FOOD VIGILANTE

I am about to offer you a gift, please do not let it dilute the message in this post. After you read this you will have a bit more knowledge of what to put in your mouth, but also some fire power the next time we get into an argument. I will say something argumentative and stinging and you can say, “oh, yeah!? Well, YOU, FV, shopped at WalMart!!!!” Ugh, it’s going to come back to haunt me, I know it, but please, just keep this bit of info in your back pocket and don’t pull it out unless absolutely necessary. In the mean time, consider this tidbit of advice and use it. Thanks!

On a trip to GameStop to let my oldest spend some of his B-day gift cards I realized that I needed to get some grocery necessities and time wasn’t on my side. Luckily, there is a WalMart every 2.3 miles now and the one closest to the video game store was literally right next door. So, violent alien destroying video game in hand, I led my boys into the belly of the beast. The air carried a stench of recently digested small, privately owned businesses. The greeter said hello with a facial expression that said “hello, I could care less whether you made it out of here alive or dead”. Does Walmart really think that a greeter is even close to knowing the owner of a business by name and making the shopping experience personal, what a joke!

On to my point. One of the items I needed was cereal. I don’t purchase the sugar laden sweet cereals and it’s always an adventure trying to negotiate which cereal I can get my three boys to agree to buying. We looked over the usual top choices, Cheerios, Raisin Bran and Corn Flakes. I haven’t quite convinced the boys that Mueslix or Cream of Wheat are the way to go. (baby steps)

Then my oldest asked about frosted mini wheats. I considered the sugar-to-redeemable-value ratio and it’s slim. But, my sons more often than not abide by my vigilance in food and generally go along with most of my food adventures with out much fight. So, I bent on the sugar issue grabbed the box of Kellog’s Frosted Mini Wheats. Then I noticed the price…almost $4!! Seriously? I was about to toss the whole idea out when I then noticed the box of Great Value Frosted Mini Wheats on the same shelf, the WalMart store brand. This variety was just under $2, much better. So, I decided to compare ingredients first. I figured that WalMart, being the demon that they are, would have it’s cheaper store brand full of HFCS and harmful preservatives.

Wasn’t I surprised? The WalMart brand had actual sugar whereas the Kellogg’s brand used High Fructose Corn Syrup!

The rest of the ingredients were basically the same. It dawned on me that the Nationally advertised brand spends hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars on advertising and flashy packaging and there’s probably little money left over for anything decent in the ingredient list. So, what’s the solution for Kellogs, cheaper ingredients like HFCS that are being proven to have direct detrimental effects on our health. Oh, the sacrifice that is made to afford prime-time advertising!

Now the WalMart brand does not advertise and the box is just a little less plain than the generic black and white boxes of the past. So, they can afford to use actual sugar. In fact I tried to google a picture of the Walmart brand and couldn’t even find that on line anywhere. Kudos to WalMart. This shows that what you get from the more recognized producers is not always the best for you. I implore you, as always, READ YOUR LABELS!!

So, with all the money WalMart is saving on advertising and packaging, there sould be plenty of funds to continue to clear away unsightly trees and wild life and build more beautiful cement boxes. (did you think I’d let ‘em off scot-free?)

Last suggestion, but the un-frosted mini wheats and drizzle with honey!

Buzz,

FV