I was hanging out with a few good friends today, and the topic of grocery budgeting came up. Ugh. Chances are you already stopped reading. I would have. ;)
The three of us have also read Jen Hatmaker's book "7 : An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess". If you haven't read it you should. It's awesome. In the book there is a part where she describes her different personalities that come out when she goes grocery shopping. The part of her that wants to spend less looks for the cheapest food, the part that wants to care for the environment and her body wants to buy organic food which is definitely not the cheapest, the part that wants to support her community and local commerce wants to buy local, which may not be organic or cheap, etc. etc. (I'm totally paraphrasing and probably got that totally wrong, but you get the picture!)
I feel this tension every week when I go grocery shopping. For me health wins out, and I always end up spending more than I want to. What's crazy is that I'm spending more on what really should be less. Less processing, less factories, less genetically modified organisms that I'm sure cost our country millions to create and implement, less packaging, less potentially harmful non-food ingredients. Just real food from nature. Why it is so much more expensive to eat this way I just don't understand.
In many countries, people don't have all these choices when it comes to food. They don't get to go to big supermarkets and make these choices between cost and health. Many people are not getting to eat at all. I realize this "problem" is trivial in light of the suffering of millions around the globe, and I would be lying if I said that doesn't make me feel just a bit ashamed of my selfishness. However, I also don't think adopting a minimalist approach and not taking care of the bodies God gave us is the answer.
So what do you think? Is it better to spend less? Eat healthier? Buy local? Somewhere in the middle? Leave a comment, let me know what you think!
