Feeling good at the Grocery Store

[monrovianvogue]

I find that farmers' markets are a good value for me, but some people find them too expensive. Since I eat alone or share my meals with just DBF, farmers' markets are a better value for me. If I buy produce and meat at the grocery store, some of it goes bad before I can use it, since it has already been in refrigeration from several days to weeks before I buy it (standard food shipping and shelf times). If I buy those things at a farmers market, there is never any waste because its so fresh (often the veggies were alive just that morning and the animals just that week) it keeps until I finish it all.

I love markets!

[rhales199]

I find that farmers' markets are a good value for me, but some people find them too expensive. Since I eat alone or share my meals with just DBF, farmers' markets are a better value for me. If I buy produce and meat at the grocery store, some of it goes bad before I can use it, since it has already been in refrigeration from several days to weeks before I buy it (standard food shipping and shelf times). If I buy those things at a farmers market, there is never any waste because its so fresh (often the veggies were alive just that morning and the animals just that week) it keeps until I finish it all.

I love markets!

Those are very good things to know. It's just me and my hubby here, too, so we sometimes have the same problem. The other thing I like about the idea of farmer's markets is that I'm helping to support local farmers instead of some big out- of- state company. And the produce is fresher and wasn't cut early to ripen while shipping for days.

[PapaBanucci]

And as you're evaluating the content of her cart, she's flipping through a magazine.

And on the cover of the magazine are always 3 things - an attractive face, a picture of a dessert for a recipe inside, and a teaser to lose X pounds in X weeks for some trivial diet (dis)information inside the magazine.

The squarer the boxes in the cart, the rounder the butt pushing it.

[MellieMel25]

The squarer the boxes in the cart, the rounder the butt pushing it.

HAHAHA - I have a round butt, but I no longer have square boxes in my cart!

That made me laugh really loud

[babydoll17]

Another shopping cart snob here...

oh my goodness me too!! it is amazing how many people really do this hahha!!!

[LEM1955]

I had a related experience at my book group this past weekend. This one is more troubling because it's about judging someone I know and care about - rather than a stranger at the supermarket.

We were served a great meal - Carribean soup (all veggie and a water based broth), a brown rice dish with tempeh, and a vegetable salad (not leafy). For dessert we had what the hostess called "bunny cake". It was a carrot cake with a sweet white frosting shaped like a bunny head. Definitely not a phase 2 approved dessert. Most of my book group is health conscious and relatively trim and fit. We all had small slices of the cake... except for one member who has diabetes, is 100 pounds overweight and who has complained about being unable to lose. She had two large helpings of the cake and then when the hostess offered the remainder to us to take home, she took 3 x the amount anyone else took. We all watched her cut the piece and I could feel the judgment in the room. It was almost palpable. When it came time to say goodbye, a number of us just couldn't embrace her the way we normally would have. That was the most troubling of all.

I am looking for suggestions about how to be less judgmental of friends who are still out of control about their eating.

[Allie74]

And, when I go to check out, I do think that someone might be thinking something about what I'm getting, but it's a little different than what everyone else here has said. My husband and I are very poor, and get Food Stamps. I always think that the cashier is thinking that 'well, at least there's one person on food stamps that eats healthy', or 'at least she's not wasting her food stamps on junk food' [like i'm sure a lot of other people do- believe you me,I've seen some of the stuff some people on FS buy].

Becky

I can't quote you any references, but I remember in an environmental studies class I took hearing about a plan some communities had to partner with local famers and make food stamps worth double their normal value if spent for fresh produce from a farmers' market. Wouldn't that be awesome?

ooohhh, that would be wonderful!!!!
I've never actually been to a farmers' market. i always thought they would be two far out of the way, or I never know when they're open and stuff, but I now know of two that are basically on my way to the grocery store (depends on which way I go), and I know for sure one takes FS and I think the other one does, too. I can't wait to go to them and see what they're like (they sound pretty cool).
Becky

You know it's funny the amount of money the government spends on studies of obesity and how people eat too much fast food and junk but if you go tothe grocery store to buy grocery's for your family it costs twice as much to eat healthy then it does to eat crap..Yes I too enjoy it when my cart is full of good food..but mostly I'm too busy thinking about preparation of those items to notice the other peoples carts..

[smokefree]

My cart was a half and half - half South Beach and half teenage son! My 17 year old has been trying desperately to GAIN weight (he's 5'8 and weighs 118 lbs.) He's on the golf team (walks 18 holes a day), lifts weights and really trying to put some actual weight on, not just muscle. We've talked to his doctor and he just recommended that he 'eat more and more often'.

He loves fruit and veggies so that has been no problem. So my cart is also full of potatoes, pasta, bananas, rice, snack foods etc. My grocery bill is going up, because I'm making extra dishes at dinner to keep him going towards HIS weight goal! (wish I could just hand him some of mine

[maria38]

You guys are right...why is the healthy food so much more expensive? It costs me 2.50 for a bag of 9 or 10 oz spinach leaves, yet I could buy 2 1/2 bags of generic cheetos, pretzels, chips etc. They are a buck a bag.
Same thing as meat around here...they are so expensive, yet you can buy a package of oscar meyer hot dogs for $1.50 (not that I would ever eat them...ICK!) but I'm sure people with kids do because kids like them and their cheap...but again pure fat. And we wonder why kids are all overweight these days. Don't even get me started on the lunch menus at the schools around here that are suppose to be so healthy. Today it was a open face white hoagie type bun, topped with butter and a ton of moz. and chedder cheese melted on top, mostly it's hot dogs, chick. nuggets, hamb., pizza, french fries, tator tots, or potato triangles. I'm not kidding you some of the 5th and 6th graders are much larger than I am...they have wide butts and big bellies hanging over..it's such a shame!

[ristian77]

I'll join in on the venting here...why DOES it cost so much to eat healthily??? DH and I went grocery shopping together recently, he got what he eats and I get what I eat. He spent $50 and got enough Ramen Noodles, mac n cheese, frosted flakes, hot dogs, and pretzels to last over a month. I on the other hand, spend $72 dollars for all of my fruit, veggies, yogurt, oatmeal/Uncle Sam cereal, nuts, string and lowfat cheese, and chicken breasts to last for only a couple of weeks. NOT FAIR!

ok i'm done now..

[WIcowgirl]

Must admit... I've thought that too... when I'm at the store... seeeing other people's carts.... yuck.... I know that's what I used to eat too but knowing how much better I feel now.... wouldn't trade it!

[Allie74]

I wouldn't trade it either..it just irks me to think that our governments aren't interested in changing the way people eat..they just like to sit around and talk about how fat and sick people are..produce studies a dn then let those sick people spend money on medications and treatments created BY the Governments..uhhh sorry..I'm ranting

[farleywilbur]

I'll join in on the venting here...why DOES it cost so much to eat healthily??? DH and I went grocery shopping together recently, he got what he eats and I get what I eat. He spent $50 and got enough Ramen Noodles, mac n cheese, frosted flakes, hot dogs, and pretzels to last over a month. I on the other hand, spend $72 dollars for all of my fruit, veggies, yogurt, oatmeal/Uncle Sam cereal, nuts, string and lowfat cheese, and chicken breasts to last for only a couple of weeks. NOT FAIR!

ok i'm done now..

Your hubby does not sound like he is supporting your lifestyle with those crappy foods in his diet! He might be skinny but is he healthy???

[A-Rod]

i was in line at the grocery checkout a few weeks ago and a big pregnant lady was in front of me ... she looked at me loading up my mixed greens, lamb, feta, tomatoes, etc. and said, "man, i should come home with you, look at all that good food! my doctor keeps telling me i need to eat healthier for the baby but it's just too hard!" i didn't even know what to say ...

LEM, that's a tough one ... it's really hard to avoid being judgemental when it comes to family and friends with bad habits. with the everyday fat passerby, it's easy to shrug it off, but when you actually CARE about the person, it's tough. the one thing i know is i wasn't ready to make a change in my lifestyle until I was ready ... no amount of lecturing, peptalking, pleading, or yelling from my family did any good. it had to come from ME. whether you feel like being the one to stage an intervention or even start sharing the info is up to you, but nothing is gonna happen unless the person is ready.

[mariesha416]

I agree- I just had a similar experience at the grocery store the other day. On the way there, the DBF said he wanted to eat healthier and I got so amped to help him pick out foods and talk about all these recipes. But, once we were there he picked up CocoPuffs, Cheese-Its, White Bread and I started lecturing him and I could see him getting frustrated so I just dropped it. You can't make anyone do something they want to do and when it comes down to it, people shouldn't change their lifestyles for anyone else but themselves. He'll come around one day, he just hasn't hit that point yet. Until then, our pantry will be divided!