I love grocery stores and Lidl is one of my favorites! As I was shopping I stopped by the "Too Good To Waste" product box bin. Boxes of not so perfect yet good fruits and vegetables for 30 cents a pound. I felt like a treasure hunter that had just discovered a bountiful booty!
Lidl a Germany based grocery chain created these "Too Good To Waste or "Ich Bin Noch Gut" (I'm Still Good) boxes to reduce food waste. These not so perfect produce boxes are created on-site at Lidl and are brought out in the early mornings for shoppers to purchase, boxes that are not sold by midday are donated to Lidl's Feed It Back, a food distribution company founded by the grocery chain that locally distributes unsold surplus food to food banks, charities, and homeless shelters. To successfully help make this happen locally, Lidl partners with the global company, Neighbourly that helps corporations connect directly to their local community.
As I looked upon this Island Of Misfit produce, I could only see a harvest delicious endless meal possibilities! One particular box seemed to have been smiling at me with a colorful grin of mismatched fruits and vegetables from petite russet potatoes, honey crisp apples, organic carrots, a large yellow onion, a medium red onion, two limes, to its juicy looking oranges. Some were bruised, disfigured, and discolored but from this imaginary smile, I saw the inner beauty, a beauty that would create a great meal! Along with this box, I purchased three pounds of chicken drumsticks at 99 cents a pound, a $1 bag of rice, and some sliced baby portabello mushrooms for $1.50. At the checkout, my treasure box rang up for only 98 cents and my grocery bill was under $10!
My 98 cents "Too Good To Waste" box fed my family of 4 adults for 2 days!
Meal One- Dinner: Baked petite russet potatoes with the yellow onions and carrots served with oven-roasted Chicken drumsticks
Meal Two-Lunch: Garden salad with red onion, and for snack, sliced honey crisp apples
Snack- Orange
A Refreshing Drink- Water infused with lime
Meal Three- Dinner: Oven-roasted carrots and mushrooms, served with baked chicken drumsticks, and homemade gravy over rice.
Agreeing with Lidl Germany's head of sales, Tomasz Kuzma and his statement that "Food belongs on the plate and not in the trash." I encourage you to let go of your restrictions of perfection and purchase one of these "Too Good To Waste" gems at your local Lidl's and watch your meal treasures unfold.