Never Pays to Look Too Close



As a photographer I can be attracted to the light through a window bouncing off a glass on a silver plate and spend several frames recording it only to get home and discover the glass was dirty or there was a fly on the plate, etc. In digital photography there is always something you can do to remedy most flaws but life isn't like that.

 A Canadian friend posted a photograph of what she could purchase for the $21 Canadian per week for groceries. The photo was still in my mind when I went grocery shopping yesterday.  Forget that where my friend and I live in the rural parts of our countries that going to get the $21 of groceries probably takes that much is gas or petrol. The closest store to my abode charges such high prices I would not even be able to get half of what was in her photo. So it is over the mountain, 50 miles round trip, to shop.

 I used to go weekly but being able to buy dry and canned goods from Amazon Prime has cut that to about once a mouth for fresh goods when I go to pick up my prescription. No pharmacy on my side of the mountain any more. Speaking of the prescription, the health issue that necessitates it also demands I change my shopping habits. Are you aware of how much more it costs to eat healthy; to cut out just one common ingredient like sodium? Thankfully I am not gluten or lactose intolerant. But where I can I choose organic. But thankfully I have cut beef largely out of my diet. God, the prices per pound on just what used to be a cheap cut of meat like a chuck roast.

 I like my mushrooms Portabello and my green beans those thin French ones and my peas snow like in Chinese restaurants. If I am going to be largely vegetarian it is going to be good stir fry. Deleting the $15 spend on good dark chocolate which was on sale my bill came to $92. Divided by four I am $2 over the weekly allowance my Canadian friend mentioned in her blog. However, the sodium free canned diced tomatoes I already bought from Amazon Prime. I did not need to buy coconut oil this trip or sea salt or several other condiments (also gotten from Amazon Prime). This was just the eggs, vegetables, sour cream, and pasta. So I failed.

 And I noticed all the bugs and streaks and fingerprints on the image. I noticed how high prices had become in just the last year. And that markets are marking even the mushrooms gluten free. But the US did not give us retirees a bump in our Social Security because there was no inflation they said. Admitted gas is temporarily down but heating costs are up. I cannot wait for warm weather and my garden.

I think this summer I will deposit that $92 monthly into a jar to spend after gardening season is over. It obviously is not just a hobby any more. And I find myself looking at my passive solar studio to see where I can install planters to raise lettuce and Swiss Chard and snow peas and fresh herbs all winter. 

Comments

  1. shadows of nightfallMarch 6, 2016 at 6:24 PM

    You take great photos. I always get a little laugh when I discover something i a pic I had taken.
    Speaking of inflation, yes they said there was none but yet the price of food has still been going up, along with other things. The only thing that came down was gasoline. And that's how they based the "no inflation." Very flawed....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysMarch 13, 2016 at 10:57 AM

    If I had to spend $21 a week I might make other choices. This was a magazine article. Also, as you noticed we are rural. In my village the featured products might cost more. I do not buy much in cans so I do not know. You are so right, the gardens are becoming much more than a hobby!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Blog of BeeMarch 13, 2016 at 8:27 PM

    I envy you. Food prices here are astronomical and we won't even talk about medication. I have to wonder how some people manage as the basic wage here is the equivalent of USD2.00 per hour. A loaf of bread costs that. My weekly grocery bill is in the region of US$130 per week and that does not include
    luxuries.

    ReplyDelete

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