Big Celery

Since the latter half of last week was rather busy, I wasn’t able to grocery shop then. I got the chance yesterday afternoon to take in the last part of the 3-day produce sale at the big grocery.

I first went to the downtown grocery and picked up a few items and then drove up to the Post Office to see if there was anything placed there since checking it early Saturday afternoon – just a couple of junk mail pieces. While there I got a call from last week’s deceased’s husband’s daughter asking me to stop by and pick up a few items for the church.

I drove back home, dropped off a couple bags and then drove out the 10 miles or so to the house. I visited for a while, then returned with three boxes of Bibles, commentaries, tapes (cassette and VHS). I dropped those off at the church and then resumed my interrupted, original mission: groceries!

The first thing to greet me just outside the entry doors was a big box of celery, with their tops. I’d never seen that here, and I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen that in regular groceries. I bagged one up and went inside. I picked up six acorn squash, a 5# bag of Granny Smith apples, cans of refried pinto and black beans, and other items that were on sale.

With grocery prices the way they’re going, I try to get as much on sale as I can. I’ve discovered and learned ways to prolong the life of most produce, so that there is less waste. Anyway, at the checkout there was a mother and daughter with two large blocks of meat. The total of that came to over $100. My shopping spree, in six bags, came to just $43. I think it’s getting to the point where a vegetarian diet (though around here, if you personally fish and hunt, you can get your meats quite economically) is much more economical.

Anyway, back to the celery. At the checkout, it was so big it didn’t really fit too well on the scale. And anyway, I think the checker probably didn’t think I was going to use the top, so it was sort of leaning and came to about 2# -- $1.00.

I chopped up the top half, combined with garlic, onions, zucchini, and potatoes for a soup. I’m wondering now why produce in this country (because in Japan, they’re sold tops on) is generally sold tops off? I suspect the tops are often where much of the nutritional value is… And they work really well as greens used in soups and stir frys. Yeah, in the Lower 48 I’m sure you can find whole produce at Farmer’s Markets and such, but here, no such luck. Elise suggested I go find out how the groceries here get their produce and if they get them whole and trim them here, maybe I can get the “discards.”