At one time in my life I was a store clerk. Do you believe it or not?
Well, I was… I first worked as a cashier at Ames Department Stores, then they went out of business and I moved on to a grocery store. There I worked in the produce department for about five years.
So I was thinking, how about giving some of my readers a few supermarket buying tips. 
- Corn on the cob – if you want to make sure it is fresh without pre-husking it check the length of the stalk. It should be no less than six inches long. The shorter the stalk the older the ear of corn is. When the stores get the corn in, most times the stalk is about a foot long. They break the ends off the ears of corn to make them look more presentable for the public.
- Buying fresh lettuce, as in romaine, green and red leaf, or Boston butter crunch – This lettuce can be freshened up even at home to make it last longer. Why you buy the lettuce, check the butt of the lettuce for browning. This is caused when the air makes contact with the cut surface over time. It does not mean the lettuce in no good or not fresh enough. It only means that it needs to be tended to soon or the leaves will begin to wilt. At home if you notice your lettuce wilting you can give the butt a new trim, just skim or scrap the butt off. You don’t need to take much off. Then soak the whole head of lettuce in a sink of lukewarm water. Not hot and not cold. Treat it the way you would your house plants. A ten minute bath will make your lettuce nice and crisp. Let it drip dry in your dish drain upside down to get as much water out of the leaves as you can. Then refrigerate the lettuce for later use. You can repeat this process for the same head of lettuce many times to make it last longer.
- Apple and Bananas look nice in a basket together, but the apples will make your bananas brown faster. If you need to ripen your bananas faster place an apple with them. Other than that, get those apples well away from your bananas or they will be black in a few days. Also, if the bananas are in a plastic bag, take them out of it as soon as possible. The plastic bag will enhance the ripening process.
- Best times to buy fresh produce – not the weekend. Buy your produce Tuesday – Friday. Most stores do not get shipments on the weekends so they tend to over order so they will have enough stock to make it until Monday.
- Always check your dates on the packages. Sometimes if the date is within a day of going out of code you can get the item marked down substantially.
- Check the meat department for packages saying Managers Special. These bargains happen from time to time and you can usually find a very good buy.
- Department store markdowns – Always check the clearance racks. You never know what you may find on them. I have seen many great bargains on these racks. Markdowns happen several times a year. January – For Christmas items, March – Furniture, July – Spring items, September – Summer/Cookout items, October – Back to School items, November – Halloween items, December – Thanksgiving items.
Now on to ROW80:
This week, so far the word count is still low, but steady. Road Salt is now at 14k total word count.
I am noticing a big difference in switching between my genre of Fantasy and this genre of Teen drama. I have found that Fantasy is a much easier subject to write about. This Teen drama on the other hand takes time. I have to really think about the consequences and habits of my characters.
My overall goal is for them to all have something they want and something to loose.
So the whole process is going kind of slow, but it is moving along, at least at a turtle’s pace.
Hopefully I can meet the long term goal of having this manuscript done by November at the latest, just in time for NaNoWriMo. That will be when I will hopefully begin tackling book 3 in the Orgarlan Saga.
Have a great ROW week…
Linda Nelson 