I don’t think I can even begin to explain my dislike of
grocery stores and how it impacts the rest of my life, but I’ll give it a
whirl. I’ve often joked I’m a bad
cook. I’m not really. I’ve taken classes, done a fair bit of
cooking, and I do okay. I’m not good at
certain things – like timing several dishes to be done at the same time, but I
think that’s something that comes with more practice. What really keeps me from cooking more often
is ingredients – that is, the acquisition of them. The grocery store experience is
horrible. I can’t think of a retail
experience I dislike more. Stores are
laid out to make you go farther to get what’s on your list. They play awful music. Pricier items are at eye height. Comparison shopping is made harder by
variations in measurements. There is a
long history of psychological research into making colors, sounds, packaging more
attractive to have you purchase more expensive items. All of this does nothing to make actual food
healthier.
I resent that something I need – food – has become so
insanely complicated.
In my current lifestyle there is a grocery store within
walking distance. It is small,
boutique-y, and very expensive. It
carries things I like, and I can get exercise going to and from there. But the cost means I don’t often. The next option is driving distance
away. It’s not bad, and for items like
milk and so on, pretty easy to navigate.
But all grocery store parking lots are nightmares in Alaska’s
winters. Dark, people driving too fast,
and carts being bumped over ice. Most of
my foodstuffs come from Costco – excluding milk. I just cannot use the sizes they sell before
they go bad, and I have a bizarre fear of old milk. Costco carries a lot of good options, but
with a few exceptions it’s packaged.
That’s true for most food in Alaska tho.
I know I need to do a better job of finding fresher foods, but with the
time constraints of modern life, how do I prioritize that? A big plus is that I get a lot of fresh
seafood. And caribou. And blueberries. Because some things are easy to come by up
here. It’s all a balancing act.
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