Produce Paradise

I love produce, and here in South Africa we're coming in to the most glorious produce season! After a *short* winter of mostly apples and bananas, I now load up my grocery cart with peaches, strawberries, tangerines, watermelon, and whatever else looks tasty.

Oh, and I buy the odd vegetable but that's not important.

Today Todd emailed me with an offer to go grocery shopping after he left work if I would send him a list (I LOVE when he does that :) ). I was so happy when I opened the bag filled with produce and lined it all out on the counter to admire. It's magic waiting to be eaten.

In addition to the fact that the stuff flat tastes good, it's crazy cheap too. Back home produce is not nearly as affordable, and I'm convinced that's why people don't eat as much of it. That stuff's expensive! Especially things like fresh berries. Fresh berries are a joke to buy in store. Last summer I was buying little tubs of blueberries and raspberries about once a week and rationing them on my salads. I probably paid $4 or $5 a piece for them. Yikes. (disclaimer: you don't really see blueberries here...I asked a friend about them and she told me of a store that sometimes carries them. I have found  "canned" blueberries for making muffins and I still pay about $4 for them. I have not, as yet, either seen or asked about raspberries).

While I won't list everything we got with its respective price, I will share what I consider to be the best value (though it's all a great value!).

You'll have to forgive me; I don't know exactly how big this is, but those are Todd's hands holding what I consider to be a really big tray of strawberries! There's not a weight on the package or I'd tell you what it is. Just take my word that that is a bunch of strawberries. And the price for such a huge pile of delicious? About $2.50! It looks like it's going to be a week of strawberry-topped oatmeal for me :)