Why my grocery bill is somewhat high
“Very rarely does anyone go into a garage, phone store or shoe shop and ask for ‘the cheapest, most rubbish one.’ So why do we walk into supermarkets and support those companies that are producing cheap products?”
—Jamie Oliver
Growing up, it was not so easy to find organic rBGH-free milk and free-range eggs if you lived in an urban area. And yet that’s the type of grocery staple I grew up with: berries in summer, turnips in winter, and meat as a side dish at our weeknight dinners. Some of it cost a little more, like paying top dollar for pesticide-free produce or ethically raised animals. And that’s the way I prefer to continue to eat these days (although I pass on the meat).
Food in-season tastes better and has more nutrients. Food made in smaller batches by smaller companies tastes better and has more nutrients. I can’t understand why people eat synthetic crap all the time (although synthetic crap has its occasional place), and it makes me want to yell screaming from the rooftops. Your food is not just fuel for your entire body, it is the raw building block that composes your body. I think people act like your body is a static thing, and you are just providing it energy to function by feeding it. It’s so much more than that. Your hair, your nails, your skin, your cell membranes all must be made and remade from what you eat. This, to me, is not an area to be cheap.
It’s like the idea of forcing yourself to eat whatever fruit is the cheapest, like navel oranges. If you only allow yourself to purchase bulk navel oranges at the grocery store, you are not going to be much motivated to eat your fruit. They’re bland, they’re boring, and they are really only good in winter (did you know citrus has a season? It does.). In case you’re wondering, I justify the increase in my enjoyment of food and overall health by upgrading my grocery bill to a “somewhat high” cost.