Just got back from the grocery store and it was one of my biggest bills ever!! But... I stocked up. Remembered your comment, Tradd, and bought a 30-pack bundle of tp. (there were no 20-packs - lol.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
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Just got back from the grocery store and it was one of my biggest bills ever!! But... I stocked up. Remembered your comment, Tradd, and bought a 30-pack bundle of tp. (there were no 20-packs - lol.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
I'm slowly building a stock of non-perishables--a lot of spices, soup bases, rice, canned staples, a new set of pantry shelves, art supplies--that kind of thing.
Good for you! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
I like to be stocked up but we don't eat a lot of canned stuff, which makes it harder. My freezer is full, but that could evaporate with an extended power outage. I have a fair amount of back-up canned goods that we will use/eat if fresh isn't available and am adding to that each time we shop. However, we are really watching carbs so stocking up on pasta, dried beans, and rice - (my cheap go-to items when the kids were little and we had almost no money) is a no-go. I have a little veggie pasta in the pantry but that stuff's expensive! I do subscribe to Mis-fit Markets for produce, which helps - as long as they get supplies. I subscribe to Who Gives a Crap for TP (Thanks for that tip, Catherine!!) - 48 rolls comes automatically every few months, well before we run too low. They didn't run short for subscribers last time, so barring a huge system melt down, I don't think that will be a problem. We're on city water, and I would have a water-heater's worth in storage at all times, lol. I also try to keep some large plastic jugs full in the basement, which reminds me that I need to drain/rinse refill those! I need some water purification tablets too. I have bleach, but - blech!!!
I went to Sephora and stocked up on things I use. Some of the little makeup I wear I can get at Walmart, but other stuff not. I do not like to order online unless I am getting along with my son and he will keep an eye out for packages. The receiving department at work is poorly run, and family in the area have a weird address and deliveries there often get messed up. So if brick and mortar stores close again it will impact me "bigly", to quote our president.
Depending on what you’re ordering, Amazon might have a pickup box option. They give you a code to open it. Very secure. You have 3 days after arrival to pick up. I’ve used it myself before I was home all the time. It gives you the option when you’re picking up. The boxes I use are at a 24 hour gas station. Bank of boxes, like lockers, outside.
I've used those a few times; pretty neat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
Since I'm home, and since Amazon is wonderfully transparent with its service, ("Your delivery is four stops away..." with a map showing progress) I'm not worried about porch pirates. UPS, with their annoying nighttime delivery, is another story, but I try to avoid those.
Sorry I meant it gives you the option when you’re checking out.
Thanks to a miscommunication with nephews, the strategic toilet paper reserves are probably good for 12-18 months.
Picking up a few extra cans of vegetables and soup when we do the usual grocery shopping. Going to the ethnic grocery store to stock up on rice, lentils, and quinoa later this week. Weekend project is do an inventory and see where we need to pick up a few extra things.
Watching the news lately (fires in CA and CO, drought all over the West, derecho in the Midwest) - makes me realize how important it may be in the future to grow our own foods when we can. I am stocking up on seeds.
I am putting away, in the freezer, tomatoes and a bumper crop of green beans. I am pitching armloads of cucumbers and zuchiini. We are already eating winter squash. I suppose DH will cook and freeze those, but I i will not bother with them.
IL, doesn’t your local shelters take food? That’s what we do.
I have no idea. I don’t really want to get into that whole business and interaction with them. I doubt their clientele want garden vegetables anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
There has been effort to find a home for excess community garden produce over the years and it never seems to go anywhere. If somebody would establish a successful path for transfer, I might participate, But I will not set it up. We gave away a fair amount of stuff to our friends but it’s still 60 cucumbers from our garden. 30 zucchini.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
I have a gallon of homegrown organic red grapes to give away and I never found a home for them after advertising on Nextdoor but in my immediate neighborhood and then in the nearby neighborhood. That announcement went to thousands of people. I have limited time I’m going to shop this produce around.
I'm sad about your cucumbers; the zucchini, not so much.
I drive all our fruit and produce to a local shelter and hand it to them. They are happy to get it. No fuss no muss. I find it amusing that you think you know what their clients will or will not eat.
Around here there is so much demand for fresh produce that the food bank grows some of its own.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
Too bad none of you are in my area. Not only would i take some but I know many other takers as well. I hate wasting food... sigh
Chainsaw bar oil
Spare chain for chainsaw
Plastic sheeting, heavy duty tape
Propane cylinders all refilled
Batteries for lanterns
Port
Exactly what fresh produce do they want? I skimmed the article. It talks about leafy greens. Well that’s not what we have to give away. I suspect but do not know for sure that excess cucumbers and the ubiquitous zucchini are as welcome to food banks as orange daylilies are to garden giveaways.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinMN
What's the harm in asking someone actually at the food bank?Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
My understanding is that they chose leafy greens both because of the demand and because some of them have notoriously short shelf lives. They would not have gone to the trouble and expense of setting this up if they were only going to compost the results because no one wanted it.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
This same food bank also does what are informally called "produce drops". They set up what is essentially a pop-up greens market in a food-desert part of town. Local recipients of food assistance are invited to attend. Many come by foot, bringing along the family. There are pallets of fruits and vegetables, some direct from farmers who work with the food bank and some "gleaned" from local supermarkets. Clients get to choose the produce they want, up to quantity limits determined by the size of their household (and, sometimes, by demand for a limited quantity of something).
I've worked these before. It is typical to clear four to six tons of produce in one afternoon. Damaged produce aside, none of it comes back on the truck. If nothing else, what remains is left at the site with a sign indicating it is free for anyone who wants it.
I suspect the demand for produce is regional, with some foods more popular than others. We have a lot of southeast Asians and eastern Africans in the metro; leafy greens are popular in those kitchens, more so than I'm aware of in, say, Mexican or Russian cooking (to pick two other cultural groups with some representation here). No idea why people in eastern Missouri don't want cucumbers and zucchini. I'd bet they "sell" here. But that would be a bit of a drive. :)
you all do the work for me and i will drive the foodstuff to “the food bank” (of which there are many.)Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
Find a food bank within or contiguous to zip code 63104 that takes zuchiini and cukes —those very specific veggies—and that has convenient hours, although I can be flexible about this latter requirement.
Please know, I have 0 interest in researching this because I have been thru do gooder efforts so many many times over the years, those wailing about “food insecurity” but all Their efforts to distribute excess produce comes to naught. I am, not spending my life energy to shop these veggies around.
I am happy to donate veggies, just not happy to play the communication games.
let me know when and where I should deliver them.
You need to be sad about those organic red grapes, ones we salvaged from the critters. I ate a fair amount, but still we had in the end 2 gallons. Gone now, they go fast, no takers on Nextdoor in one entire zip code.Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
someone did contact me yesterday, but too late, grapes over.
Prophecy MB ChurchQuote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
2157 South Jefferson
314-932-5840
You can go tomorrow from 10am - 5pm. The gentleman said they would take what they need and then distribute the rest.
Still waiting for a couple other places to open.
Isaiah 58 Ministries
2149 South Grand
314-776-1410
They are actually closed for maintenance until the 31st, but if garden is still producing an abundance, a quick call next week might be worth it.
Dang, happy! :)
You are awesome Happy! I totally don’t understand making no effort to help others versus throwing it away. My sister is like that and I don’t understand it at all.
You assume I have “made no effort.” You have no idea of the endless conversations I have had to sit thru over the years about excess produce.And excess iris. Proposed solutions! All of which take up my own time. Make no mistake I like giving things away. I will not give out my life energy on fruitlessly Pursuing avenues to get rid of the stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
But thanks to Happy stuff, I can just drop off the current load of zucchini and cukes. That church on Jefferson is very close to me. Thank you!
Did you freeze some. They are wonderful eaten frozen, especially when it is hot out.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
You are welcome. :)
IL, I am wondering why you/DH plant so many if you don't want to eat the excess. Pickles?? But then, I've wondered that about my own food garden efforts. Right now, I have so many SunGold tomatoes that I don't know what to do with them and that is only three plants.
This last place actually took the time and effort for a long distance call-back! What wonderful organizations you have in the 63104 area!
Southside Wellness Center
3017 Park Ave
314-664-5024
They are open M-F from 10am-3pm and drop-off can be anytime. Sweet woman who said they would love to be able to distribute any extras!
Edited to add:
IL, if you want the names of the people I contacted, I can message you privately. I'm not comfortable posting individual names on the public forum. But, actually, there aren't really that many.
I have no control over how much is planted. It is not my jam.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
To be fair to DH, and you as a gardener know this, none of us can predict how the crops will be each year. Some years excess zucchini and cukes, other years not so much.
This was our kitchen counter two weeks ago, before winter squash, apples, and the last gallon of green beans were harvested. Only this year hardly any apples will come to fruition so that is a good thing.
...photo to follow?
My next-door neighbor, whom I have watched tend a garden for the 18 years I have lived here, swears every late summer he will plant less next spring. Quite often he does; his cultivated space now is maybe one-third to one-half of what it was and he still has more cucumbers, tomatoes, and collard greens than he and his wife can eat and fob off on the neighbors. I'm sure if he ever planted just the three cucumber seeds he threatens to plant there would be a total crop failure that year....Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Do you have a dehydrator? That is what I will be doing with my excess.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
I drove to the MB Church on Jefferson with the vegetables this afternoon. When I got there it was a vacant lot. There’s no church or food pantry there. And then I remembered oh yeah, that church fell in on itself a year or two ago. Its walls collapsed.Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
The church congregation is apparently operating a food pantry from somewhere, but not from any structure at 2157 South Jefferson.
But since it was a nice day for a top down ride, I had vegetables in the car that you all are terribly concerned about, and I am retired and apparently have nothing better to do than drive vegetables around south city, I drove over in the opposite direction to the Wellness center on Park Avenue, which also is not far away from my house. Fortunately that building existed. They buzzEd me in so I was able to drop my bags of vegetables on the table. A woman from back of the room cheerily thanked me very much.
Mission accomplished.
We applaud your efforts IL!!!! After all this is a frugal forum:))
Well, the phone number listed got me to a live person. Just a matter of asking for the new address.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Glad the veggies found a home!!!
If you mean by “ just a matter of [Iris] asking for the new address” why yesQuote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
I could have driven home. Made a call. (I don’t usually carry a cell phone.) Perhaps received an answer? Or not. Perhaps found they were operating in 63104 or a contiguous location. Or not. You’re right, I could’ve “just” done all of that.
But see, I already told you I didn’t want to mess with the communication part. I already spend too much of my life energy trying to offload stuff. You dont think my time has value and you're welcome to that opinion, but I know otherwise.
Anyway, with your help I identified a place that will take excess produce the next time I have some.
LOL - yeah, right. Can't have you straining yourself any more than you already have. Glad you were able to identify, with my help, a place to take future excess produce next time. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies