Make a Difference: Grocery Shop Responsibly

Yesterday I introduced Meatless Monday: a fun and easy-to-remember challenge.

At the beginning of each week, I'll revisit this challenge by way of reminding readers of the budgetary, ethical, and health benefits to reducing, refining, and replacing meat in one's diet.

Though I am a meat-eater, I'm doing my best these days to locate humanely-farmed versus factory-farmed meat at the grocery store.

Yet, this exercise has been more of a challenge than not eating meat on a Monday!

I mentioned yesterday that I'd found "Certified Humane" eggs recently, and while at the dairy case, I also picked up Applegate turkey bacon which, according to their website, is also "Certified Humane."

Do I really feel as though I can trust what I've purchased to be exactly as its labeled?

No, I don't, but I do feel more confident about "Certified Humane" than the loosely defined "organic" and "natural" meat and dairy that I was purchasing because I've done my research.

Today I grabbed a take-out lunch, not something I usually do, but having dipped into Righteous Porkchop, I knew that Chipotle Mexican Grill buys their pork from Niman Ranch and other ranchers practicing traditional farming methods.

I bought the to-go bowl of cilantro rice, pinto beans, shredded pork, tomato salsa and lettuce. It's a substantial lunch and I have the leftovers in my fridge; I'll mix them with other fresh ingredients tomorrow to create another meal.

Changing my purchasing habits and making simple, value-driven choices is my way of saying "No" to the kind of corporate farming practices documented in Food Inc., which by the way, I thought would take home the Oscar on Sunday night.

Despite that another worthy documentary, The Cove, won the Oscar it's impossible to deny that we are in the midst of a food renaissance, the result of the domino effect of a series of inconvenient truths, the most obvious: obesity and diabetes.

When I feel overwhelmed by what I'm reading and researching about our food, and what I'm finding or not finding at the grocery store, I feel more compelled than ever to make value-driven choices like those I mention above and in many of the posts that make up this blog.

My choices can make a difference, and so too can yours.

Where Does Your Food Come From?

While waving a large bag of Costco walnuts under my nose a friend challenged me recently with: "You can't beat their prices!"

The same friend then insisted I take half the bag of walnuts home to sample, saying, "You can't beat the flavor."

Another friend did something similar with a side of salmon (colored with dye) she'd bought at Safeway.

Another with fresh and cheap conventional produce she'd purchased at Sunflower Market.

Sometimes it feels as though I've set myself up writing this blog. People love to challenge my position that you can one-stop shop on a budget at Whole Foods for one, two, or a family.

However, my position as a recession-strategy blogger isn't just about saving dollars grocery shopping. If that were the case, I'd be writing about the cheapest-of-cheap tinned, bottled, pre-packaged and frozen foods available at dollar-store style groceries.

As a former chef and advocate of healthy, simple gourmet cooking, I'm very conscious and concerned about the food I buy and consume. I want to know where the food I'm putting in my mouth came from and I want to know how it was farmed.

I care enough about my body, my health, and our environment to ask these questions and I hope that one day everyone will care about their health, and the health of their family, and thus be compelled to ask questions along lines of:

"Where did that side of salmon come from? Can I get it without the color-enhancing dye? And was it farm raised or is it wild? If it was farm-raised was it farmed responsibly?"

I buy very little tinned, bottled, and pre-packaged food, instead I opt for whole, unprocessed foods such as fresh produce, bulk dry goods, some dairy, responsibly-farmed fish, and antibiotic and hormone-free meat.

And I choose to buy these items at Whole Foods because I trust their quality standards. I can peruse their website and read where the food I'm buying comes from and the practices used to produce that food.

I trust that Whole Foods cares about what I put in my mouth and cares about our environment.

I don't feel the same level of trust at stores where the goal is selling food at the lowest price -- where price, not the food, is what matters.

Since beginning this blog, I've been made aware of the documentaries: Fresh, Food Matters, Here We Grow all of which explore the underbelly of the food industry and its impact on our health, well being and our environment.

You Are What You Eat, a BBC America in-your-face reality TV show, delivers an equally strong message contained within its title.

Books such as Michael Pollan's, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food add to the list of urgent messages asking us to be more aware of what we put in our mouths!

This blog is not just about me writing tips and tricks to help you save dollars grocery shopping during these challenging economic times, I also take seriously my mission to educate anyone who loves to eat on the importance of feeding your body and soul with food that is good for you and that has been grown responsibly with yours, and our planet's health in mind.

Next time you're on the verge of purchasing that cheap piece of fish, or that big bag of heavily-discounted nuts, consider thoroughly what you're buying, and remember, you always have a choice to shop and consume differently, and responsibly.