Trying a New Thing with Produce

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Recently I did something new.  I joined a subscription box for the delivery of fruits and vegetables weekly. I started last week with a box for 2 for just under $40.  It included the delivery and was the price after a promotional discount. 

The contents included a good variety of vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower, green peppers, onions, 2 ears of corn, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.  The fruit included 2 grapefruits, 3 oranges, 3 apples, 2 avocados, 2 lemons and 1 bunch of green grapes. The oranges and apples barely lasted more than a day. We also go through more fruits and more variety of them every week. 

I managed to create meals for most of the week with the vegetables provided.

This week I changed my order to mixed vegetables and fruits for $20.  In the box will be cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, beets, lettuce, peppers, oranges, apples, berries and a mystery item.

Carrots, potatoes and onions were missing from the box's contents. I can't go without any of these though I have cut down on all three items due to price and weight. I go everywhere on foot on public transit and everything has to fit in my shopping trolley.  I'm running low on several items so I decided to go out and see what I could find.  

I bought navy beans, red lentils, 1 red pepper, 1 zucchini, 2 pounds onions, 1 medium cabbage, 3 giant carrots, 5 pounds of russet potatoes, 5 mandarins, 2 pounds of Fuji apples, 1 bunch of red grapes, 1 bunch of bananas, 2 pounds plain yogurt & 2 litres milk. This shopping cost me just over $51. Canadian dollars and was purchased at 3 different shops. I haven't bought any meat, chicken or fish and I'm trying to see if I can make do until the end of the month. I could change my mind if I come across any great sales. In the meantime I've got several kinds of beans, lentils, rice and pasta to combine with the good variety of vegetables I'll have on hand.

Here are some meals from last week using the vegetables I ordered and the meat we had on hand.

Coleslaw, pickled beets, macaroni & cheese, hamburger patty

Kielbasa sausage with vegetables, tortellini & grape tomatoes

Fried chicken with onions and pasta with mixed vegetables

Homemade buns

BBQ Pork ribs, roasted potato & garlic, green salad

Green salad, corn on cob, seasoned rice and hamburger patty

Besides cooking at home I did eat out a couple of times. I enjoyed the Bento Box I had because I had been craving sashimi. 

Everything was wonderful!

I also enjoyed a Vietnamese dish.

Update:  This is the 2nd box of produce delivered on Thursday. I was pleased with the contents because it was more than I was expecting plus they added a honey dew melon. I think I'll be making creamy broccoli, spinach or cauliflower soup this week.

I've used up much of my freezer meats so this week our meals will be more bean and legume based.  I've been wanting to try fewer meat meals on a more regular basis both for health and pocket book reasons. Now is as good a time as any.

What about you dear reader? Have you changed your way of cooking due to the higher cost of living? Have you ever subscribed to a produce or meat box?

A Few Pics From a Night Walk

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I went for a walk to do some errands on Sunday early evening. I photographed a few little interesting things along the way.

I was headed to a small mall located to the west of where I live. As I neared my destination, I captured the skyline of the downtown core and the lights of one of the ski slopes.

 

At more or less the same corner, I captured the clock tower of our current City Hall.

I took a photo of the signage at this intersection.  I wanted to remember it as the corner where I found 3 homes that were in a foreclosure sale. I've never seen even one sign of a foreclosure sale in all the years I've lived here so this was a bit startling though not entirely surprising.

This old house looked in disrepair and is one of the homes under foreclosure proceedings.

Two other homes under foreclosure are on the other side of the signage.

Across the street is a beautiful, old Victorian home that I've long admired. Most of these large old homes are subdivided into numerous suites.

I love the stained glass and the big veranda.

After I stopped at the mall, I made my way to Broadway Avenue. I was on my way to Michael's Craft Store but they were closed.  I missed out by about 15 minutes.

After that I hopped on a bus heading further west. I was going to a particular location of London Drugs. Before I got there I spotted this cute little tea shop with its name taken from Alice in Wonderland. It looks amazing but oddly I couldn't find it on google. I'll have to look again another day but Sunday night they were preparing for an event, setting up tables, checking menus and so on.

The street had a very hyggelieg feel about it with the lights around the trees and extra lights in the 'air'.

It turns out that London Drugs didn't have the items I was looking to buy although their website said they had one item in stock. I was told that the website stock information is not that accurate especially if it only says one item remaining. I expected this because I have experienced the same issue before.  It was too bad but not the end of the world. At least I got my steps in.

Sunday the air was much, much warmer than it's been in weeks. I was actually overheating so took my time going about. I'm happy the weather is back to our usual moderate temperatures. I hope you are keeping warm where you are. I know much of Canada has had a significant amount of snow.  Keep safe.