TIGHTWAD TUESDAY - Red Banded Bananas

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You know, I could not even begin to tell you when the last time was that I bought a regular priced banana. Full price is just way too high (although they are still much cheaper than most fruits), and since they ripen so quickly, you can almost be certain to find them on mark down at least once a week.

Now, the title of this post states "Red Banded Bananas", but I often find them in stuffed full bags for a buck a bag or 3 pounds for a dollar.

With bananas constantly getting ripe and going on markdown every few days, it doesn't make sense to ever buy the full priced bananas. I mean, you have to wait for the full priced bananas to get ripe enough to eat them, and by then, you usually come across the mark down ones. I have one relative that buys mostly the full priced bananas. They are usually pretty green where she gets them. Then she complains about wanting one, but having to wait a few days for them to get ripe enough to eat one. By the time she can eat one of her full priced ones, I have usually found markdown bananas TWICE! I just don't see the logic in getting the full priced ones.

One of our stores has a very unique way of marking theirs down. They never have overripe bananas to mark down! Each day they bag up all of the loose, single bananas and mark them down. These are the pretty, not quite ripe, bananas, sometimes still pretty green. Plus, each day, they have a certain number of bags they use and they just "bag up" bananas until they have used up those bags, placing a mark down price on the bag, just as low as the overripe bananas at the other stores. I love this concept! What is even better is when I am out shopping and can catch these, slightly green bananas on mark down, AND the overripe ones marked down at another store. This works extra good for me because with all the work around here, I usually only go in to town once every week or so for necessities. When I find both on mark down like this, I have bananas to use right away, then by the time they are gone, the marked down green ones are ready to eat! Now THAT'S a bargain AND convenient, and keeps me from running out of bananas in between shopping trips! Well, that is, unless my dog Dusty finds them . . . . but that is a funny story for another post.

As for those narrow, little sticky red bands . . . . . those irritate the heck out of me! You can never find the end to untape them. and most of the produce people seem to think they need to be on good and tight, which badly bruises all of the bananas right through the middle. I have had some that, by the next day, only half of them in the bunch were usable because of that tight, little, narrow red band, and THAT isn't cost effective. Course, the chickens enjoy those.

All in All, Red Banded, Pre-Bagged, or Loose . . . . . Mark down bananas are the way to go! Which way do you prefer to purchase your bananas?