The Quest Continues

In light of the nasty economic situation, and the uncertain and hard times we all face ahead (unless we are CEO's, of course), I am thinking more and more about my quest, and how I feel it is a valuable tool to help manage not just financially, but emotionally with the depression (meant in both senses) that seems to be coming upon us.

My quest is to buy locally from small and independent grocers. In this day and age those are mostly run by immigrants - Arabs, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Hispanic - the folks who operate the small Mom 'n Pops with food from "home," wherever home is for them. However, in addition to stocking food from home, they also have wonderful, fresh, high-quality and CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP produce, meat and breads - to say nothing of the spices and other staples like eggs and cheese and yogurt they invariably carry.

I also feel really good about these spending patterns because the money goes to individuals, instead of corporation stockholders, and the money stays local. Additionally, Mom 'n Pops buy local produce, so I am not responsible for produce being shipped far distances, requiring tons of gas and making pots of pollution.

I also really feel good about shopping this way because I SAVE MONEY. Lots of money. I've detailed item by item in several of my past posts - but basically I save at least 50%, if not more, on the items I am able to purchase at these tiny groceries. What is not to like about that?

I also love the fact that my kids are not growing up in a bubble. They know the folks in all of these different stores to be real, human, hard-working, kind people - not scary strangers from so-called scary societies. Just folks.

I also love the fact that in addition to not growing up in a bubble, the kids are seeing that other cultures have their holidays, their rituals, their world views that are just as important to them as ours are to us - I don't want to raise ugly Americans. Really. Really. Plus, my kids can say "thank-you" in numerous languages. How cool is that?

I also love the fact that in addition to seeing other cultures, they often eat the foods of other cultures - I'm an adventurous cook, admittedly - and they are not stuck eating the vile crap I see lots of other kids eating. One of the happiest parenting moments I ever had was when Alex asked me "what is bologna?" Yes. Indeed.

I know I'm a food snob, and I make no apologies. I want my family to eat right.

And I want to save money, and I want to be as green as possible. That is why I am on this quest, and why I blog about this quest, and why I hope people will read about my quest and think that maybe they will want to do it, too.