Produce Joy

I have been struggling the last 2 or so weeks to afford enough fruits and veggies to feed myself twice a day. It's not easy with commercial food store prices. 89¢ for a cucumber, 77¢ for a avocado, $1.00 for a red bell pepper, $1.29 for a 1 pound bag of carrots. That's crazy! It got worse when I started to juice. $12.00 in apples made 12 ounces of juice. I started to question my sanity. Would it not be easier to just eat the fruits and veggies I pack into 12 oz of juice or a smoothie?

Yeah, if I had the room for it in my gut that would be one thing. But I do not. I also don't have the money to pay weekly for commercial prices. So I abandoned those stores and went to a pretty well known gem of a produce shack in the east valley, Superstition Ranch Market. It is always busy and in the winter time it is best to get there when they open other wise the lines to checkout can take upwards of 15 minutes. If you have the time to waste then that's ok, but I dislike spending my entire Saturday grocery shopping. So this morning at 7am I rose, showered, had a small bit of coffee ( I still have my one cup a day), and my husband and I went.

The store is NOT pretty. If you are a germaphobe this place may not be for you.It is old and worn, it smells of earth and farm. And that in and of itself makes this place a gem in my book. I love a produce shop that smells of the things it sells. We purchased A LOT of food. We filled the cart! They had cucumbers for 5 for a $1! Big beautiful dark green non-waxy cucumbers! Sadly, they are commercially grown so pesticides are still a part of my diet. They had Avocado's 4 for a $1. Romaine lettuce for 49¢ a head. Onions were 3 pounds for a $1, a bunch of organic celery for $1!

At the checkout I asked my husband how much he thought we were likely to pay.He guessed $60. I felt that was a bit high, but we had literally filled the cart with fruits and veggies. We got 12 apples not $12 worth of apples. The cucumber alone would have been nearly $6 at the commercial stores. I guessed $45. We were both wrong. We spent $30.79.

The best thing is if I run out of food this week I can just drive over and get more for those prices!