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Temple of Doom?
Jan. 26th, 2005 10:07 amOn one of the many boards I read there is a debate going on about “Your body is your temple” and “What you put in is what you get out.” There is also a lot of talk/debate on whether is it cheaper to eat food that doesn’t cost much and might not be good for you but it is food vs. buy healthy food. There is a middle ground but no one seems to want to tread there.
One college student pointed out that he could get a pizza and a free one on one of these mad specials that are being advertised. He could freeze the pizza and have lunch and dinner for quite some time. Someone else gave them a breakdown of where they could get healthy food and make as many meals as the pizza for about the same cost. Now this person had about 5 places you had to go to obtain the items for his low cost food. It was pointed out to him that college students who work an almost full time job and carry a full course load don’t have the extra time to go to 5 places to save money especially when your transportation is the local bus. The response was well if you wanted to do it you could find a way. The implication being that this person is lazy since they rather order a pizza then spend a day shopping and cooking.
I have no idea where this college is, but if my experience at Yale were any indication of the kind of grocery stores and food markets available, then I would have gone for the pizza too. Yale is in an OK area of town. The closest grocery story is in a less OK part of town. The food offered there catered to the clientele that shopped there. There was very little choice and what there was of fresh foods was marked up to the sky. I had a car so I could go about two towns over to grocery shop. I would take a number of people with me each time I went so they too could get some healthy food at reasonable prices. There was also the matter of sheer time to cook these healthy meals. I had one day a week maybe to do any homework I hadn’t finished or cook or clean and then there was laundry that was always a time sink. So I gained a lot of weight while in graduate school because I made easy choices that I now know I shouldn’t have.
Health Food Stores all sound good but I have found that they are for the upper middle class to the extravagantly wealthy. The mark-up on stuff that is good for you is amazing in those stores. It is a good racket that someone has going there. There are exceptions but they are few and far between. Also I know of close to none that are in poor areas of a city. “There is no market there.” is excuse given. One of the suggestions was to shop in Chinatown or other ethic areas of the city were food is cheaper. Well not every city has that sort of area or again getting to the area is very hard to do with public transport. Also have you tried to haul a 20 pound bag of rice on a bus? Not a fun experience. Not counting all the other bags you might have from shopping.
Buying in bulk works IF you have a place to store the bulk until you use it. Most college students I know don’t have that sort of room. Heck a lot of working folk I know don’t have the room to store 15 pounds of chicken in their freezer. For fresh produce this really doesn’t work well for one or two people since the majority of the food will spoil before being eaten. My parents have a large freezer in their basement to store stuff they bought in bulk along with spaghetti sauce my mom had made and other things she made in bulk to be used over time. That is how they made it work but then they have the room for a large freezer in their basement most people don’t.
I have a series of places I go for healthy food for the family. I am fortunate that I have a car and about 5 different grocery chains in the area vying for my business. During the summer there are produce stands I can go do that have local product for sale. There is a butcher with in driving distance so I can get really fresh and lean meats. But I have to plan my trips around the needs of a two year old. This system works because I have the time to make it work. If I didn’t, then I think our food choices would not be as healthy or fresh. It isn’t about being lazy, it is a matter of time and what can be done in it.
I remember years ago reading an article about teaching welfare mothers how to shop so that they could cook healthy for their families. The mothers all said they wanted to do better by their families but some of the stuff that was being suggested was impractical or not available in their area. The social workers on this project agreed to go shopping with the women to show them that their system would work. Lo and behold, they couldn’t get many of the items they were recommending or the cost of those items was in some cases 4 times what it was in the suburbs. Poor people don’t have many options and are taken advantage of was the conclusion to this class exercise. Well this is true of college students and the working middle class too. They might want their bodies to be more of a temple but they don’t have access to the building blocks that would make it so.
I am grateful that I did learn how to shop healthy.
One college student pointed out that he could get a pizza and a free one on one of these mad specials that are being advertised. He could freeze the pizza and have lunch and dinner for quite some time. Someone else gave them a breakdown of where they could get healthy food and make as many meals as the pizza for about the same cost. Now this person had about 5 places you had to go to obtain the items for his low cost food. It was pointed out to him that college students who work an almost full time job and carry a full course load don’t have the extra time to go to 5 places to save money especially when your transportation is the local bus. The response was well if you wanted to do it you could find a way. The implication being that this person is lazy since they rather order a pizza then spend a day shopping and cooking.
I have no idea where this college is, but if my experience at Yale were any indication of the kind of grocery stores and food markets available, then I would have gone for the pizza too. Yale is in an OK area of town. The closest grocery story is in a less OK part of town. The food offered there catered to the clientele that shopped there. There was very little choice and what there was of fresh foods was marked up to the sky. I had a car so I could go about two towns over to grocery shop. I would take a number of people with me each time I went so they too could get some healthy food at reasonable prices. There was also the matter of sheer time to cook these healthy meals. I had one day a week maybe to do any homework I hadn’t finished or cook or clean and then there was laundry that was always a time sink. So I gained a lot of weight while in graduate school because I made easy choices that I now know I shouldn’t have.
Health Food Stores all sound good but I have found that they are for the upper middle class to the extravagantly wealthy. The mark-up on stuff that is good for you is amazing in those stores. It is a good racket that someone has going there. There are exceptions but they are few and far between. Also I know of close to none that are in poor areas of a city. “There is no market there.” is excuse given. One of the suggestions was to shop in Chinatown or other ethic areas of the city were food is cheaper. Well not every city has that sort of area or again getting to the area is very hard to do with public transport. Also have you tried to haul a 20 pound bag of rice on a bus? Not a fun experience. Not counting all the other bags you might have from shopping.
Buying in bulk works IF you have a place to store the bulk until you use it. Most college students I know don’t have that sort of room. Heck a lot of working folk I know don’t have the room to store 15 pounds of chicken in their freezer. For fresh produce this really doesn’t work well for one or two people since the majority of the food will spoil before being eaten. My parents have a large freezer in their basement to store stuff they bought in bulk along with spaghetti sauce my mom had made and other things she made in bulk to be used over time. That is how they made it work but then they have the room for a large freezer in their basement most people don’t.
I have a series of places I go for healthy food for the family. I am fortunate that I have a car and about 5 different grocery chains in the area vying for my business. During the summer there are produce stands I can go do that have local product for sale. There is a butcher with in driving distance so I can get really fresh and lean meats. But I have to plan my trips around the needs of a two year old. This system works because I have the time to make it work. If I didn’t, then I think our food choices would not be as healthy or fresh. It isn’t about being lazy, it is a matter of time and what can be done in it.
I remember years ago reading an article about teaching welfare mothers how to shop so that they could cook healthy for their families. The mothers all said they wanted to do better by their families but some of the stuff that was being suggested was impractical or not available in their area. The social workers on this project agreed to go shopping with the women to show them that their system would work. Lo and behold, they couldn’t get many of the items they were recommending or the cost of those items was in some cases 4 times what it was in the suburbs. Poor people don’t have many options and are taken advantage of was the conclusion to this class exercise. Well this is true of college students and the working middle class too. They might want their bodies to be more of a temple but they don’t have access to the building blocks that would make it so.
I am grateful that I did learn how to shop healthy.
