband and I were first married, and didn’t have an extra dime in our pockets.

If I had known it was possible to come home with boxes and boxes of FREE produce every week, I would have done it a heck of a lot sooner that’s for sure.

Before we started picking up “chicken scraps” each week, I would rarely buy things like watermelon and grapes out of season at the grocery store.  Now we get it all for free.  What a luxury!

Here is what we were able to salvage:

• 18 pounds apples {mixed varieties}
• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 honeydew melon
• 7 bananas {perfect for banana chocolate chip cookies}
• 8 oz asparagus {I traded with my neighbor Francisco}
• 1 watermelon {have you ever dehydrated watermelon before?}
• 2 heads of fancy lettuce
• 3 heads of iceberg lettuce {perfect for lettuce wraps}
• 1 ear of corn

The chickens were pretty happy with their scraps as well.  This is a picture of our 6 week old australorp chicken enjoying her first watermelon.  Life is good.

Have YOU been able to convince your local grocery store {big or small} to let you collect fruit and vegetable scraps?  If so, do you have any tips to pass along so we can help others to get their start in this HUGE money saver?

Let us know in the comment section below.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great day.

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 6 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

Waste-Less Bags Variety Pack {Pack of 6} ~ Amazon