Americans love a good deal. Likely, everyone does. Who likes paying more for something than one has to? We do, however, have to change our mindset when it comes to getting a good deal. We have to ask ourselves what it means to get a good deal and on what we are getting a good deal.Yesterday, as I was reading the Sunday newspaper, I got a little giddy when I realized that whoever stuffed the circulars in my paper had given me a double helping of them. I did, therefore, have some extra paper to recycle, but I also had double copies of all the coupons.
I use, however, fewer and fewer coupons now. There are fewer coupons for real food. When was the last time you saw a coupon for fresh produce? They generally don't exist. Sometimes there is a coupon for a particular brand of bagged lettuce or during holiday season for "cutie" tangerines, but rarely is there a coupon for green peppers or onions. The more whole food, real food, non-processed food that I eat, the fewer coupons that I use.
In fact, the "double dipping" of coupons in yesterday's paper netted me very few. I did clip some, but mostly for non-food items.
So, we have to re-tool our brains regarding what it means to get a "good deal." Now, price is part of getting a good deal, certainly. But so is getting something that is in itself good! I see value in a beautiful piece of fruit grown with care--buying that, to me, is a good deal, more so, than buying canned fruit, even if the canned is cheaper per ounce.
Cooking for myself, from scratch, means I use fewer coupons, but I have a much better idea of what is in my food and where it came from than if I were to use a lot of coupons for more highly processed food.
Does eating ethically therefore cost more? Maybe so, if we are counting cost in dollars, but there are other costs that are much lower. It has a lower cost to the earth. It might cost more in time, too. But it has a greater reward in the quality of the food one eats and the joy and relish one takes in that food.
That, and whenever one finds something really good on sale, or special, or a coupon for something that is in fact more ethical, it makes it all the more special.
Eating ethically costs more... if you measure cost in dollars. I try to keep remembering that eating a lot of processed food would cost so much in other ways. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI, too, find that there are rarely coupons for groceries that I actually buy. Even though there are plenty of coupons for processed/pre-made foods, those foods aren't necessarily good for you. There are also few coupons for organic foods, but they are starting to become more available.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your posts.