Survey: Has The Economy Changed Your Food Buying Habits?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.18.08
In the UK, the Emine Saner writes in the Guardian that “Expensive, organic food is the middle-class indulgence that even the middle-classes can't seem to afford anymore.” However Vanessa Farquharson writes in Canada's National Post that "It's true that many of the more sustainable foods on the market cost more than their mass-produced, brand-name alternatives. However, this doesn't mean it's more expensive to keep up a low-impact eating regime."- by shopping local and seasonal, and cooking from scratch, it can be quite economical.
i can't garden - no time, and a black thumb - and i can't get my husband, who has time & talent, to grow anything for me - he works all day with plants and just won't at home - even with the incentive of lower food costs!
i end up buying bulk pasta, etc because it's cheap. we didn't eat much meat anyway, but we've cut even more meat from our diet. and, we don't eat as many fresh veggies as we want - they are expensive and $45-60 for 4-5 days of grocery shopping (including non-food items like shampoo) for 5 people just doesn't leave any room for fresh veggies!
I must confess...I did attempt to shave a few bucks with the lower-cost big-box foods....trying to choose carefully by staying mindful of ingredients.
It was a bad choice. No one in my family liked the change, including me. Partially because I felt like I was compromising several things very important to all of us. The health of our family, the health of our planet, the sustainability of our local co-op, etc.
Going forward, I'm just going to try to "ride it out" and hope for the best.
I do a combination of all of the above. I like to buy organic food, but only when I can afford it, say when a store is having a great sale. If thats not happening then I turn back to conventionally grown food. I have cut back on meat, but only to have it replaced with vegetarian meat substitutes which can cost just as much, depending on how much I buy. My local "you-pick" farms are closed for the season (it's too hot here in Texas during the summer) and my attempts to grow my own food failed horribly due again to the heat, so I'm stuck shopping at the grocery store.
it's kind of odd, I know prices are different, if anything it's just changed where I go to buy groceries. Instead of wholefoods I'll go to two stores, a food4less which has fresh veggies for cheap, and the wholefoods for specialty things that I can't find at the food4less (certain rices usually). Overall though I think my diet has gotten better though, changed my eating habits to focus more on me cooking my own food vs. eating out of boxes and what not.
I live in a dorm, and I'm required to have a full (and overpriced) meal plan 9-10 months out of the year. Most of the time I eat there, because otherwise I'm just wasting money already spent. Needless to say, organic options are rarely available. However, the dining halls are adding more vegetarian options (which students have been requesting for many years) and local foods, in the name of sustainability. I greatly cut back on my meat consumption well before the recession, mostly because I realized that meat constituted the largest share of my water use that I could eliminate quickly.
When I do cook for myself (which I very much enjoy doing), I shop at farmer's markets as often as possible- cheaper, fresher, and better tasting. In supermarkets, I buy what is on sale, not necessarily what's organic or local. I throw very little food away, and I try to eat leftovers before making anything new.
I don't garden since I don't live in the same place for the whole growing season, but I plan to as soon as I can. I used to grow vegetables when I was younger.
While the economy initially got me looking into growing my own food (we have some raised beds built and are just waiting for large quantities of organic soil to begin planting), it also got me buying locally grown fruits, vegetables and eggs, and humanely raised beef and poultry (a side benefit is that this meat costs more and so we eat less of it and more plants and grains).
I actually spend more on food now than I did before, but something has happened to the way I view our budget and food. Rather than buying the cheapest food I can, I now understand I have an obligation, not only to myself and my family, but to my community, the farmers and the world, to buy responsibly raised food. If that means paying a higher price financially, I can sleep better at night knowing I am not paying a higher price environmentally.