Hey friends, I’m sure you’ve noticed, everything costs a gazillion dollars right now. We all feel it, and the nightly news tells us just how much nail biting and hand wringing we need to be doing each day. Wars, pandemics, supply chains, heat waves, gas prices, all of it is causing a giant melt-down of the global food supply. But are these things the real reason for the increases? Or does corporate greed play a large part? Corporations control prices at the “pump” and in the produce section, not governments.
Although it is of paramount importance to understand what we are facing, and we need to take in all truthful/real data that is being presented today, especially about climate change. The truth is, most folk don’t have time to research everything. They are too busy just making ends meet, scrapping by pay check to pay check…. How do we feed our families, or have friends over when everything from gas to vegetables are skyrocketing in price?
What does corporate greed have to do with your grocery prices going up you might ask??? Well, all the news about things like supply chain issues and workers demanding higher wages have given companies like Kraft and Kellogg, and all the rest an excuse to raise their prices- and thus your food insecurity is not an issue, your pain is benefiting their profit margins- by framing the price hikes as an “inevitable reaction” to the events in the world. That just isn’t true. Yes there are difficulties right now, but the price increases are just plain ol’ greed.
I believe we really don’t have to be victimized by corporate greed. The shopping habits I witness tell me that we have been brainwashed at a subliminal level by PR, and Advertising Firms on behalf of their corporate clients. We are overwhelmed with ads telling us this brand or that brand is the best! So that is what is reached for.
A little food for thought….A 2015 paper published by The National Bureau of Economic Research found that most consumers still avoid store brands. They studied 38,000 stores across more than 100 chains and found that American consumers would save $44 billion per year if they chose the store brand whenever possible.
Our grocery budgets are over taxed, and need to stretch further then ever before. Not sure how much more squeezing the sad little nickel can stand! So let’s not be lured into buying over priced brand named products, when most store in-house brands are manufactured by the same suppliers, the ingredients are the same,
Fortunately or Unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the fact is I am old enough to have seen many of these dire forecasts before. Maybe not all at once, and Climate disruption was not on our collective back door step, but still…
I firmly believe there are things each of us can do to mitigate these stressful times. Our Individual choices, and the collective shifts they bring about—add up quickly. You would be surprised, a small container garden for spinach or mesclun greens, even 2 cherry tomato plants in a pot save money and supply fresh tasty salad fixings. Making just one simple swap, like Tofu for chop meat once a week, or a meal centered on beans and veggies, you can spare the environment, and of course buying “in-house store brands” keeps your hard earned money in your pocket.
So over these next months, starting in July, I’ve decided to just be practical, I have no grand solutions, but I do have some tried and true ways to stretch grocery dollars while also making tasty nutritious meals… Over the months to come I will be posting some of (GMM) Green Mountain Monastery’s favorite recipes that either I have invented, or borrowed from my family members and adapted, to vegan and vegetarian meals. Recipes like Grandma Mary’s pasta sauce, Mama’s (meatless) meat loaf, and everyone’s favorite “Clive’s Lentil Soup”. These are just a few recipes visitors and retreatants have enjoyed over the years. So check in next month, I will be sharing some summer fun treasures, write and let me know if you try them! Or if you have a favorite GMM recipe you might want to try at home write and let me know!