Finding Free (or Next-to-Free) Food

I'm sure everyone has heard it before, but a remarkable amount of food can be found for free...if you know how to keep your eyes open for it, and/or be willing to put in a little bit of effort in gathering it. For instance, in the friends of social media websites, such as Facebook, oftentimes someone will post if they have too much of something.

Such a thing happened to me just the other day - partly the reason for the long time between updates. A friend on Facebook posted that she had pear trees that were dropping fruit abundandtly and most of it would go to waste, as it was rotting on the ground. She therefore invited everyone on her friends list to message her if they wanted any pears, and she would tell them her address.

Of course it didn't take long for my husband to message, being as the word "free" is a very good word in our vocabulary! And, thanks to this Facebook friend, I gathered more than one bushel of pears without having to pay a cent. All that was required was going to her house and picking them (which, I am very thankful to say, her sons took care of most of the actual tree-picking, as I am so afraid of heights my feet cannot touch the second rung of a ladder.)

Out of this bounty came thirteen pints of sliced pears in light syrup, along with six half-pints of pear jam for winter eating - as seen by the pictures below.

13 pints of sliced pears in light syrup

6 half-pints of pear jam

Now, even if you don't have a large friends list, you can still keep your eyes out for different types of free food. If you drive past an area with fruit trees, nut trees, or even what looks to be an abundance of something, consider stopping and asking if you can have some - if you gather it yourself.

You can also get free food if you happen upon a local farm market. I'm not talking about a community-run farmer's market, but an actual farm stand. Ask if they have any on-the-ground produce that they are planning on leaving. You can also ask if they allow "gleaning", which is the same thing - gathering free produce that otherwise would have gone to waste. Remember, unless it's completely rotten, it's good for something. For example, some of the pears that I came into possession of had bad spots, but they could still be chunked up for jam. The best saying I have ever read is "Even imperfect fruit is good for jam."

You can also find produce, as well as other food, for nearly free, though some small cost is involved. Nearly every store has an "overflow rack" (as I like to call them) where the produce that will not be fit for sale soon is located. Often, to get rid of it, the store has priced it extremely low. At my local store tonight I discovered 1-lb containers of strawberries for $0.55 and under - just what I needed to make another batch of strawberry jam. Four pints should cost under $4.00, including sugar and pectin, since I was already in possession of jars and lids. That's less than one pint of organic jam, and I know exactly what went into this batch. I'd do a happy dance, but I sprained something the last time I tried. Rest assured, I am very pleased and look forward to jammin' it up :)

Other than blundering into free and next-to-free produce and fruit, our garden is producing handsomely as well. Here are the photos of tonight's harvest: Tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, okra, and red cabbage. There were also some peppers, but those didn't make it any farther than the dinner table :)

There is still more work to be done. I'm off to put up that batch of jam, as well as do up a bread starter for baking tomorrow. I can't imagine how pioneer women did all the work that had to be done - even with modern conveniences I'm still tired!