Listen up, I found a soapbox, I feel like yelling.
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to easily advise people on good eating habits. Some things are easy, like stay the hell away from fast food joints. Until they (or maybe I) open a drive through-all natural-mostly organic-fresh fast food operation, program yourself and your car to not stop for McCrap! I’ve said it before, but in case you forgot, if you take home a bag of fast food to your family, you might as well walk through the door and punch ‘em all right in the belly. It’s just as kind as the sack o’ fat you brought home and actually better for them!
‘But FV, haven’t YOU fed your family fast food??‘
Yea, OK, I have. Key word “have”. If sinners can be saved and old houses can be restored and Michael Vick can play football again, can’t you cut me some slack?? I preach about the perils of bad eating habits because I’ve been there! You don’t ask a blind man for directions! I’ve seen the dark side of the mountain, it may taste good, but it’ll kill you. Fast food is like a monkey’s paw of nutrition. It promises speed, affordability and deliciousness, but it will only bring you misery in the end. And yea, sometimes ‘out the end’!
So, listen up!
I thought I’d attack grocery store shopping first. If your are a hunter/gatherer and grow all your own food and have no need to shop in a grocery store, stop reading now. Please go start a blog so I can read how to do this. Go. Now. If not, read on.
As we enter any modern grocery store we can notice a format that is adhered to by almost all stores. There exists a perimeter wall full of fresh goods. First, usually, is produce. Then Bakery. Then Deli. Then maybe hot foods or a salad bar. Then meats. Then dairy. Then bread. These are the primary departments and they have a very important similarity. Everything that you can buy in these departments is perishable, meaning it can and will go bad, even under refrigeration. Isn’t that fantastic? Yes! It is! See, this is my first rule of thumb for food shopping. Buy products that can and will go bad, spoil and leave stinky gelatinous messes in your kitchen!
‘But, FV, I can’t waste money on a bunch of food that will just go bad!’
Yea, your right. So, get yourself organized, leave work a minute early, put down the iPhone, turn the darn TV off and go to the store more often. Purchase meals, not supplies for a bomb shelter. Take the kids, teach them to count in the produce section. Take the spouse, pick out some dark chocolate and strawberries for when the kiddies hit the sack. Take a friend and laugh at the inappropriately dressed grandma in the dairy aisle. Go by yourself and ogle the hot deli clerk.
‘But, FV, that takes so much time!‘
Oh, for pete’s sake!! Listen there’s only three things you absolutely must do to stay alive. One, breath, it’s free and effortless. Two, well, exactly, number 2, and I guess 1 too, also free. Three, EAT! So, you’re telling me that one of the three most important things you have to do to stay alive is something you don’t have time to do well. If you don’t eat, then, you die and if you don’t eat good, you may survive, just not very long or comfortably. This is so important. If you had the choice of breathing in dirty polluted air or fresh air and you had to take some time out of your day, each day, to get to that fresh air, I assure you, you would do it. Why can’t eating be the same?
It can.
I’m not pushing you to go all natural and organic and break the bank. Just try shopping around the perimeter of the store. This path will yield the most whole food products. Generally the interior aisles are full of processed, preserved food that I wouldn’t give my dog. Now, calm down, I said “generally”. There are good and needed things in the aisles, you just have to be smart about what you buy. A lesson for another day.
Go and practice what you’ve learned grasshoppers!
FV
Eat This NY
The Duchess of Amboy
Right on FV! What makes some folks so comfortable eating “food” made in a laboratory? Most of the population seems to be removed from the earth by way too many degrees of separation. Are they aliens?
Anyway, coming home and punching your family in their bellies kinda sounds like fun!
“You don’t ask a blind man for directions!” – HAHAHAHAHA
And hey, it’s the cute guy at the coffee bar…not the deli!
Hmm, I’ll have to do some reconnaissance soon and check out the competition!
(As if there’s any!)
Personally, I’m rather cool with the dried goods section. And with my canned products, I get the most basic stuff I can get. When I get canned tomatoes, the can should only read tomatoes and maybe absorbic acid. FV, what’s your take on dry foods such as rice, beans, and lentils? Notably the ones available at the local grocer.
Hey there Lemmon! People have been drying and canning food forever. These are useful and natural ways to preserve food. I’m sure no one in the 12th century added EDTA as a preservative. Hell, ancient egyptians preserved so well that even their bodies are still intact today! Point is that I am a big fan of dried and canned food as long as the process is natural and without the use of chemicals. This is what I meant by “generally speaking”. There certainly are some good choices in the interior of a grocery store and you my friend have the smarts I mentioned to find them. Thanks for reading!
FV
I heard that!!!
But more importantly, make sure you use the self check out line. I am so tired of buying fresh produce, heading to the old fashion check out line and watching the attendant, who obviously gets hit with body shots from family members nightly, fumble through the line item book searching for the price on pork chops when it is clear that I have artichokes in the bag. It always seems to work in the stores favor. But alas, now I can punch in the item I want the store to think I have. Like when I have organic eggplant, they think I have purchased parsley. When I have purchased 14 carrot gold nuggets, they think I have 14 grams of carrots. So now I can save time at the store and enjoy a nice meal on Safeway. By the way, this system works best when you pay cash, if your credit card gets rejected and a store employee has to come check on the problem, it kinda takes your appetite away.
Good thing this is an anonymous site.
Happy Produce Hunting.
love ZP and BOB
Hey Rizza I feel your pain.My gripe is the lady that has the full grocery cart in front of you in the express isle and watches while her order is tallied .Then she opens her purse in search of her check book and drivers license which could have been found while the order was tallied. She then has to make out the check and of course make the check larger for cash back. It makes one want to take those organic carrots from your basket and smack her on the head.
Or the little ol’ lady that must pay cash and takes an eternity to find those pennies in that suitcase called a purse to complete the transaction. I’ve been known to give her the pennies to speed the process!
Yeah.I agree Elmer I’ve been there as well.
Hey Rizza I feel your pain did you ever wait in the express line while the lady in front of you unloads a full cart of groceries and waits while it is tallied before finding her check book and driver’s license? I could just smack her with my basket of organic carrots!
Well for those readers who have never planted a garden before,if this blog hasn’t peaked your ol’organic interest then I don’t know why not! Instead of planting those geraniums and pansies next Spring why not think about an ol’fasioned vegetable garden?Why not? Fresh produce at your finger tips and you will save some money as well. Think of it,fresh tomatoes,lettuce,beans,zucchini,cucumbers and the best part is YOU GREW IT! And if space is a problem there is always container planting. If your yard has a lawn to mow why not plan agarden and your mowing will be reduced. So while the snow flies this winter think about Spring and look for the first sure fired Spring sighting: seed packets!