First thoughts

This is a post from my livejournal that first got me thinking about standards vs. budget.   It was only a few days ago that I wrote it, but already re-reading it, it seems somewhat ignorant and pretentious, and it was clear that I was not thinking beyond my own immediate situation.  I'm a bit embarrassed by some of it, but in the interest of showing am authentic progression of thought, I'm posting it here anyway.

So today I was curious and decided to go to the Aldi in JC. They're building a new one not far from us so I was interested to know if it was something I should be glad about.

I was waiting for the kids to wake up, so I sat in the parking lot observing the people coming and going. I think you can learn a lot about the kind of store you're about to go into by watching the people who shop there. At Wegmans it's nice cars, people who look healthy enough and carry their own shopping bags. Here, everyone I saw was either old or sick-looking, limping, 500 pounds, or generally dazed. Not promising, I thought.

First thing, we get to the place where they keep the shopping carts outside. You have to put a quarter in to get one out! I read the sign and the reasoning but still found the whole thing to be absurd. It was a total fluke that I even HAD a quarter in my pocket. Stuck it in, unlocked the cart, put Topaz in the front and carried Philip. Upon walking in I am informed by a sign that credit cards are not accepted, but food stamps, cash, and debit cards are. Oh yes, this is going to be interesting.

The place was like a fluorescent-lit nightmare. I felt like a rat in a maze. Frankenfoods piled high on either side of us, foul things in cans and boxes, the stuff that makes me feel particularly adamant about eating fresh whole foods. I was about two steps in when I realized I wanted out. Unfortunately, the entrance is not an exit, and you have to go all the way through the store just to escape. I watched in dismal horror at the things I saw people loading into their carts in quantity, and observed only a tiny and unappetizing produce section which was being largely ignored by other shoppers. I can see the exit. Almost smell fresh air, even. But it seemed impossible to get out. There were only two checkout aisles open, and they both had long lines. The other aisles had gates closing them off from the outside world, and in a fit of desperation I shoved through one and left. Locked the cart back in place, retrieved my quarter, and hauled the kids to the car with Topaz screaming that she was so hungry. I gave her a nice long soliloquy about what food really is, how good food makes you feel good and healthy and strong, and how bad food makes you tired and unhealthy and sick.

I have found, at long last, a place I despise more than Walmart. I never thought that would happen.

But this has all got me thinking about food and its value and its cost. In our household, high quality food is valued highly. We seek it out and spend a significant percentage of our income on it. I spend time preparing it. I avoid most convenience foods except occasionally, when I scrutinize labels and weigh out the cost/benefit of buying and using them.

But Valeri recently pointed out that not everyone has our food budget available, even if they would choose to spend more.

First thing, I would get very VERY serious about growing my own food. We have a setup for growing greens inside but haven't done it yet. I would really make more use of Jake's mom so I could be in the garden a lot, and the kids would grow up learning to take it seriously and help. I would do a lot of canning and freezing. I already buy a lot of stuff in bulk for better prices and we're now participating in a food buying club, which is good. I would plan meals more carefully (although I have to say, I really have enjoyed going food shopping and coming home with what is freshest and perfectly in season, and planning meals around that). I would ask for very different things for Christmas and birthdays--quarter cow, perhaps? Fifty pounds of oatmeal? Crates of organic fruit? Assorted oils and vinegars? Coffee and chocolate? Bottles of wine?

In all honesty, there is no way I would lower my standards unless I was so absolutely broke that we would literally starve or become malnourished if I didn't. I believe organic practices (when done right) are correct for many reasons and that conventional food production compromises far too much for me to tolerate or support.

I would absolutely cut back on the more expensive things--meat and dairy coming to mind first. The extras like desserts and alcohol would be scaled back and eliminated if absolutely necessary.

Right now I spend $40-60 a week on produce. Most of that comes from the farmers market, but things like grapes and berries and bananas I get at Wegmans. I buy bulk grains at Greenstar and now this buying club, and we cut down on packaging as well as saving money on the things we eat all the time. I have a huge canister of thick rolled oats, and canisters all over my kitchen with rices, beans, lentils, grains like teff and amaranth and quinoa, wheat berries, sugar. My freezer is full of organic meat I've been accumulating at the farmers market all summer, and organic blueberries we picked for something like a dollar a pint (and two placentas in there taking up space). During the winter we have bags of frozen vegetables. I really should have been consistently freezing veggies all summer long but every time I bought "'extra" anything, we ended up eating it all fresh.

I do buy a lot of accessories--oils and vinegars, seasonings, mustards, wine, coffee, etc.

I think we eat well most of the time. There are always days when one or both of the kids prevents me from doing much, and I'm trying to get myself into the habit of simpler and quicker meals and building meals around beans and lentils.

I've been shocked at how expensive organic fruit has been this summer. We grow our own strawberries and blackberries and blueberries, but they're all still very young plants and not producing a whole lot yet. I'd like to expand our berry-growing and plant some dwarf fruit trees in the back. Melons too. We have a big yard and lots of open space that should be better utilized. I have a lot of big pots that can be sort of portable gardens, and I'm hoping to make some of our front yard edible too. I love landscaping with vegetable plants, and I see no reason our front walk shouldn't be some happy combination or evergreens, perennials, and veggies. We have neighbors who use ChemLawn, and so we're very conscious of keeping ourselves and our food plants as far from that as possible, and I also consider pollution from cars to be an issue, so we won't plant anything near the road. Herbs can be thrown in the ground anywhere, and there is nothing more wonderful than smelling herbs everywhere you go. They're also beautiful and attract beneficial insects while keeping bad ones away.

I've ordered a half dozen or so seed catalogs and am already planning next year's garden. I'm really hoping Topaz will be a help in the garden and not a hindrance, but we'll see. She can really accomplish a lot and stay focused a surprisingly long time when given a task that interests her. Philip--well, who knows what kind of little person he'll be by then.

Anyway, seeing such a pointed correlation between crappy food and sickly people at Aldi was a very tangible eye-opener. Even if I was dirt poor I know I could do better than that.