Perimeter Shopping

Maybe true wealth is measured, not by what you can buy, but by what you don't want or need to buy.

A trip to Sam's yesterday inspired that thought -- I go there for olive and canola oil, cleaning and paper products, vitamins, and the occasional bag of nuts or dried fruit. It thrills me that there are entire aisles and sections of the store I never need to consider.

It's the same at the grocery store -- more and more I shop the perimeter of the store -- produce, meat, dairy, wine -- and give the aisles of snacks and prepared stuff a miss. Of course there are exceptions to this perimeter thing - flour, pasta, pet food, coffee. (And I've already admitted to potato chips with chicken salad.)

I haven't yet read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in which she and her family spend a year eating only (or mostly) locally grown, seasonal food. To attempt this discipline would be a worthy goal; and, for folks like us with a farm, should certainly be achievable. Clifford and Louise who lived here before us, ate mostly local seasonal fare -- but they ate beans and corn and potatoes, day after day with only small seasonal variations. ( They were fond of bananas for banana pudding but I could give the bananas a miss if I could still have olive oil and coffee.)

We've been spoiled by relatively cheap, out of season food -- asparagus from Chile, strawberries year round from all over, shrimp from Thailand. But the cheap part of the equation is rapidly disappearing and we're beginning to think about changes.

My husband recommends two books by Michael Pollan -- The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I haven't read either yet but am charmed by Pollan's simple suggestion:

EAT FOOD, NOT TOO MUCH, MOSTLY PLANTS.

Sounds like a plan.