1st Shopping Trip

Grocery shopping is part of our regular Sunday errands so we hit the Whole Foods today. Can I just say that this is much harder than I expected it to be? I knew it was going to be more expensive to eat local/seasonal/organic foods and, to some extent, I knew that it would be a challenge to come up with tasty meals day after day within those guidelines. What I did not expect was so many choices of eggs that fall in that category. Free Range: okay that seems good. That means that the chickens weren't locked up in a tiny cage to lay eggs. No antibiotics: Also good. Fertilized: What th'.......? Whole Foods was kind enough to provide commentary on this subject. "Don't be afraid of finding a baby chick when you crack the egg" (that's a relief). Fertilized means that the chicken was actually in the presence of a rooster when your eggs were created. I'm thinking that chickens that are getting laid must be happier than chickens that don't and thereby lay better eggs.

My other big realization is that you can't automatically assume that just because something is the Whole Foods brand that it's any higher quality than a popular brand. For example, we usually buy Honey Nut Cheerios. The WF brand's label read exactly the same as the Cheerio's label, only WF brand was cheaper and came in a bag rather than a box with a bag liner (reduced waste = good). The real pisser came when I ran in to Hiller to grab a lemon that we'd forgotten at WF's and found the same box of Honey Nut Cheerio's for $2 cheaper than either the bag or the box at Whole Foods. So I got it too. So much for reduced waste, huh?

Poor people will never be able to eat well. For $110, here's what we got to feed our family of 4 for the week (obviously we'll use some stuff that we already have on hand).

2 lemons
1 box of Honey Nut Cheerios
2 bunches of organic bananas
1 bunch of Michigan grown asparagus
1 bag of fresh green beans from somewhere (Mississippi maybe?)
2 containers of organic blueberries
1 quart of Michigan strawberries
4 peaches
1/2 pound of pine nuts
2 boxes of whole grain pasta
a nice huge hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano
1 bag of Honey Nut Oats
2 bags of prepared granola
1 box of Kashi oatmeal
1 box of Kashi waffles
1 gallon of skim milk
1 dozen organic, grain fed, free range eggs
1 six pack of Oberon (my FAVORITE beer -- local to boot)
1 six pack of Edmund Fitzgerald (another Michigan beer, bought as a gift)

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the haul. I'll be using some of our basil and a little rosemary to make asparagus pesto for pasta tomorrow night. Past that, I have no idea what's to eat.

Dee