February19
Choosing a beverage can be a complicated decision. In this economy, every decision is complicated! You need to squeeze every benefit you can from every penny you spend. This got me thinking about what is in my fridge to drink. Really it was based on a comment that was made earlier in the week about not having enough milk on hand. I countered the complaint with “milk is too expensive!”.
I am a firm believer that food = fuel, and that health care starts in my own kitchen and in what we put in our mouths.
Unfortunately, as firmly as I believe that, I am like everyone else who succumbs to packaged foods and fast meals, and I have for years.
Something got me thinking about that this morning. I was trying to figure out WHY I was always giving in…and I realized that it was just EASY. Too easy, in fact.
Growing up as a kid, my parents worked every day and Saturday was our ‘chores day’. We ate out occasionally – and by that I mean once or twice a month. There was no McDonalds in my home town (circa 1960- 1973). The only “fast food” were a few burger joints in the 15 mile radius that actually cooked REAL meat on a grill. Stopping at a place like that was a major treat – usually reserved for a summer night, after one of my little brother’s “away” baseball games. Otherwise, we only went out for a “fancy” dinner on Easter Sunday. I didn’t know how lucky I really had it back then.
That is what got me thinking this morning. I have fallen prey to buying a couple 2-litre bottles of soda when I shop (usually amounting to 4 a week) as an alternate beverage to the standard glass of water in our house. It seemed cheaper than, say, an extra gallon of milk.
Today, I decided to really VERIFY that was true. So, while making a speedy run to the store this morning, I first checked out the prices of other things I tend to buy for my family to drink other than the water I push continously with each meal.
The soda aisle: my experiment today proves that this aisle can, single-handedly, rob us blind – both financially over time, and nutritionally.
What I discovered this morning at my favorite store was:
2 litre bottles of soda today were priced at $1.79 (brand named).
Milk was priced at $3.19 a gallon.
I don’t know about your family, but if I am going to buy soda, I want the name brand. If I want Coke, then “cola” will not do. $1.79 for a 2-litre bottle seems like highway robbery to me for a bottle of water and sugar mixed with chemicals.
One 2-litre bottle of soda = approximately 2 quarts.
Thus, two 2-litre bottles of soda = a little over a gallon.
$1.79 per 2-litre of soda x 2 bottles = $3.58
I gallon of milk = $3.19
Value for my dollar: Sugar and water with zero nutrients vs. calcium and protien and lots of nutrients? NO CONTEST!
From now on, if we crave a soda, we will have to go buy one from the $1 menu and enjoy it like fine champagne. My house will no longer include soda and my family is getting milk, water, real fruit juice (I squeeze myself) or ice tea (I brew myself) for their choice. Yeah, it takes work on my part, but then so does scheduling dental and doctors visits and driving to them!
Hey Pete – YOU WIN!
Next up: COMPLETE elimination of “packaged foods” from my house. THIS should be interesting – and it seems a daunting task, so check back with me the next 6 successive Fridays!
