I had an interesting experience at the grocery store this week. There I was with list in hand, standing in front of the bread rather miffed because they were out of the bread I normally buy. As I was standing there deciding which kind to buy, a stock dude came out with a cart full of bread. Before stocking the shelves, he picked up several loaves of bread, looked, presumably at the dates, and then tossed them onto his cart. I stood there for a minute and started to wonder: "Where is he going with all that bread? The sell by date doesn't mean the bread is bad. Is he going to throw all of that bread away??? Madness!!! There are people starving all over the world and here I am upset because MY brand of bread is gone. I grabbed a loaf and moved on.
Next I came to the meat section and was scouting for the extra lean ground beef when I stopped and looked around. Look at all this meat!!! That's insane! And in a couple of days half of it is going to be thrown away from people not buying it. Didn't I just hear something on the news about the amount of beef cattle being in short supply?
I continued around the store with a scowl on my face, ignoring my list. Maybe it was because it's the Christmas season, or that I really am that self absorbed that these things never occurred to me before. Then I realized something else: there's all this food in this store, and there are 6 more grocery stores within a 5 mile radius of me right now, full of more stuff. That's a lot of cows. That's a lot bread, milk, etc.
I unloaded all of this on Scott that evening when he got home and he kind of started to laugh and said, "and what would you like to do about it?"
I don't have a clue!!!!! I suppose there isn't much I can do. And I suppose my overall question is, why can't all of that food be donated?
I guess that's meant as a rhetorical question as I'm feeling like a very spoiled and ungrateful American.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
A Grocery Store Experience
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4 comments:
I've never thought about that before. That really is a lot of wasted food. I hope they do something besides just throw it away. Next time ask them if you can have it for free since they are getting rid of it anyway. :)
You should feel THAT guilty because a lot of stores will discount their meat and produce items to get them sold and the food bank actually receives a lot of donations from grocery stores with items that are "on the verge" (and some quality stuff too). I'm sure some still gets thrown away though. It's not in the store's best interest to have a lot of waste either so most large grocery chains have very specific systems ensuring they have as little waste as possible. I hope this reduces your worry at least a little. :o)
Yes that does help Sariah :) Thanks!!
And Tiff - you're right! I should totally ask if I can have what they're taking off the shelf. I'd love to see if that works.
hey lady, good post, I've been thinking that about all that food, too, and about all the plastic crap that I buy my kids that will really eventually end up in landfill someday and probably out 'exist' them. Makes me think twice about what I get them, that's for sure. One thing that might help you, if you can find an extra $27 a month I just became a sponsor for a woman in Nigeria who is widowed and raising five children. they give her all my money as long as she goes to her support group and classes to teach her a skill and to read. Women for Women International is changing third world countries by empowering women who are more likely to spend money on education, housing and medicine then their male counterparts and we get to exchange letters as often as we want :) It's really amazing, and if my etsy store gets up and running I am going to sponsor one more. Love you and how your brain works :)
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