Life Is Good When Produce Is Free!

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5 apples
1 tomato
1 spaghetti squash
1 acorn squash
5 large potatoes (well, not new potatoes)
mess of greens

6 almost dead bananas from the fruit market when I stopped by and not part of the giveaway

I had one of the bananas, salvaging about nine-tenths of it. Dominique will enjoy the one-tenth.  I will eat another tomorrow and probably freeze the rest for smoothies because they won't last until the day after tomorrow. Everything else will last for a bit with no deterioration.

Enough fruit and vegetables for a week for one person?

The Market and The Pig and Chicken News

trip to farmer's market
dappled sunlight caused these tomatoes to look strange

Watermelon--$3

tomatoes--$4

Scuppernong--$1

 

This was my first watermelon this year. I cannot handle a larger one and always forgot when exbf was here to pick one up. If these tomatoes are good, I may  go back on Thursday get enough to can some for soup this winter. Well, my bank account will have to be consulted...lol. My scuppernong arbor is ruined and on the ground, so these are a treat.

 

This month, I am going to track carefully what I spend on food. So, putting this on my blog will help since I did not get three receipts for my shopping today. This is the last month for the market.

 

After I had the barium swallow and before I went to the market, I went to The Pig--Piggly Wiggly. It is very bright, clean, well-appointed. So, I got a sale paper and set about making decisions. I only wanted one thing on sale--Romaine--listed in the ad for $.99. While I was looking at the really wilted heads, the produce manager walked by. All the Romaine was wilted, even the heads he brought from the cooler. So, I got the leaf lettuce for $.99. So much for The Pig.

 

Unfortunately, I did a price match at Walmart and got the Romaine. I must eat more green, leafy vegetables. I have feta cheese bought half-price from Food World as it marked things down. Now, I have tomatoes. Plus, there is leftover chicken and turkey waiting.

 

My little pink bistro table is ruined. See it above. I had put plastic over it to paint. Someone moved it and got the plastic all around the legs. Sooo, I could not move the plastic. Wellll, I could, but I kept tripping over the plastic tarp. Now, my table has rust....grrrr. Where did I put that sandpaper?

 

Hens

Patsy Cline and Thelma were interested in my bringing produce from the car to yard. They are always interested in anything in my hands. It could be food for them. I dumped the produce on the table and ran inside to go to the bathroom. While I was in the house, I grabbed two pair of pants that needed to be hung on the line. As I stood at the clothesline with the black pants draped over my arm, the hens were sort of at the other end of the clothesline, not really paying attention. As I removed one pair of pants from my arm, that pair naturally became a little longer.

Well, panic ensued. When one hen startles, they all startle. Patsy Cline is skittish, so I am sure she was the one who started it all. Both hens simultaneously screeched, jumped and cackled as they ran in opposite directions. Actually, their actions sort of startled me, then amused me. Patsy Cline ran to the side fence and ran back and forth cackling. Thelma ran the length of the back yard, cackling.

I quickly hung the two pair of pants on the line and turned to look at Patsy Cline. She was still walking back and forth, looking at the top of the 6' privacy fence, considering flying up. By this time Thelma was settled down. Giving up and going into the house was the only thing I could think of doing.

Thelma has never been afraid of me. But, with Patsy Cline startling every time I bring food into their pen, Thelma rushes to get away from my approaching feet.

I found a quarter and a dime in The Pig's parking lot--$0.35.

Such was my Tuesday.

Your turn
Are produce markets in your area still going? Do you have hens that startle and start a cacophony of cackling, run about, and generally act like the sky is falling?




Eating free with thrown-out food

Sorry I did not take a picture. I got a box of discarded food for the hens from a market. In the top were 7 wrapped ears of corn. I rescued that and two good looking tomatoes, each as large as a softball. The rest of the box was dumped in their pen. This is a good, cheap way to feed them and benefit from frugal eating and make my parsimonious heart thump. I saved the two best ears to eat.

When exbf came here on Wednesday, we went to the market in a different place where they instructed us to go to the dumpster and get the boxes of tomatoes just deposited there "five minutes ago." We did. None of it was gross. Little was not suitable to eat. Most was just not saleable anymore.

The exbf brought the boxes of "fresh" tomatoes into the kitchen. I told him to sort salvageable/best ones into a bowl for him, not to save any for me. As he did that, I immediately started washing, trimming, and placing tomatoes into a gallon storage bag set into a bowl. The Romas were the first sorted. Then came the slicing tomatoes. In the end, we had a full gallon bag of  tomatoes to take home. He does not buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Oh, he maybe buys an apple, never anything else.

At the grocery there was a sale on Romaine. For only 99 cents, I purchased a bag of Dole Romaine with three large heads in the bag. Since I purchased two bags, I spent $1.98 on 6 heads. We don't eat a whole one when we each have a salad.

Once a month, I buy a bag of shredded carrots and put them on salads, in soup, in tuna salad. I even throw some in rice or anything with pasta. So, I spend $1.69 for carrots every month or so...  Maybe you remember--I cannot chew and swallow raw carrots like most people. I can eat them cooked just fine and love them. But, when I try to chew raw carrots, they get larger than a golf ball and will not go past my tonsils, even if I cut off a round sliver. I can swallow them if they are shredded small AND disguised.  And, my hands cannot hand the little carrot peeler with safety and without hurting. Sooo....

We had a portion of a cubed steak, two packages with our dinner and for later, all cooked at once. This was purchased reduced to $3 and made 5 meals.

When I get cucumbers, I never eat them. I cut them and put them in vinegar water that has onions, garlic, salt and pepper.

That made a cheap dinner for two
Steak--$1.20
Salad fixings
  Romaine (1/2 of $.99 head) $.50
  Tomatoes--free,$0
  Carrots..$.10
  Cucumbers free except for reusable vinegar water
    (garlic and onion for vinegar water were gotten from hen box.
  corn on the cob--free,$0

For $1.80 two meals were had. That is less than $1/meal, actually cheaper than the dollar menu at McD! That is $.90 for a nutritious meal.

If I eat alone, I sometimes add a whole can of drained tuna with a bit of Miracle Whip, pickle relish, and celery seeds. The tuna is Star Kist, my favorite. It was $50/can for a while last summer. For me that makes:

Romaine   $.25 (1/4 head)
carrots        .05
tomato        .00
tuna            .50
cheese        .10
                 $.90 for my one nutritious meal

Okay, it is not strictly eating for free. I do often get free bell peppers or red, orange, yellow, and green to put on his salad. Regularly, I also find zucchini and yellow squash to slice on the salad, just not this time. Most of the produce is barely damaged. Some days, I pick up a box that has been sitting. One rotten piece of produce sets bad things in motion when it sits in a box overnight.

The title was not meant to be misleading. I was focusing on the free tomatoes, the one-gallon bag that exbf took home. Plus, I eat free stuff almost every day.

At any rate, the zucchini, squash, and peppers for salads are free. I am very particular and squeamish, so don't assume any of this is bad, going bad, or has been in the vicinity of mold...gag.

Ooops, I forgot--for lunch we had a BLT--free bacon, free tomatoes, cheap romaine leaves, and bread from bread store. Free bacon is another story.
Maybe six gallons of tomatoes went to the hens, but I did not feel like washing, trimming, saving anything. I mostly sat while he was here, working, except for cooking the meat and assembling the salads...oh, and cutting tomatoes.

Your turn
Can you get and eat free food, food that has been discarded?  Now, if you have a garden, that is free except for your labor and materials.

I had chicken food for dinner

Move over girls. This is mine.

I have several places that give me food for my hens. My friend picked up a box full of scraps before he left his town. Armed with a big bowl in the backyard of my home, he put it all on the table in the back yard and picked out anything that looked promising.

Food I salvaged to eat
Potatoes--1 gallon
bell pepper--1/2 cup
2 pears
14 oz squash
cucumbers--more than a pint
tomatoes--about two cups

The potatoes are in a bowl of water, ready to be cooked.
Bell pepper is in the dehydrator with other things.
Pears! I hate pears, so he took them home. They are not mushy, just not pretty.
We had squash on two salads tonight. The rest will be cooked for tomorrow.
Cucumbers! They will never pass through my lips. He had them on his salad and took the rest home.
There were enough tomatoes for two salads and the BLT I have planned for tomorrow.

Salad greens were given to me. We had chicken on our salads...free to me. So, the only thing I had purchased was the bit of salad dressing I purchased with a coupon. If I were feeding just me from the free chicken produce, I could eat for a suppers for a week if I include the free chicken and free Romaine.

He took home enough Romaine for two salads, besides the other vegetables. Two chicken thighs were frozen for him to take home.

Chickens don't like potatoes anyway. Potatoes and citrus went into a compost where I will not use it for growing anything. There were plenty more cucumbers...they attack those. I think they probably had two gallons of produce today from this box. Another half gallon is in the house for tomorrow.

The sliced, refrigerated tomatoes did not make this picture.

I put a towel over the ottoman as a work space for cutting so I could sit in comfort and work uninterrupted. There is no way I could have stood that long. I had a huge stainless steel bowl full of vegetables exbf brought in to me, things he thought had a bit of a promise. Then, I had several smaller dishes for the vegetables and a large plastic bowl for discards.

Even if I managed to stand at the counter and do all this, the ants were all over. Despite everything I have tried, including vinegar, cinnamon, pepper, and Terro, they remain. I get the counter all wet with Dawn and water. That drowns some and seems to discourage others until it dries.

Tonight, I will use the vacuum on the fruit flies, ants, and the one fly that just came in.

Doing well
I have only spent about $40 and the month is almost over. This is how. I will need milk and bananas. If I see stock-up prices, I will be buying those.

Your turn
Have you started eating your animal food?

Produce Run

Produce transportation--little red wagon

Since I discovered that there is something torn in my knee and I injured my shoulder, I have not gone for produce for the hens. I cannot carry even a light or small box to the car. My left knee just keeps collapsing! Asking the people who give me the produce to then carry the box to the car just seems all wrong.

Today, I did ask. The young woman carried it for me without seeming to be annoyed. They never seem annoyed, but I don't want to "ride a good horse to death." When I got home, as usual, I dragged the box into my little red wagon and pulled it to the hens. 

The hens have already had an ear of corn, a cantaloupe, and an apple from this box. From the house they have had two sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread, and a banana. Later today, they will get more of this plus oats. Since I have to go 50 miles to the doctor tomorrow and be gone a long time, lots of this will be saved for my time away. Yes, they will get food other than this during my absence. 

Notice the Bell pepper. It will be rescued before I feed it to hens. I will get some of it for the roast I will cook for tomorrow. Since the onion is growing green sprouts, I will try planting that and see what happens.  The rotten oranges have a special compost place. There is some sort of hole next to my fence. All onions, garlic, potatoes, and citrus go there.  I just fill the hole and don't plan to use that for soil.

After a getting a pen full of cantaloupe, corn, and apple, plus plenty of water, Fancy stood at the gate and pleaded in her long, drawn-out, squawky way, talking also, begging to get out. So, I must hurry and hang out clothes, and run out for an errand. Then, I can let them all out for their daily spa--dusting in a hole. They make their round for greens, eating short weeds, not these tall, unsightly ones that need to be eaten.

Getting produce for my hens makes me so happy. Am I just getting senile and overly sentimental when I think of them? Yes, I plan my life around hens. All was well in paradise until the raccoons showed up!

The sweet potatoes they eat are the natural loss from having bought 120 lbs of sweet potatoes last fall...25 cents/lb. The banana is one that was in the house, but gotten for hens.

In the box are grapes, strawberries, squash, onion, tomato, corn---many foods that were not rotten, just oldish, not much older than things that have lingered in my refrigerator. I rescued the red sweet pepper to cook with. The onion will be planted. Except for the moldy oranges, everything else was edible this morning. Okay, the cucumbers were turning yellow. Produce waste is my hens' gain.

onion sprouts in bottle

On the laptop was the only place I could get the short sprouts to show in the bottle. The inside of the sprouted onion was rotted on the sprouts. This will go into a vinegar jug to see what happens. I sliced and froze the whole red sweet pepper, forgetting to show the end product and all the pepper that was free-to-me. Well, you know what a Bell pepper looks like! Next time.....

It's almost six o'clock and I am sitting here, finishing this post. For the last thirty minutes, I have heard a noise I cannot identify. Finally, I figured out it has been hens in the box still sitting in the wagon by the back door. They help themselves!

Your turn
If you have hens, do they complain about not being let out of their house or pen to run free? Do you ever get old produce to feed hens or other animals?  Is there anyone else amongst you who spends $0 on food for your hens?