Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Whats happening in your neck of the woods? Ring out the old, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Since this is "anything goes" Thread (and we always need one), I would like to show you a side of my frugality.

We, here in Baltimore, have a grocery store called "Mars".....It seems to not be too widely spread....
For one---Seniors seem to frequent this store a lot. For another--Mars does not double coupons.
Here in my general area--ALL Grocery stores double coupons. Either up to 50 cents--and some up to 99 cents.

There is a "Mars" store not too far from me that has the greatest produce mark-down rack.
EVERY day--it is loaded with slightly waning, or slightly marred, or OOOS! New shipment coming in--
better get rid of the older stock first veggies and fruits and all kinds of other produce.

This particular store is about a 15-20 min. drive from my house....BUT--if I ever go that way,
I will always stop in and get my fill of el-cheapo produce.....ALL still good for consuming or cooking.....

And--so I did a couple of days ago....as I had Dr.'s apts. thataway....

My "loot" that day included:

--8 assorted apples in 2 trays.
--4 bananas
--One Eggplant
--4 lg. Portabella mushroom caps
--2-- 4 piece trays of Kraft Pudding cups
--And--4-one lb. trays of fresh cranberries....
--One zucchini.
--A tray of 2 packages of fresh Blackberries...

Total cost for all this---$8.27.

As usual, bargains like this put me in a tizzy of cooking up what I bought....There goes my day!
The biggest cooking tizzy was making a rather large batch of my amazing Cranberry Sauce. It really is!!!!
I now have a great supply--as I also made it before Thanksgiving....Plenty to share!

There went the 3 trays of Cranberries and the 2 trays of apples....all put to good use....some fresh Ginger,
one nice navel Orange, some whole Cloves, sugar. and a shot of Brandy at the end.....YUMMMM!

My plan for the Portabella mushrooms? Clean them up--fry them in OO and butter along with thick slices of Sweet Onion.
Also bought 4 hamburger patties (at 50% off) and a pack of Pita Bread. Also some fresh Spinach.
My plan? Four lunches of Pita bread with a Hamburger patty, one lg. cap of fried Portabella mushroom,
some yummy fried up Sweet onion, maybe some fried Zucchini, and some greens as a filler.
Hope they taste as good as I am expecting....

And--so my life goes....Buying bargain foods and then spending hours making something out of them.
I KNOW!!! I KNOW!!!! Do not lecture me!!!!! It is my dysfunction in life.....All I need is a family here to feed--
and i would be happy as a Lark....BUT! It is ONLY me! This is what makes all this dysfunctional.....
I also have to eat all this stuff I make--and that may take more than a week....then I get tired of it.....

With no further ado--here is my loot of produce for $8.27. Would I buy all these things at regular prices?
Probably not! But--I will stop by this store any time I am passing by to see what I can get for next to nothing....

Gita