Day Old Produce

[PrincessFiona60]

Anybody else pick through the old produce? If texture is not paramount in your soups and stews, this is an inexpensive way to build your stash.

I find lots of things I am not going to use right away and stash them n the freezer. They make wonderful additions to soups and stews.

I buy:
spotty mushrooms (cream of mushroom soup)
peppers (mild and hot)
tomatoes (made a 4 B's tomato soup with these)
summer squash (zucchini and yellow)
garlic
celery
carrots
onions
broccoli
cauliflower

 

[Dawgluver]

Indeed! The discounts are significant. My usuals are mushrooms, broccoli, and cauliflower.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I showed my parents how to cook with the produce and now I have to beat them to the day old. I can't believe these two thrifty people would only buy pristine vegetables. I also had to show them how to make veggie stock with the trimmings.

 

[GotGarlic]

Oh yeah. Kroger has a bin with less-than-perfect veggies for 99 cents for a bag of three or four (sometimes more) items. I've gotten bell peppers, hot peppers, red onions, etc. I roast and freeze the colored bell peppers if I can't use them fast enough.

 

[Aunt Bea]

My first stop, I'm always on the lookout for some dilapidated mushrooms or a tired old eggplant!

I chuckle when people turn up their noses at day old food in the market. The people that insist on buying the freshest and often most expensive items only to take them home and let them deteriorate for several days in the refrigerator before they use them or eventually throw them out.

My personal dilemma has always been should I buy those day old items or leave them for someone on a more limited budget than my own. Over the years I've watched people shop and decided that the people who could benefit from these bargains the most tend to pass them by. Now I go ahead and select the items that I can use without any qualms or pangs of guilt.

I find that the plastic wrap on most vegetables is harmful so I unwrap them and store them loose in the refrigerator. With greens I often trim the stems and stand them in a bowl of water to give them a new lease on life.

Another thought on this. During my working years I used to snag the leftover crudité platters that have become a mandatory addition to the lunches served at office meetings. If you add a few onions, some seasonings and a little olive oil they make a nice tray of roasted vegetables.

 

[Andy M.]

Interesting, our market doesn't have a day d produce bin.

 

[Dawgluver]

You do have to be quick. I turned my back on the discounted broccoli for 30 seconds, and some guy snapped up the whole lot. He did leave me one tiny crown.

 

[Cheryl J]

No day old produce bin at either of our supermarkets here, either.

Once in a while the farm stand will have discounted prices for blemished or older produce, but I've never seen it in the grocery store here.

 

[Dawgluver]

Only one of our grocery stores does that here. The same store also has 10% senior discounts on Wednesdays. Win-win, if DH can beat the other old guys there!

 

[Kayelle]

Our grocery stores don't have the bins either. However, our dollar store has an abundance of produce that I buy often. Much of it looks pristine to me, and the price is sure right. Sometimes it's hard to find a parking spot, as so many people are there just buying produce.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Yeah, no discount bins here either.
I watch the produce guys go through and pick out the 'bad' stuff
toss them into a cardboard box and I know darn well it's going to the trash bin, WHY!
It's such a depressed area here, why not sell them at a discounted rate as you all say! I chatted up the produce manager one day when we first moved here and he said that the folks `round here don't eat much veg or fruits, so there you go...
Maybe I should ask if I can HAVE that box they're about to chuck?

 

[Dawgluver]

It may not be in bins, our discounted produce is tucked in amongst the regular produce. The staff just used a sharpie and marked it as a discounted price.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Nope, not even that Dawg, they just throw it away... and they talk about Americans and wasting food...

 

[Kayelle]

Yeah, no discount bins here either.
I watch the produce guys go through and pick out the 'bad' stuff
toss them into a cardboard box and I know darn well it's going to the trash bin, WHY!
It's such a depressed area here, why not sell them at a discounted rate as you all say! I chatted up the produce manager one day when we first moved here and he said that the folks `round here don't eat much veg or fruits, so there you go...
Maybe I should ask if I can HAVE that box they're about to chuck?

Sure, why not Kgirl?

You could always tell him you have chickens! No kidding, I was just talking to my son and DIL about their new family pet Tortoise. When my son was a little guy and we had one, there's no way I was going to use fresh produce for the pet.

 

[taxlady]

I check that shelving, but seldom find anything I want. One of the local supermarkets has fairly inexpensive produce. It's because they buy "second quality". Second quality means that the produce isn't uniform. That's fine with me. I get creeped out when I see a beautiful stack of absolutely identical tomatoes. They sell so much produce that most of it is really fresh.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I'll look at the discount produce cart (the bakery one, too), but usually don't find anything that works with my meal plans. One of these days, though, I'll snap up all the ripe-ripe bananas just so I can make a bunch of banana nut breads. Right after I use up the eight frozen ones I have buried in my freezer...:

...I watch the produce guys go through and pick out the 'bad' stuff toss them into a cardboard box and I know darn well it's going to the trash bin, WHY!...

Is there any "food rescue" group in your area? Maybe you could find out, then refer the produce manager over to them. No sense in trying to get something going on your own right now, seeing as how you'll be selling your house and moving up the road to build your new one by your DFs' house, right? Anyway, most areas have some sort of group that manages to get things from the stores to the food banks and soup kitchens so that the good "bad" food can be put to use. The one in Boston is called "Lovin' Spoonfuls", but a lot of them just go by "Second Harvest" or something like that.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I'll look at the discount produce cart (the bakery one, too), but usually don't find anything that works with my meal plans. One of these days, though, I'll snap up all the ripe-ripe bananas just so I can make a bunch of banana nut breads. Right after I use up the eight frozen ones I have buried in my freezer...:


Is there any "food rescue" group in your area? Maybe you could find out, then refer the produce manager over to them. No sense in trying to get something going on your own right now, seeing as how you'll be selling your house and moving up the road to build your new one by your DFs' house, right? Anyway, most areas have some sort of group that manages to get things from the stores to the food banks and soup kitchens so that the good "bad" food can be put to use. The one in Boston is called "Lovin' Spoonfuls", but a lot of them just go by "Second Harvest" or something like that.

RIGHT! I've done my fair share of community work here, now it's time to move on.

 

[StuartCooks]

Wish my produce market did this. If it is ugly it is still full price :O