No Wonder

No wonder people that do all of their shopping at mainstream grocery stores think buying organic food is pricey. It is!

I was a participant in a brainstorming session with my healthcare insurance and received a $25 gift card to Safeway. I finally drove by one on my way to the bank and I decided to drop in and buy some organic lettuce since I was out and to look around. I love grocery stores- all kinds and could spend many hours just looking around at how they are laid out and what they sell.

Safeway smelled like my childhood- donuts and rotisserie chicken. Growing up my grandparents both owned grocery stores. I think this is where I started my love of food and grocery stores.

When I walked in the produce section was large but the organic produce section was so very tiny and the organic romaine lettuce was about 6 leaves big, droopy, and cost $3.59! Whole Foods had huge romaine lettuce on sale this past week - 2 for $3 and normally we pay anywhere between $1.50-2.99 at Vitamin Cottage. Although at Costco we can get the huge bin of organic baby lettuce and mixed greens for $3.99 (I believe that is $2 cheaper than at Whole Foods).

I instantly put it back and decided to just look around and see if there was anything else I could find. They had an entire section devoted to "natural" food but the prices were out of this world. Bragg's Liquid Aminos was just under $10 and Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza was a whopping $11.25.

It's really sad that our mainstream stores are selling terrible organic produce at outrageous prices and their selection of other "natural" foods is terrible and even non-existent. I know I sound a little spoiled here because I am lucky enough to have 2 natural food stores within 15 minutes of me. And I know that many people in our country don't have that luxury and that even in their stores they don't have the option of organic. But, I only pay a tiny bit higher for all organic produce that is gorgeous! So, why don't more people start shopping at our local natural foods store?

After watching The Future of Food on Hulu (for free) the other night I am more committed to eating organic and I am so thankful for our local stores. The next time I hear someone say how high organic food is I'll be sure to ask what store they are shopping at because I can bet that for only a few cents more they can have healthy organic produce which will probably save lots on medical bills in the future if they shop at a natural food store or their local co-op or even farmers market.