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

Although we didn’t get a huge amount of free “chicken scraps” this week, what The Girl and I were able to reclaim was awesome.  For starters, we were able to save over a pound of fresh asparagus from going in the dumpster which was pretty exciting, since we haven’t had asparagus on our dinner plates since late spring.

Here’s what we were able to salvage from our 3 free boxes of scraps this week.

• 1+ pound fresh asparagus {grilled asparagus recipe}
• 3 eggplants
• 2 heads of lettuce {lettuce wraps recipe}
• 1 head of cauliflower {cauliflower hummus recipe}
• 6 ears of corn {corn chowder recipe}
• 4 bell peppers {lunch snack}
• 1 zucchini {Summer Corn with Zucchini and Onions recipe}

Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with the 3 free eggplants, and fast.

I need your help. Do you have any ideas?

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 5 months?

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

Looking for some great side dish recipes?  Checkout Best American Side Dishes from the folks at Cook’s Illustrated Magazine.  This awesome book is packed with over 500 recipes.  I own it, and I love it!  Amazon currently has this book in stock and ready to ship.