My trip to town on Friday was okay. I was able to get in and out of the shower without incident. I chose not to sit on the low toilet in the master bathroom, lest the extra degrees required for bending my sore knee be too much for its current progress in healing.
The drive to the bank was roundabout, because of the new roundabout construction. I took a circuitous route and got there. The drive-thru was open. I skipped the stop for gas. T-Hoe has half a tank still to guzzle before I HAVE to feed him.
At the Save A Lot over in Sis-Town, there was a cart in the return corral by the handicap space. So I had that for help walking in. I only wanted the scratcher machine, and bananas. No need to do the longer walk at Country Mart, just for that. I got my scratchers. But not bananas.
Here's the thing. I don't like the produce at this store. I'll buy their meat. No issues with that. But the produce seems neglected. I've brought home WOODY BANANAS two or three times from there! So I was extra-cautious. I knew not to choose the green ones. I reached out. Picked up a couple bunches. But put them back. I turned to leave. But turned back. I really needed bananas, and didn't want to go to another store. But I could not force myself to get them.
There were flies buzzing around the bananas!
Let the record show that I've also brought home onions from there that had fruit flies. That's the only source I could pin them down to. When I picked up a bunch of bananas, considering them, fruit flies flew out. I'm pretty sure that if there are live adult houseflies buzzing around the bananas while I'm standing there, they also have already laid some eggs on those bananas. What would result from them would be even worse than fruit flies!
No thank you!
I wheeled that cart back outside without making a purchase. Other than scratchers, of course! I had a $40 winner on a $5 ticket. So it was worth the stop. I'll have to get my bananas at 10Box. Their fruit is flyless.
Yes, I agree that a blatant show of obvious fruit flies is a very bad sign of poor-quality fruit. When I was gainfully employed in the outside world, people would bring bananas to work and throw their peeling in the trash, that may or may not get picked up that night. Of course we had an abundance of fruit flies. I had to set up a vinegar and soap trap on my shelf, in my office. When I would send a banana for my husband, after I no longer worked there, I always included a cheap zippy bag for him to corral his peeling. That way he did not contribute to the problem. I guess the banana eater doesn't work there anymore and my husband no longer eats bananas as he says they no longer taste right to
ReplyDeletehim. Ranee
Rae,
DeleteI had to set up a soap trap for my infestation. It took about a week to get rid of them. I was catching six or seven a day, using only my dish liquid that had a citrus scent. The apple scent does not seem to work!
I agree about bananas not tasting right. Some of them have no flavor at all. The other Save A Lot has a fan blowing over their onions all the time. But it's not near the bananas. I guess they just buy their fruit/produce in large quantities, and they're closed up somewhere until put on the shelves.
Fruit flies turn up when the fruit is over ripe, they are attracted by the sugar scent which we can't smell until it's too late, by then the bananas are too soft and sometimes mushy. I would never buy fruit from gas station convenience stores.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteThey don't just turn up out of nowhere. It's not like I have a little door flap for fruit flies, letting them into the Mansion. They arrive as eggs laid on produce. I doubt the swarm that was startled when I lifted the green bananas was just resting there. I presume I interrupted their egg-laying. That display had every generation of banana. The brownish ones were at the bottom shelf, getting greener as you approached the top.
I have never bought fruit from a gas station convenience store. They sell apples and bananas singly, for about a dollar, which is expensive. That said, the fruit there usually looks fresher than that in the Sis-Town Save A Lot. I guess they have a quick turnover because people buy them on the way to work, rather than donuts.
One of the things they promote at the Kwik Trip gas stations and convenience stores is bananas, at a very good price. We don't buy them from there because access and exits from the location near us was challenging to say the least. We now live with one recently built in our town limits but still do not buy their bananas. Too lazy to exit the vehicle for more than occasional gas fill and also car washes. I have heard that their bananas are quite nice, but convenience stores are not always convenient to us. Ranee
ReplyDeleteRae,
DeleteThe bananas and apples I see in Casey's look fresh, as do the ones in the Gas Station Chicken Store. So I assume people are buying them, and they're not sitting around waiting to be marked down.
The Save A Lot in Hillmomba will often put the browning bananas in a cart up front by the checkout, with a FREE sign. It's good for people who want to make banana bread, and they don't go to waste, and at least are away from the other produce.
I hate fruitflies, I hate any flies for that matter! If you do get them in your kitchen, juts pour some apple cider vinegar in small bowl and add a couple drops of Dawn and the flies will go for the vinegar and the soap will keep them in the bowl.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
DeleteThey drowned really well in the citrus-smelling dish liquid!
You reminded me that when we lived in the suburbs of the metro, the Cub store used to bag up loose and riper bananas in a bag and sell for $.99 which was a great deal. I used to buy them whenever they were available. Kind of like Save A Lot, there would be some almost perfect for banana bread, but there would also be maybe 4 of them that were still good for eating as is. Then they quit selling them that way, for some reason. I suppose they weren't making enough off of bananas that would just end up in the dumpster. Our society is so wasteful. Ok, enough banana talk. :) Have a nice day. Ranee
ReplyDeleteRae,
DeleteFREE is a great deal, but I don't bake banana bread, and Farmer H likes his bananas on the green side.
As for waste... I used to work at a Casey's that sold fried chicken. At a certain point in the evening, we had to clear out the chicken, and mark the leftover donuts as DAY OLD for half price. One of our clerks was going through a rough time. We would bag up the chicken in a fresh trash bag, and set it on top of the dumpster lid. She knew the timing, and would send her husband to pick it up. No waste, and it helped their family.