This week we picked up four boxes of discard fruits and vegetables from Mr. Produce Guy.

How do you eat your banana’s? Do you prefer them green? Totally yellow, or with a few spots?

My grandfather would wait until a banana was practically black before he ate it. As a kid I thought it was gross, but as an adult I now know that each one of those brown spots on a banana means the banana is ripening and the more spots, the sweeter the banana.

But it makes we wonder, what are people thinking when they will only BUY a totally yellow {or yellowish green} banana at the grocery store? Are they actually eating them that way? If they bring the bananas home and don’t eat them before the brown spots appear, do they toss them out?

Have we become banana snobs?

I don’t know, maybe I’m losing it. Maybe after bringing home so many boxes of free produce over the past year I’ve turned into some sort of pro ripe fruit crazy person and soon I’ll be chanting “Save the fruit… it’s still good!” up and down the grocery aisles.

Yep, that’s where you are going to find me. In the produce section, comforting the ripe fruit. If you see me there, stop and say hello. 😉

~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.

Yonanas Deluxe Ice Cream Treat Maker – Perfect if you have a lot of extra fruit!

Last week I hit the motherload of free produce. It was nuts! You can definitely tell when things start to pick up in the produce section and people start to buy more fruit.

Although the free produce boxes from Mr. Produce Guy were overflowing again this week, the pickings were kind of slim when compared to last weeks findings.

There were lots of bruised pears, a few apples and one lonely banana as well.

Wrinkled avocados. 🙁

Squishy unwrapped watermelon. Good for chickens, not so good for people.

Red bananas? I don’t think I’ve ever had a red banana before. Do they taste any different than the yellow ones? Does anyone know?

After everything was picked over, this is what we saved to eat ourselves. Not to shabby if you ask me. I have no idea what we are going to do with all those kiwis or red bananas, but I’m not complaining. Free is free, no matter how you look at it.

I’m just happy I’ve been able to save my family thousands of dollars over the past 14 months from the reclaimed produce boxes we pick up each week.

If you have any great kiwi recipes, please leave me your recipe {or a link} in the comment section below.

Peace Out Girl Scouts,

~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.

To read more on the topic of food waste.  Check out the book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal By Tristram Stuart.

I just about passed out when I saw all the free produce boxes this week.

For those of you who don’t know already, this all started a little over a year ago when I walked in to our local grocery store and asked one of the produce guys {whom I refer to as Mr. Produce Guy} if I could stop by once a week and pick up some vegetable scraps for my chickens.

Although he was a little hesitant at first, he finally agreed {others had promised to pick up scraps but never showed, or they would come only a handful of times and then stop coming and leave him with rotting produce sitting in the back}.

Since then, {with the exception of a few times when we were on vacation}, we have picked up the produce as agreed to each week {I’ve always let him know ahead of time if I was not going to be able to pick it up}.

The salvaged produce we bring home is taken off the shelf the same morning we pick it up. The produce is simply the cast offs from the produce department as they re-stock their shelves and pick over their produce for their customers each morning.

After all fresh, quality produce sells. Bruised, expired, and moldy berries do not.

For those of you wondering why don’t they just pick through the containers and pull out the stuff that’s still edible, the answer is easy. It’s more cost productive for the store to just throw it away.

Some stores compost their produce, some are willing to give it to food banks if they will pick it up, and others simply toss it in a dumpster. Each store if different.

My store lets me pick up the scraps. And I’m grateful. I cannot imagine how much all of this food would have cost had my family if I would have had to pay for it.

~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.

This past week we found quite a few treats in the fresh produce boxes we picked up from Mr. Produce Guy. Now that summer is right around the corner I have  feeling we’ll be seeing lot’s of watermelon and tropical fruits in the scrap boxes we pick up every week for our backyard chickens.

Slightly bruised pears don’t bother me one bit.

I simply turn them into smoothies. Pineapple + Pears+ Ice = Perfection.

$20 worth of free produce plus a boatload more for my chickens, heck ya I’ll take it!

It all looks the same once it’s sliced up and in the refrigerator.

~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.