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ailbheHere I am, making up my menu plan and shopping list, blinking back the tears.
Why? Because we really cannot stretch to buying all our food in the highly ethical-consumer way we were until recently. We really, really can't. And I spent years working up to that level of knowing-my-food-was-clean and now I have to work back down again, not in a just-this-once way, but in a lifestyle change way.
It's so sad.
(Yes, other people have real problems, I know. One of the things I loved about not being poor, when I started to not be poor, was the choice to make ethical buying decisions).
I'm feeding our shopping list into online shopping services for the places we can't easily reach without the trike; in general, paying for delivery is cheaper than paying to get the bus.
(I actually just broke down and sobbed on Rob's shoulder; we used to use less meat per meal and the main result was that I didn't eat enough; our easiest money-saving option is for me to not eat enough and that's the first thing I tried, months ago, to save money; this is really, really broken - but so is the meat industry, and the fact that when I'm vegetarian I get sick).
We are, actually, of above average means. I'm just... cracked in places.
Why? Because we really cannot stretch to buying all our food in the highly ethical-consumer way we were until recently. We really, really can't. And I spent years working up to that level of knowing-my-food-was-clean and now I have to work back down again, not in a just-this-once way, but in a lifestyle change way.
It's so sad.
(Yes, other people have real problems, I know. One of the things I loved about not being poor, when I started to not be poor, was the choice to make ethical buying decisions).
I'm feeding our shopping list into online shopping services for the places we can't easily reach without the trike; in general, paying for delivery is cheaper than paying to get the bus.
(I actually just broke down and sobbed on Rob's shoulder; we used to use less meat per meal and the main result was that I didn't eat enough; our easiest money-saving option is for me to not eat enough and that's the first thing I tried, months ago, to save money; this is really, really broken - but so is the meat industry, and the fact that when I'm vegetarian I get sick).
We are, actually, of above average means. I'm just... cracked in places.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-20 10:15 pm (UTC)Yes, Sainsburys have a good range of organic and free range meat. The most difficult thing to find is ethically sourced fish, but Lidl have medium-ethical fish fingers, so that helps. Lidl have free range chicken too but it's not as nice as organic chicken (so we don't eat every last morsel - false economy!)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-21 09:05 am (UTC)I don't bother with 'Organic', but do always buy free-range, which is my compromise to the ethics versus economy problem.
Waitrose do offer ethically sourced fish, but it's not cheap :-/
And can I also put myself down as someone inspired by your ethical stances? :-)
Elaine
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-21 09:19 am (UTC)