Scary shopping carts....

[LyricSarah]

Yesterday I went to the grocery store just to buy some paper towels and bottled water and noticed this mother and her three children...and their HUGE cart filled with CRAP. I mean....snack cakes, tons of white bread, candy, sugary cereal, kraft mac and cheese, strawberry milk, scary frozen meals...and tons of other unnecessary food.......I felt so sad...i mean....so many americans complain that they cant eat healthy because they cant afford it..HELLO!!!! fresh produce costs way less than all that proccessed stuff....amaericans are so incredibly dissilussioned about what food is "normal"...when many americans think of peanut butter...they think of jif and skippy....but natural peanut butter is "WEIRD".....white pasta and white bread is "comfort food"....I hate it when people get freaked out about food in its natural state...like it shoud be...people started getting sick and fat as soon as artificial perservatives, food colorings, high fructose corn syrup, hydrginated oils, and the like became intriduced into our diets..... I dont mean to sound garsh...its just that children are so impressionable....you know?

[Mystic]

I work in a big chain supermarket and I know EXACTLY what you are talking about - people buy the scariest 'food' - stuff that shouldn't even be classified as food! But I have to disagree with you on the cost issue - For my boyfriend and I, I buy mainly fresh produce - including fruit, veg, nuts, dried fruit and herbs, wholemeal bread, brown rice, barley, lentils, split peas, dried limas and mung beans, olive oil, flaxseed oil, tahini, mineral water and the odd can of baked beans and ketchup or frozen berries - and my food bill is HUUUUUUUGE!!!!!!!!! I used to eat only convenience foods, like veggie burgers, mexican beans etc... and it was waaaaaaaaaay cheaper

[eve]

I think we are better off ignoring what other people are buying, and simply keep our eyes on our own shopping trolley.

[tails4wagging]

Yes, I notice that all the time. Junk food. My neighbours idea of a birthday meal for their kids is macdonalds!!!.

I don't know what anyone else feels about it but I cringe when I see raw meat oozing on the conveyer belt and the assistant just wipes it down with a dry cloth and my food is following on. Yuk!!!

[blue]

I agrree, where I live, fresh veggies, and the Vegan lifestyle way more expensive. Plus, my entire family is not Vegan, so we shop both ways! So, my food bill is enormous!

I hate the meat drippings on the belt! Yuck!

P.S. I don't even purchase the meat for my husband and son anymore. Am I a terrible MOM? I make my husband do their shopping! My son tells my mother that I'm starving him. But, there is plenty of healty food in the house. If he's hungry enough, he'll eat that. ( He's 15)

[PinkFluffyCloud]

Good for you, Blue!

[blue]

My family thinks I'm horrible! I'm starving a growing boy!!!

[blue]

P.S. Let's not forget ......... He get's his fill of junk food at school. I give him $50. for two weeks lunch money. They have their choice of all kinds of fast food type of junk! It's disgusting, it's why our children are overweight!

[feline01]

Good decision blue. Your son is old enough to make his own unhealthy/cruel choices. You shouldn't have to buy the murdered animals for him. Have you tried showing him any of those informational videos like www.meetyourmeat.com or www.themeatrix.com ?

I'm sitting here at work now eating a big bowl of salad because I'm starving while everyone else is chowing down on donuts. And they're loooking at me like I'm weird. I am weird but not because I eat salad .

[Cat]

I am always noticing what other people are eating and constantly trying to stop myself from telling them how awful their food is. My work collegues have all gone on a diet for new year and they seem to think that weight watchers microwave meals are healthy!

[John]

I don't know what anyone else feels about it but I cringe when I see raw meat oozing on the conveyer belt and the assistant just wipes it down with a dry cloth and my food is following on. Yuk!!!

I HATE THAT!

[blue]

Thank you Feline. No, I haven't seen those videos myself. I really need to get them. I did bombard myself with pictures on the internet, and it was enough.

[Michelle]

I agrree, where I live, fresh veggies, and the Vegan lifestyle way more expensive. Plus, my entire family is not Vegan, so we shop both ways! So, my food bill is enormous!

I hate the meat drippings on the belt! Yuck!

P.S. I don't even purchase the meat for my husband and son anymore. Am I a terrible MOM? I make my husband do their shopping! My son tells my mother that I'm starving him. But, there is plenty of healty food in the house. If he's hungry enough, he'll eat that. ( He's 15)

Blue,

I was curious if you were vegan when your son was young. I was vegetarian when my daughter was born and I insisted that she be vegetarian as well. Now that I am vegan, she remains vegetarian as a medium between myself and my omnivorous husband. One of my biggest fears is that she will choose to eat meat with her dad eventually, even though I plan to have her well-educated about the source of the "food". I am realy looking to find someone that has gone through this and to find out how they handled the situation.

Thanks for reading

[Michelle]

Good decision blue. Your son is old enough to make his own unhealthy/cruel choices. You shouldn't have to buy the murdered animals for him. Have you tried showing him any of those informational videos like www.meetyourmeat.com or www.themeatrix.com ?

I'm sitting here at work now eating a big bowl of salad because I'm starving while everyone else is chowing down on donuts. And they're loooking at me like I'm weird. I am weird but not because I eat salad .

Feline,

the video Meet Your Meat was THE turning point in my transformation from vegetarian to vegan. I would recommend it to everyone that is thinking of being veggie or vegan. And, if necessary, I will definitely be showing it to my daughter when I feel she is ready. My husband says that I will give her a biased viewpoint on vegetarianism. My response... "You're d*mn*d right."

Anyway, my co-workers think I am weird, too. Today, one of them made a comment about salad. "Oh yeah, you don't eat REAL salad. You probably eat fake salad." This was in reference to the "fake" food that I eat like meatless meatloaf or whatever. I didn't even know how to reply to such an ignorant statement.

Okay...I'm off to check out the meatrix video... I've never seen it, and I don't really need to, I'm sure, but I like to know what's out there in case I need to refer someone. Thanks.

[Michelle]

Well, I didn't like that website so much, because it directs you to alternatives to factory meat...however, eating family-farm meat would be better than factory-farm meat, I suppose. I just hate the idea of eating ANY of it.

[feline01]

Well, I didn't like that website so much, because it directs you to alternatives to factory meat...however, eating family-farm meat would be better than factory-farm meat, I suppose. I just hate the idea of eating ANY of it.

The good thing about the Meatrix is that it just tickles the minds of die-hard carnivores, especially young ones who liked The Matrix. It's rare for someone to go straight from dead animal to vegan (though I know one case where that happened, they watched Peaceable Kingdom [www.tribeofheart.org ). The Meatrix might just plant that seed (vegan of course) of doubt about their dead animal ways.

[webster]

One of my biggest fears is that she will choose to eat meat with her dad eventually

I have tried to be more open minded with mine. I think that if you present it like that then mom is 'right' and dad is 'wrong' and she has to choose sides. I have raised mine 'both': sometimes they eat dad's meals, sometimes they eat mine. We haven't gotten too into the issues behind the food yet (they are 4 and 2), but I am ready with simple honest answers (yes, beef comes from the cows you see in fields, etc) when they do eventually ask them. And they can make their own choice. Yes, I do kind of hope that they will sway to my side of things, but if they don't I am okay with that too - it is their choice. For me to impose any more than that would be for me to say that their dad is 'wrong', and that is not a position I can put them in (or myself for that matter).

[PinkFluffyCloud]

That must be so hard! I have never fed my child meat, to me animals are not food, so it would definitley be wrong. Fortunately, my husband doesn't eat meat either, as I can see it might cause problems.
I'm afraid, if he did, I would still have to tell my son his dad is wrong!!!

[John]

I think that someone on this forum said that some sites edit Meatrix. They take out the vegetarian message and leave it as a pro-small farm/anti-agribusiness movie.

[ducky]

Meals going to be so weird when my husband and I have kids. He is a EXTREMELY picky eater, and would be perfectly happy eating chicken fingers and fries every day. He's getting better, but progress is just so slow (eg. progress=getting him to eat a plate of plain lettuce with his meals). Sigh. So even for purely health reasons, I will not want the kid's eating dad's meals. Oh well, maybe there will be progress between then and now.
Our shopping carts are quite funny; lots of produce, soy milk, tofu, whole grains etc right next to the boxes of chicken fingers and fries.

[Mystic]

Ducky just be patient - it has taken my bf a year and a half of living with me to hate white bread, white rice and only eat meat MAYBE twice a week if that. He loves healthy food now, and I am even getting him to eat 2 pieces of raw fruit a day. He snacks on peanuts, sultanas, almonds, dried apricots and banana chips. He used to snack on crisps and cheese sandwiches. Oh and he loves salad now too - we eat it every day.

[blue]

Michelle, I went STRAIT from being a meat eater to being a Vegan. I am now repulsed by meat. The only fake meat that I endure is the Vegan Boca Crumbles I use in soup or something like that. I'll tell you what's funny about that, I never liked ground beef.

Anyway, my daughter, just went with it, she's nine, she just doesn't like meat. Cheese on the other hand is a problem, for the both of us!

As you've read, my Son thinks I'm starving him!

P.S. I'm a fairly new Vegan, and am learning every single day!

[Michelle]

Well, I guess all I can do is just let her know where the meat comes from when it's time. She really loves animals, so I hope that's enough to do it. So far, the only problem I've had is her wanting a bite of my husband's food one night when he grilled himself a steak. It was easy to distract her with an ear of corn, though :P

Thanks all

[Lord Perennialist]

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I'm appalled with the shear amount of junk food people eat. They'll have carts full of processed bologna, mayonnaise, white bread, soda, candy, doritos, lays and every other unimaginable combination of unhealthy, fatty, artery clogging food. And the vast amounts of meat they buy!! It's disgusting. People just don't know how to treat their bodies right any more.

[Honest_Goodbye]

I notice this well... i try not to look, but it always digusts me seeing what other people are buying lol.

[beanstew]

I love nosing at what other people buy. My favourite was a guy that had a large bottle of vodka, a bag of ice cubes and a giant bag of cheesy wotsits. Par-TAY!

[Lord Perennialist]

^

[fiamma]

My favourite was a guy that had a large bottle of vodka, a bag of ice cubes and a giant bag of cheesy wotsits.

Sad, drunken single guy with no freezer and bad breath?

[Sloth]

I always find supermarket shopping kind of an ordeal for the reasons already mentioned by others on this thread. Around this time of year, though, the school holidays, it's waaaay worse because you get to see people filling their trollies with junk, overweight children in tow.

[DiaShel]

It's disgusting! It's one thing if you're going to kill yourself, but to feed that poison to the people you're in charge of caring for. Urgh.

[Ms_Derious]

It makes me kinda sad.

Less than a year ago my shopping basket was probably full of cr*p. It's only since I went vegan and really have to consciously think about my food choices that I realised how unhealthy lots of the things I ate as a vegitarian were.

Now, I know a loads of vegan snacky foods, like Mr Kippling Jam Tarts or Hobknobs, but because I understand the foods I'm eating more, I think 'Thats a treat' rather than 'Oh, and I'll grab that because it's on special offer'

To be honest, I'm at more risk of the kitchen shouting at me to make pancakes then I am from buying cakes.

[helen105281]

I am a lot more aware of what I am putting in my trolley since I went vegan too. I do feel that I am way too judgemental of other people's trolleys though, BB and I are always raising our eyebrows at each other when we see the junk in some. The worst was the other day in Tescos when the couple in front of us had Tesco value eggs that said Battery hens on the front of the box. I think I made a vey loud comment.. That's not to say any eggs are ok of course but this just seemed worse somehow.

[DavidT]

Strange. I think eating vegan is cheap! I suppose it comes down to what you eat.

[DavidT]

Have a read at this interesting short article.

[purpleflipflop]

We are always amazed at the ma-hoosive multipacks of walkers crisps in many trollies that pass us in the supermarket. Now, we enjoy a bag of crisps and even partake in the odd family bag of a weekend (shock horror!) but what are people thinking of buying that many bags for a typical weekly grocery shop??! And yes, always obese children in tow......

My son gets excited over fruit and vegetables (he loves snacking on raw borad beans or peas from the pod!) - I just hope as he starts school etc that he wont start following the crowds and start wanting junk (he's not yet 2).

Our shopping has increased over the past year or so. We used to be able to get a week's grocery shop for around £50 (mainly fruit, veg, some pulses and odd fake meat products, bread, pasta, rice and grains, yoghurts for the boy, milk-soya and cows, hummous, sometimes some cheese) - now we can't shop for less than £70. Although fresh products def seems to be more expensive, we do shop for a lot less than my meat eating parents who eat a joint of meat of some kind most days. Turning vegan did increase the bill slightly as I did buy quorn products a fair bit to add to curries and stir fries etc as a veggie as my meat eating hubby appreciated quorn more than lentils/chickpeas etc and they were always on offer. If I buy fake meats now it's from the health food store when I pass and invariably it costs me a tenner for a few products. I do eat more lentils and chickpeas now though, which are obviously healthier and cheaper than any prcessed muck, but we all like a bit of convenience now and again!

My friend, love her as I do and great mum in so many ways, often places on the table for her daughter who loves lasagne, a ready made supermarket basic range lasagne Now I know how busy it is being a working mum but surely making a lasagne on a weekend and freezing portions wouldn't be too much trouble? ok, she is a single parent as well, maybe I judge too much, if I was so bothered maybe I ought to make one for her (veggie!) and let her freeze it.............

[DiaShel]

^ How wonderful that your son enjoys such healthy foods. It seems most American children will eat nothing but chicken nuggets, fries, grilled cheese and cookies. I think, if the kid never had these things then they will eat good foods.

[Kate1978]

Sometimes, I have a nosy at what other peeps are buying, usually the person in front of me at the checkout.

It can be like something from a horror movie sometimes... I want to look away, but somehow I am compelled to keep watching in fascination

[pavotrouge]

seriously, supermarkets and looking at what people buy freaks me out most of the time.
I try to avoid it by mostly buying at organic/health food shops and ethnic groceries. Turns out to be cheaper, too.

[Kate1978]

I try to avoid it by mostly buying at organic/health food shops and ethnic groceries. Turns out to be cheaper, too.

Actually I can believe that it is cheaper, given the efforts supermarkets go to to part you from your hard-earned cash.

Ever tried going into a supermarket for one item and coming out with one item? Not easy

I have now started to limit my supermarket shopping to once a fortnight.

[DiaShel]

seriously, supermarkets and looking at what people buy freaks me out most of the time.
I try to avoid it by mostly buying at organic/health food shops and ethnic groceries. Turns out to be cheaper, too.

Really? I think they're more expensive but I feel better shopping at them.

[pavotrouge]

yeah... at the moment I'm not sticking to my rules because I'm exploring all the wonderful UK supermarkets (yes people, you don't know how good you've got it), but will probably go back to my usual routine soon.

[BlackCats]

We are always amazed at the ma-hoosive multipacks of walkers crisps in many trollies that pass us in the supermarket. Now, we enjoy a bag of crisps and even partake in the odd family bag of a weekend (shock horror!) but what are people thinking of buying that many bags for a typical weekly grocery shop??! And yes, always obese children in tow......

I have to say my husband and I buy a lot of crisps and neither of us is obese. I do eat lots of fresh fruit and veg too though.

I do look in people's shopping trolleys and judge the contents sometimes especially if it has a lot of cheap, processed meat inside. Horrible. I hate it when I see people buying those Activia or Yakult things too.

[leedsveg]

I have to say my husband and I buy a lot of crisps and neither of us is obese. I do eat lots of fresh fruit and veg too though.

Maybe you're both obese on the inside?

[DavidT]

I hate it when I see people buying those Activia or Yakult things too.

Yeah; total marketing hype for a totally empty product. Parting with money they've had to spend time acquiring in exchange for spin, plastic and needlessly-produced waste products. It's an insult to sheep to describe people as such.

[BlackCats]

Maybe you're both obese on the inside?

Well I'm not exactly stick thin but I just meant some vegans eat junk food too.

Yeah; total marketing hype for a totally empty product. Parting with money they've had to spend time acquiring in exchange for spin, plastic and needlessly-produced waste products. It's an insult to sheep to describe people as such.

Exactly. I hate the Activia TV adverts as well.

[Ms_Derious]

I hate it when I see people buying those Activia or Yakult things too.

But how else are we going to get out madeupium Bacteriyummy? I mean, without that, we'll all be walking around, feeling bloated and constipated, won't we?

Or, we could try eating a balanced diet, but how will that make money for the supermarkets?

[DavidT]

I use supermarkets for the odd one or two things I can't seem to find elsewhere.

You do build up relationships with small shopkeepers (ahem, keepers of small shops!) which you could never do in a supermarket.

What always amazes me is the percentage of what people buy that is plastic. Packaging makes up a massive proportion of what people are happy to spend money on. I'm one of those who will refuse to buy over-packaged stuff or brands that use plastic when a paper or cardboard or loose alternative is available.

Well, I suppose plastic is what plastic does.

Eh?

[Buddha Belly]

Yeah; total marketing hype for a totally empty product. Parting with money they've had to spend time acquiring in exchange for spin, plastic and needlessly-produced waste products. It's an insult to sheep to describe people as such.

I kick myself when I fool for it too. A good example was the online hype about the Pure cheeses on this forum (which I am just as guilty off). Hardly anyone liked it and there was a general feeling of disappointment. At least I'm not as bad as I used to be.

Exactly. I hate the Activia TV adverts as well.

The activia ones make me laugh with the Bifidus Digestium and slightly worried that people believe it.
Activia Yogurt can cure your ills and make your bloating into flat stomached sexiness

[DavidT]

Fortunately I have never had a tv so I'm relatively immune to such nonsense.

[Ms_Derious]

Fortunately I have never had a tv so I'm relatively immune to such nonsense.

Never in your life? Wow, that is unusual.

I am seriously considering getting shot of mine, actually, off to bump a thread about this right now