Over Size Vegetables
American consumers refuse to purchase fruits or vegetables with a blemish of any kind. You will not purchase under size, over size or odd shaped fruits or vegetables. It does not matter to you that their is nothing wrong with this fruit or vegetable, it has the same food value. On top of that it is generally cut up into bite or serving sizes and the blemish or mis-shaped produce can no longer be seen.
Sexy Strawberry
What can we, the consuming public do? Start using a little common sense. Cut away the blemish, don’t through your food in the garbage bin. An apple that had or still has a worm, cut that part out and use the good part that remains! Cut into bite size pieces, odd shaped, under or over size produce and freeze or can them..
Call and write the U.S. and your states department of agricultural. Call and write your state legislators and your U.S. Congress man/woman demanding they develop and support programs to allow and encourage farmers to harvest ‘All’ of their crops. Demand your supermarket sell under size, over size and odd shaped fruits and vegetables at a discounted price.
Maybe we can start a new food category and call them canning quality fruits and vegetables. 
Not from the U.S.A. Leave a comment telling us about your home town and country
Why is common sense so uncommon?
Don’t be Shy. Leave me your comment(s)
Town & Country Gardening 
Reblogged this on Shopping in my basement and commented:
This is again, another excellent post on food waste in the US. (Plus, who could resist that strawberry? I personally like the freaky-deaky veg shapes! )
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I have noproblem with the ugly, but I draw the line on the worms. I garden pretty heavily, and I send my wormy produce to the compost pile. I figure that I am at least putting something back into the soil with it.
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Re: lucindalines – OK no worms for you. I send all my kitchen leftover vegetables and fruit to my chickens. They love the treat and make it disappear in a flash.
Thanks for your comment(s)
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Oh that sounds like fun. I grew up on a farm where we could feed the chickens and the pigs with peelings and even cobs of corn. It was great and everyone was a winner. Talk about free range, that was the only kind of chicken. It also explains why I grew up not knowing what a tick was. With 500 feeder chickens each summer there was no chance for a tick or any other kind of bug to grow at our place.
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Well, shame on us! I like the idea of “canning quality” produce, if it gets the “ugly” produce sold.
I like, even better, the idea of just buying the “uglies” and not worrying about asthetics.
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Re: schmoozelfleugen Thanks for your comment(s) – I really don’t understand peoples thinking process. If your going to chop a vegetable/fruit up into bite size bits what difference does it make if it is some what miss-shaped?
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What a beautiful strawberry! Thank you for this post. Sara
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Great post. Lesson from my Grandmother (served up at the dinner table when something was still on my plate): “Eat everything you were served, dear. There are children in China who are starving.” Thank goodness she never ate at a Las Vegas buffet. She would either have been evicted because of the lecture that she would have delivered, or been invited back by the thankful management for helping to reduce the amount of waste their diners created.
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It’s terrible.
I buy the reduced produce; it’s not as fresh, but cook it right away and it is fine.
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It’s shocking how wasteful people are.
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