Ontario Produce

Ontario is a mecca for an abundance of locally grown produce.  There are farm stands, orchards, farmer's markets and foodie events galore pretty much year round.  Even during the winter months,  locally grown Ontario produce grown in greenhouses is available in the grocery stores.  The best time to buy produce is when it is in season.  That means produce like apples, cabbage, root vegetables, onions and winter squashes are at rock bottom prices.

We returned from our fall vacation to our vacation home in Florida on October 23, a Tuesday but in reality it was into the wee hours of October 24 before we actually got home.  On Thursday, the new flyers arrived.  Oh my gosh, No Frills had 10 lb bags of carrots, beets, potatoes and onions on sale for $1.88.  I picked up one of each.  For this time of year, this really isn't the best price if you want to drive to get the produce but for an in town price it is rather good especially for the carrots and beets.  I have managed in the past to get 50 lb of potatoes for $3.99 (in store special) and they routinely go for $7.99 but No Frills doesn't carry the 50 lb bags very often.  If they do, it is usually as an in store special.

Now, I was beyond exhausted from our vacation partly due to the extensive home canning I had done prior to leaving home combined with my husband's health problems that had him hospitalized for five days just as tomatoes were starting.  I had just wound up the tomato canning for the season at over 200 jars of home canned tomato products.  The price for the carrots, onions and beets was really good though so I could not resist the sale.  Here I am, exhausted from before our vacation, exhausted from our vacation (lots of company, flight delay) so getting right back into preserving food only a day after getting home was not the ideal plan but when opportunity knocks you can bet I will answer regardless of how exhausted I am.  So for, $7.52 I ended up with 40 lb of gorgeous Ontario produce to enjoy!