Do you envy your mother or grandmother who just had to plan what to have for dinner that would be nourishing for her family? In that mythical time people talk about on Facebook – ‘I’m glad I grew up in the fifties, forties, thirties, 1890s etc.’ When everybody was happy and knew what they were having for dinner; roast on Sunday and the other six days a regular weekly roster that surely included a hearty stew and bangers and mash. We still have to eat, but the happiness of our families is the least of our worries.
Do you dare to take part in Supermarket Slash? It’s the same as Supermarket Dash only you have to put as little as possible in your trolley.
First Stop meat aisle. If you are a vegetarian go straight to the next aisle.
If you are a carnivore have you got a good reason to be one?
FOR: We know humans are omnivorous and can eat anything, that is why they live all over the world and over the millennia have tried every diet going from blood to berries.
AGAINST: In a recent documentary viewers were shocked to discover that meat actually comes from killed animals; one person’s pet is another person’s dinner.
Still going down the meat aisle? Is that chicken free range, was that pig outdoor reared before he was chopped. You have found a nice free range chicken and some Scottish beef, but how is it wrapped? Can that packaging be recycled?
Take your empty trolley and catch up with the vegetarians on the dairy aisle. Feel smug because scientists told us we were misinformed for decades about margarine – it’s bad, natural is better. But is that milk organic, does it come in a plastic bottle? Cheese omelette for dinner, but what about the hens, were they battery operated?
Catch up with the vegans in grains and pulses aisle. Can’t go wrong here, or can you? How much precious water does it take to grow rice? Go straight to tofu, but how many acres of lush dairy pasture or verdant forest have to be ploughed up to grow enough tofu? Jams and spreads, what could go wrong here, a peanut butter sandwich would be filling, but read the ingredients – palm oil is OUT, put the jar back and search for 100% peanuts.
How many items do you have in your trolley, don’t go to the checkout yet, have you scrutinised the ingredients on every packet and tin for hidden sugar and dodgy additives?
If you have anything left there is one more consideration. How did all the food get to the supermarket? In big diesel guzzling trucks…
You are out of the game, go home and start all over again. Follow the recent advice from the Chief Medical Officer on combating childhood obesity; eat only that which you have killed or grown yourself; in certain circumstances it is acceptable to pick up road kill. If going out hunting is not really your scene you could rescue some chickens from a battery farm; you would still have to kill them when their laying days were over, but it will not be so hard to catch them.
Let us know how you get on.
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
Ah Janet, this is a lovely idea but totally impossible for people who live in cities and work full time. I can barely cope with my life as it is now.
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Subsistence farming- we have moved on a bit. I am not very good at growing veg. There was a British comedy many moons ago ‘The Good Life’ – a chap got made redundant so he and his wife turned their suburban garden into a farm!
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Very innovative of them. During the war, they turned all the available space into gardens. The Brits are survivors.
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A new Channel 4 reality show is to have families ‘adopting’ a farm animal then being challenged to kill and eat them. Not what I’d call addictive viewing, but the ideas people must be getting desperate-
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Haha That’s one we’ll have to watch then – don’t think it will be as popular as Bake Off!
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Lol, so true! People all jump on the fad wagon only to learn a few weeks later what they’ve been doing is ‘bad’ for them and they’d better move on to the next ‘healthy’ alternative. It’s a crazy world out there!
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Yes Jaquie it certainly is – I drive Cyberspouse round the bend when we go shopping together!
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Makes you wonder how humans have survived as long as they have! I think a choccie biscuit is called for – and I won’t read the label.
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Yes Mary we still have to buy essentials such as chocolate biscuits.
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I have all this swirling through my head when I shop now, plus I am allergic to peanuts, I’m allergic to shellfish, I have the celiac gene, so I have gone gluten free, and I have hemochromatosis, which causes toxic levels of iron to build up in the body, so I try to eat foods low in iron. Fun!
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Hello Linda, sounds like you need a science degree to go shopping, have you found the best shops to go to?
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I mostly eat minimally processed foods. Lots of unroasted nuts: walnuts, pecans, almonds, and pistachios. Vegetables, fresh fruits, and fresh salads. Some salmon which, unlike tuna and most other fish, contains very little mercury. Corn tortillas with a sprinkle of melted cheese. Some gluten free breads are surprisingly delicious, especially when topped with pure natural almond butter and raw honey. 😋
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we have certainly complicated things with our eating. I’m a fan of routine – same thing for breakfast and lunch most days and a pattern for dinner. But sometimes things don’t work as planned, but that’s ok. I’m also a fan of simple meals…
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Hello Jim, yes there’s a lot to be said for routine, saves the ‘What do you want for and what shall we have for…’ conversations. My uncle, who also happened to have no teeth, had to always have the same bowl for his cornflakes!
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your uncle is my kind of guy!
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True, all of the above, but occasionally we break out and have a burger. 😀
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