Chance Encounters...

While out shopping yesterday I had two great chance encounters. One was helpful to me, in the other I helped someone.

First -- the one that was helpful to me. I was in Costco and as any shopper there knows they are great about having people around handing out samples. The only one of interest to me was some guacamole in a bag. It was frozen. Surprisingly (to me), it tasted good. I happen to like chunky though and it was blended smooth.

I told the guy who was handing out samples and we got into a conversation. He took me to the area with all the guacs, showed me the chunky and then...told me I could freeze ANY of them! He then told me I could freeze avocados.

WHAT?!? No way. But yep, he said he'd been doing it for 20 years. He buys a bag of them and when they hit the ripening place he likes he tosses all but the one he wants to eat that day and the next into the freezer.

He said he thaws them overnight if they will be eaten "as is" but just peels the skin off if he's going to use them in guacamole or a smoothie. I'll put some links below for various ways to freeze.

Most said the texture when freezing the whole avocado was mushy, best to use in guacamole, not cut up to eat on a salad.

Oh, and you can also buy them frozen now at most grocery stores. I can't remember the brand but I bought a bag. I wasn't thrilled with them as they have a tangy taste due to the preservative they use.

Then, my next stop was at Walmart for a couple of last-minute stocking stuffers. I was looking at soaps (Dr. Bonner's) when I happened to overhear two girls talking about how expensive one of the soaps was. (Oh how I had a hard time ending that sentence with "was"...shades of my English teachers yelling in my head :-)).

Turned out one of them was getting their boyfriend the soap he liked and it was one of the "good' ones...clean. I interjected myself in their conversation and explained why it was so high, and then told them about an app I use called Think Dirty. You can scan the bar codes on products and it ranks them from 0 to 10 with 0 being super good. Most of the things I scan on the shelves these days are 8 or above.

I showed them a similar product that was twice the size, was the same price range, but had the same rating. They were so excited. They both popped the app onto their phones...and bought the cheaper version for the boyfriend. It was so cool knowing that they were interested in learning and wanted to start scanning products.

I got started on my health journey when I was a bit younger than they are but something similar sparked my interest and I've been happily getting healthier all my life. Or that's the hope! So many things that were "gospel" have been tossed out as actually being bad over the years so it's a continual learning experience.


https://springsbargains.com/2012/10/can-you-freeze-avocados/

https://wholenewmom.com/kitchen-tips/freezing-avocados/

https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/garden-to-table/can-you-freeze-avocados