I'm at the grocery store yesterday, buying our groceries (surprise!) and I notice that my cart has a ton of frozen veggies in it and not so much fresh. Not because fresh isn't available. It's just a little more expensive, and with only three mouths to feed, and a very busy schedule over the next couple of weeks, frozen seems to be the best bet. But it made me think of the question that bug me a lot. To be healthy, you're supposed to eat a lot of fresh veggies. They give you the most nutrients and are better tasting. But if they have to truck those fruits and veggies in, even just from a neighboring state an hour or so away, then you're not being "green" or supporting your local economy. We have a few farmstands around us, and the produce stinks and is expensive. I want to do my part for the environment, but I also have never had disposable income to just throw around. The store I use does try to use local (meaning within a couple of hours from our area), family farms to suppy it's produce. So, what's the right answer here?
I also get angry when people compare gas prices here with gas prices in Europe. Most of the cities in Europe were built well before cars, and the roads can not support the type of cars we drive here. It's well good and fine to tell me to drive a smaller car...which child should I make sit on the roof then? And walk? Let's see, I live with a couple of miles of a couple of stores, but we have to cross two extremely busy roads to get to them. And there are no sidewalks or crosswalks. My children go to school 3 miles from my house, and again there are no sidewalks along the busy road. Also, Europe has a much better public transportation system. Can you really see us trying to build such a transportation system out in the wheat fields of Kansas? In larger cities, mass transit should be an option, but unfortunately, the money is not always available to make that so. My city has bus service, but it doesn't run on Sunday...it was a big deal when Saturday service started a year or so ago. And it's not very user friendly. We are mid size city with quite a few small towns surrounding it. If you have to drive into the city to catch the bus, you might as well drive to your destination.
Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Night!
1 comment:
I've read more than once that frozen vegetables are often better than fresh, because they go straight from the fields to the processing plant.
Whereas many of our fresh stuff takes a lot longer to get to the display at the local grocer.
Loses its best stuff on the transport.
So don't feel guilty about frozen veg.
In the spring plant a garden and enjoy some of your own fresh stuff!
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