Free Food for Chickens and Me

All for me; none for hens...lol.
 

 At the dinner, some people I have known of forever, gave me produce from their garden. Part of the bell pepper will go into the steak tomorrow. Their son was a friend of my son throughout school. I cannot remember meeting her, but she was a nurse who may not have been at all school and social functions.  However, she remembered me, just not my name. When I told her my name, she knew my son's name. We will have tomatoes with the steak tomorrow. (I talk about it below.)

Ugh, now I must snap beans!

I had not dumped the produce out until the picture. You cannot see how deep the beans or tomatoes are in this picture. I actually have more than a mess of beans, four bell peppers, and a quart of grape tomatoes. sigh  This is enough produce for a week.

free spiral cut tool

Can you see the stainless steel tool below the box?

 

 

demonstration scraps
Thursday
 

 At my favorite store was a demonstration of a mandolin. The guy gave me the demonstration scraps. Apple, cabbage and tomatoes were hen food for me.

I had him scrape the onions and French-fry cut demonstrations into another bag. They look clean. If I were not going to heat them, I would not eat them. There is an on-sale round steak waiting, marinating for tomorrow. I will cook it in a cooking bag like a roast, along with the potato and onions. I'll add a bag of baby carrots gotten for $0.39. This will make six meals for less than $5. The meal will be fewer potatoes and more carrots.

yum

eating demonstration scraps Thursday

 



I usually put their food in the pen just because I want them to learn to come and eat so I can trap them for the night. That way, there is a peaceful end to the day instead of my fretting, chasing and herding and sweating. However, I did not want to dump this is in the dirt today. I put it outside the pen, about 6 feet before I reached the pen. They were going nuts inside the pen and watching me dump the food.

 

However, no one remembered this. I opened the door and they all came flying out. When I went into the pen to collect an egg, they followed me back in, tripping me and generally impeding my progress. I had to walk all the way back to the food before they saw it! Then, they went crazy, eating and running. Well, the little two run away with food. Thelma and Louise just stay with the food and have no anxiety or fear.

 

 

gyro sandwiches

Yes, they looked like subs.

Tuesday night

 

These scraps were from the Tuesday lunch at a church. I gave the hens very little bread, mainly just turkey, ham, and roast beef with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. You can see the tail of a little one bottom right. They run so fast with their food, it's impossible to get all four in one picture.

 

 

                                                                  Wednesday chicken food

                                                                     no picture



 



Obviously, I took no picture, but last night at the Wednesday night dinner, we had white rice with a hamburger patty and gravy on top and green beans on the side. The gravy was delicious, but I only ate half the rice or less. So, hens had the same thing for dinner, but I must not have taken a picture.

 

Between the two free meals for me, plus the produce at the top will feed me for a week. Besides, I have plenty of other on-sale produce that I have gotten with a price match. This feels good. I just need to find more free food for hens and me.

 

Your turn

Where do you get free food? Your own garden (okay, not exactly free), parents/friends, gleaning, scrounging?