Imagine a busy mother or father in the middle class or lower faced with preparing dinner for the family after a typically grueling day spent in the Sisyphean struggle against the twin boulders of inflation and taxation. Money's tight. Mom or Dad could:
- Buy a hot and tasty ready-to-eat meal from the 99 Cent Value Menu of his or her choice, which while convenient is laden with fat, calories and possibly teenage acne drippings. Price: Cheap. Time Investment: Little.
- Go to the grocery store and buy one of those "all in one box" complete dinners, which give the illusion of freshness by requiring assembly and cooking but are just as laden with fat and calories. Price: Fairly cheap. Time Investment: Moderate.
- Go to the grocery store and purchase fresh fruits vegetables, meats and grains to make a meal that looks a bit more like the wide end of the USDA's Food Pyramid. Price: Shockingly high. Time Investment: Depends on whether you're Rachael Ray. If you're not, heavy.
When two incomes supported operations at One Fulwider Plaza, we used to wonder why our monthly grocery bills regularly topped $400. After one income "just blew away" like Mike Wazowski wishes his paperwork could, we figured it out. No more oranges, apples, grapes, green beans, snow peas, zucchini, squash and salad greens means a grocery bill cut in half.
It's all about comparative prices; the processed stuff is cheaper and easier. We've got to make the mortgage, so we've written off the healthy foods we used to enjoy. What choice would you make?
It's easy to blow $400 a month on groceries if you primarily buy meat and processed foods. My favourite example of this is the horror of paying $4.29 for a lousy packet of cornflakes.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing to avoid is shopping at supermarkets. Here in California I find Safeway consistently 50-200% more expensive for groceries than, say, Trader Joes, and up to three times as expensive as a neighborhood produce store. Another common mistake is to buy items when they're out of season. For example, bell peppers weigh in at $4/pound in the off season, but about $1/pound in their prime.
You might also want to consider 'Subscription Farming' aka 'Community Supported Agriculture'. In this system you pay $20-30 per week for a box of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables. Not only does this mean that you're getting a healthy, local product, it also encourages you to cook with a varied range of seasonal veggies.
http://www.sustainablenews.org/pages/in_subfarming.html
Food Pyramid is not entirely healthy either.. 7-8 servings of grains, bread, and like per day? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteThe ''Logic'' is suppose to be that if you buy these fresh fruits and veggies, and your meat, they are suppose to last you for a few days, depending on how you prepare the items, or how much you eat off that big slab of beef. A 99 cent value meal will only last you a few satisfying hours and then you are off to buy another. Calculate buying several 99 cent value meals consisting of 2 burgers, a biggy fry and a biggy drink and maybe a frosty and if you eat your 3 meals a day or your recommended six small ones compared to the cost of a loaf of bread, package of bologna, gallon of milk (or better yet water FRESH from the tap), jar of pickles, jar of mayo and bag of carrots, and okay lets splurge or give into our indulgence, an entire bag of frosted animal cookies (okay those might only last a day) but, all the other stuff mentioned should last you a couple of days, even with a hearty appetite (come on you are not eating that entire loaf of bread in one sitting are you?) not to mention you are probably clogging your arteries with all that 99 cent meal grease (unless you eat at subway, I guess) you may eventually make up for it in hospital bills after a costly angioplasty (pardon my spelling)or what have you. Yes! Good meals take time to prepare, but at least you will have the energy to prepare them than you would trying to fit your honkin back end into the care that somehow appeared out of no where, only to fight traffic to get to said establishment, get your food, come back home trudge into the kitchen only to sit down to a cold, soggy meal… okay it may be faster, but what about the quality and satisfaction of that healthy meal you slaved over, but can be proud of that will be hot and maybe there will be an added bonus of leftovers, and it's healthy and your arteries will thank you! But, science is ever so changing, so who knows what they will be saying in a decade or so, look at the food pyramid for instance, they turned it upside down not so long ago... ahem. Is your $400.00 a month grocery bill strictly for food or are you counting in your toilet paper, trash bags, kitty litter and make-up. Those items add up tremendously, but we can't go without them even if we do use the lesser-named brand items. Maybe it is just a toss up, but save all your receipts from all those 99 cent value meals you are getting (do you notice you have to order more, because the portions are so dang small?) and compare it to last months grocery bill, not to mention the antacids and the new wardrobe you bought thanks to the 99 cent wonders and see if $400.00 is really anything to sneeze at.
ReplyDeleteThe views expressed in this poorly written grammatically incorrect document, may just be a bunch of who ha, or maybe it does prove a point. Take it with a grain of salt, but not too much, you should probably try and watch your sodium intake. Now pass me some of those biggy fries over there. Please don't throw hard rolls at me.
It's Not About Low-Fat or Low-Carb, It's About Low Crap
ReplyDeleteI've gotten myself into a discussion regarding the country's attitude towards food. Andrei writes about a story saying that the portions of food are a big part as to why American's are so frickin' huge. It's a valid point. Good...
oops, it's suppose to be fitting your honkin back end into a car, not care. my typo.
ReplyDelete