Shopping in a Time Warp

I walk into the grocery store and (this has happened at a couple of different places) it’s like stepping into 1995. Back when nothing was bad for you and the more complex the scent the better - You know, before organic and natural foods/items became popular. The food selection is not what I left in North Carolina. I never realized how fortunate I was to be able to choose what brand of whole wheat bread I wanted to buy. Here there are 15 different varieties of white bread and maybe 2 of wheat bread – and only one whole wheat bread. Organic dairy? Forget about it. Unscented wipes? I don’t think so. Why wouldn’t you want your baby to smell like a fresh spring morning?

There are a few “organic/green” health stores in town, but they are more like health convenience stores – a little bit of everything, but no good variety of anything. I was able to pick up a bottle of mosquito replant that didn’t have the warning “hazardous to humans” listed on the back. We won’t talk about how much it cost.

Tropical fruit on the other hand is in abundance! Yay for mangos, bananas, pineapples, star fruit and papayas!!! These are not purchased in the grocery store, but directly from farmers along the side of the road. We’ve also driven by a free range grass fed cattle pasture and are determined to find out where those cows end up… hopefully in my freezer ;)

Coupon Clipping – is it Worth the Effort?

I have recently been inspired to save more money at the grocery store by a mom who is a coupon guru. She has it down to a science and saves a small fortune every month – so I thought I would give her method a try. The most important principle she taught me was to save your coupons for when something is already on sale. This principle does however trade the logic of buying only what you need for buying only what’s on sale that you have a coupon for - even if you won't need it for another 6 months. I am now saving about 20% at each shopping trip, but…

There is an issue, not with the coupons per se but with the way that we are buying food – there aren’t any coupons for the produce isle or anything that is fresh. Things are often on sale, but you can’t get the satisfaction of extra saving like you can with the processed food, so I found myself buying things I wouldn’t normally buy in the name of saving money.

I didn’t enjoy eating them as much as I thought I would, so the coupon clipping has since been scaled back. I am still buying things as they go on sale, but not buying anything simply because it’s cheap. Eating well is better than eating cheap and I thank God everyday that I’m not forced to choose the latter.