99 Cent Only store... Produce!

[Weather Girl]

So a few of the 99 cent stores near me sell produce (Ventura/Winnetka in the SF Valley), and every so often I totally score there. I need to ask what day they get their shipments, but I have a feeling friday is one of them after today. For $15.11 I got-
2 x Seedless watermelons 8-10lbs each
1 Cantaloupe
2 x 1 lb asparagus bundles
10 lb bag of Russet Potatoes
Head of Celery
2 lbs carrots
2 x pack of 2 bell peppers
Bag of 6 kiwis
2 lb bag of white onions
2 lb bag of bananas
1 pint sliced mushrooms
leather case for DH's new iPod classic

So exciting! Some of the stuff I know you can get on sale elsewhere for the same price (the cantaloupe, for example) but others are a steal! They also routinely have eggs, so at least out here 99 cents per dozen's pretty good.

[couponPT]

Just a warning...DH worked at the 99 cents only headquarters for awhile and the owner is more than a little off- he would routinely stock items past best buy dates (it's not expired, it's just not it's best ) and DH said he would take a route out of his way to avoid the produce in the warehouse due to the smell...

[Weather Girl]

There are definitely those moments- when I was picking watermelon, one of them was a little squishy and I quickly put it back. I'm VERY picky about what I do grab, and use it pretty quick.

Thanks for the heads up though!

[PrettyOpal]

I think you did great Weather Girl! Fresh produce can be so expensive! Sadly for me the dollar stores around here do not sell produce. I love my Publix bogo sales and meat can be OK but not really thrilled with their produce. For example the other day I bought a pound of brussel sprouts? Almost 4.00 and when I was trimming them a lot were brown inside. Yellow onions tend to be small and I always find rotted onions inside the bag. This spring I was buying a lot of tiny packs of rhubarb....not all that fresh and over 3 dollars for half a pound. Anyway you get the idea and it's always like that. I tend to buy a lot of frozen vegetables because they are so much cheaper with sales and almost as nutritious.

I was adding up some of what you bought and what it would cost me here:

Potatoes: 3.99/5lb bag (on sale)
Asparagus 4..00/lb
Bell Peppers .98/lb (basically 5 bucks for 5 kinda icky small peppers). I made stuffed peppers last night and was just disgusted with this. lol. Everyone loves them though.

Anyway, you did great!

[Weather Girl]

Anyway, you did great!

Thanks! It all came at a good time- I needed the onions, peppers, celery and potato to make a crockpot gumbo that was on the menu for Sunday