I love bananas.
In fact, I think most people, save for sister and my husband, love eating bananas.
(Okay…maybe there are more anti-banana eaters out there than I care to admit…)
When I was walking through the grocery store this morning and saw a cart full of these red-taped bananas, I got excited.
For those of you who don’t know what a red-taped item of fruit is, it is a simple marking many small-scale, local grocery stores use for items on the verge of spoiling. The red tape marks not only that the fruit is riper than ripe and probably a day away from going in the store’s large dumpster out back, but to the consumer, it is also an indicator that these simple wrapped fruits are selling at a discount.
Today, these wonderful yellow babies taped in red were selling at almost half-price the new display of bananas. So of course, I piled my cart half-full of overripe ‘naners then went about with the rest of my shopping.
As I said before, I love bananas. But I love finding a good deal even more.
Taking advantage of simple discounts like this on fruit at your local grocery store (or large chain store, if that’s where you shop) is a great way to keep those precious pennies in your own pocket. As the wise Benjamin Franklin said (at least in our modern interpretation), “a penny saved is a penny earned.” And folks, buying discounted bananas totally counts as “earning” in today’s book for me.
Today, I specifically bought as many bananas as I did to help restock our freezer supply.
As we enter into these horrifically hot months of summer, my family often turns to smoothies as part of our daily food consumption. The kids like smoothies for snack, we often have smoothies for breakfast because they are so quick and easy, and it’s not uncommon for me to throw on a smoothy to go along with dinner.
Smoothies are just part of the summer routine we’ve adopted in our home. And most smoothies taste just that much better – that much creamier, that much thicker – with one or two frozen bananas thrown in.
Thought these bananas were bought specifically for freezing, that is certainly not their only use.
While piling bananas into my cart, I also grabbed two bunches of fresh, newly put out bananas for regular eating. But as you can see, the red-taped ones are just as fit for eating as the “fresh”.
The bananas on the right are the red-taped bananas with the tape removed. On the left are the regular-priced, freshly put out bananas.
These bananas are perfectly ripe. True, many of these will likely be brown the day after tomorrow, but today they are oh so delicious!
Before peeling all the bananas, I did sort through them, leaving some of the firmer ones aside for our family to enjoy for the remainer of the week.
Whether you are out grocery shopping with bananas already on your list, or happen to stumble on a good deal, bargain bananas are a great way to both feed your family without starving your purse.♥
