Well, maybe someone will care about what I’m having for dinner.
Today, instead of driving down to the crappy chain supermarket, I walked to get our groceries. I bought bread from our local vegetarian bakery* and stopped in at the chain supermarket to buy meat for the dogs, peanut butter and some frozen vegetables. I knew I couldn’t get these things from the local Islamic grocery that I planned on buying the rest of our food from. The Islamic grocery is only two blocks from our house, and after a visit there the other day to buy some coffee and free range eggs, I realised that I could buy most things we needed from there, and we’d save on money and fuel. I keep thinking about this experiment that Kelli did back in November last year. No matter how many times I hear it, I just can’t get over the apparent unavailabilty of inexpensive, fresh and healthy food in the USA. Living in Australia, where fresh produce is abundant, I have real difficulty comprehending that a lot of people just can’t get this stuff.
Anyway, this is what I bought today from the Islamic grocery to feed two adults and two dogs** (in combination with some lentils, split peas, rice, TVP and tofu that we already have).
I spent $26.90, which would have been $24.40 if I hadn’t been seduced by the gorgeous wrapper on this chocolate. I don’t actually care about the chocolate, but I do want to use the packaging for some crafts I have in mind…
All up, at the bakery, the supermarket and the grocery store, I spent $40 AUD. That’s around $31 USD, and it will feed us and our dogs healthily for a week. Add in soy milk and cereal, which I don’t have yet, and you’re looking at around $50 AUD. We normally spend $80-$90 at the supermarket, so I think I’ll try and keep this up, especially considering that if I lived in Arizona on my current wage and was single, I’d qualify for the food stamps…
*Lunch was a vegan mushroom pie from the bakery, if yr interested.
**We don’t feed our dogs canned food — they get dry dog food in the mornings, and a couple of times a week we cook up a big batch of vegetables and meat for their dinner.
looks yum!
and a vegetarian bakery! lucky you!
Comment by Sarah — January 29, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
I know. We totally lucked out with the bakery. The first time I ate one of their pies, I thought they were lying about the vegetarian part…
Comment by Crumpet — January 29, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
well done! i go get vic mkt organic veg each week, and do as little at the stupidmarket as possible. loving that chocolate wrapper…
Comment by vetti — January 29, 2007 @ 7:17 pm
We used to to the Vic Market organic section as well, but with uni and both of us in non-permanent, on-call work, the timing got difficult.
Comment by Crumpet — January 29, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
cool stuff, crump. That’s the kind of thing that makes me long for the inner suburbs again. But then I look at the city, and see the filthy air hanging there, and I feel okay.
Besides, we’ve got a great grocer down in Eastfield, and Bill the Butcher in Belgrave totally rocks with his free ranging and organic hand-made meats (not your thing, I know, but he is a true craftsman).
Good shopping, Crump
Comment by gizo — January 29, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
Gah. You’re such an air snob!
Comment by Crumpet — January 29, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
Wonderful! And in all fairness, it isn’t that we can’t get fresh produce in the US. (If anything, I wish we imported less and used less fuel in our desire to have out of season produce year-round.) It is just far more expensive than eating processed foods.
So, you cook for your dogs?
Comment by Kelli — January 30, 2007 @ 2:46 am
I have heard that it’s difficult to get fresh stuff in the really isolated middle-America states, especially in winter when everything’s frozen. Is this true? A lot of produce in Australia is grown here — there are some imports, but the majority is local — from different states, but local. Prices have gone up with increased fuel costs, but fresh produce is still very affordable. And yep, we cook for the dogs, and they love it.
It works out cheaper for us, we don’t have to wonder what we’re feeding them, we can choose more ecologically friendly meats (usually kangaroo, sheep or chicken), and we waste far less packaging. Plus they like it. 
Comment by Crumpet — January 30, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
Hi!
Just found your blog this morning. Very interesting!
I can’t imagine eating Kangaroo. Have you ever eaten it and been able to compare it to another, for example: “Tastes like chicken.” lol I gather from your writing that you are a vegetarian, which is why I asked. (ok, I just realized that you were speaking about feeding it to your dogs. lol. Do people eat them too though?)
Fresh produce where I live is very expensive in the winter. I am in the upper penninsula of Michigan, snow and below zero(F) right now. I have a pretty large garden every summer, so a lot of the vegies I grow. I can and freeze a lot of them so we can enjoy them during the winter. Plus we buy what we don’t have. The gardening helps.
Comment by Kim — January 31, 2007 @ 12:02 am
Yep, we’re vegetarian, and I have been for eight years, so I’ve never tasted kangaroo. We like to feed it to the dogs, as it’s something they could and would eat if they were in the wild (as opposed to taking down a cow, for instance) and it’s probably the most environmentally responsible animal that we can feed them here in Australia. This website has some good information about kangaroos and the regulations for their harvesting.
As for the taste, I really have no idea. Gizo? Vetti?
Comment by Crumpet — January 31, 2007 @ 9:14 am
Yay! Thanks for the link-back, Crump! I will be sure to tune in each day to find out what you had for dinner.
Comment by alexarch — January 31, 2007 @ 3:29 pm