Stanley's World of Opportunity

I've known about a place called Stanley's Fruit Market for a while now, but never got myself together to go. Rumor has it that Stanley's has amazingly cheap produce and a great selection. After going to Stanley's today, I can confirm that the rumors are all true.

For fruit and veggie lovers, this place is a wonderland. It's a big store loaded with unbelievably cheap produce and a wide variety of offerings. The one downside is that Stanley's produce is quite ripe, so be advised that you probably should eat what you buy in a day or two. So if you can deal with the ripeness issue, definitely go to Stanley's. Here's what I toted home today:

1 head of iceberg lettuce, 69 cents
1 cantaloupe, $1.98
2 apricots, 39 cents
2 kiwi, 40 cents
2 packages (half-pints) of raspberries, 98 cents!!!
2 packages (half-pints) of blackberries, $1.96!!!

This brought my Stanley's purchases to a grand total of $6.53 after tax. It was all I could do to restrain myself from buying a lot more, but as I mentioned before the stuff you buy at Stanley's really does need to be consumed fast. I worried that if I bought too much it would just rot and go to waste.

So...Lima already took care of one apricot and one kiwi and tonight I'll be using the berries in a fruit cobbler. I was planning on making a berry dessert tonight, and it'll taste even sweeter knowing how reasonably priced the berries were. I just need to say it again...Can you believe how cheap the raspberries and blackberries were?

Stanley's is decorated with streamers and crepe paper decorations almost like what you'd see at a 5-year-old's birthday party. It's quite a scene and I wanted to take a photo to post here, but Lima would have none of that. She was in quite the toddler mood this morning and really mad at me for taking her to a place with all that yummy fruit and then not allowing her to have any until we paid for it. Oh, terrible, mean, mean Mommy! So rather than have her totally melt down while I had my Kodak moment, I skipped the picture this time. If you're in Chicago and you haven't tried it yet, check Stanley's out and see for yourself.

Stanley's Fruit Market
1558 N. Elston Avenue, Chicago, IL
773-276-8050

In other news, we took the recommendation of someone who posted a comment on the site a few days ago and had a wonderful dinner of pork chops marinated in olive oil, vinegar, crushed garlic, pepper, and oregano. The person posted his or her comment anonymously, so I can't give them credit by name for the marinade suggestion...but I do offer big thanks to him or her. The marinade made the pork chops delicious and it was something new for us to try at our table. Thanks for reading and thanks for the helpful suggestions!