Groceries...

Recently I have made some significant changes in how I am choosing to live... here is another one... where I buy my groceries! I have sold my car, moved into a very high density living situation and sustained a vegetarian lifestyle all in the last three months. The next step feel like I need to (re)consider where I purchase my groceries. Actually, I had asked a friend to drive me to the shops for a quick stock up as I had just returned from an extended time away and it was while trying to decide which shop to utilize that I was challenged. It seemed that my suggestion of Safeway was considered a bad one. "I don’t think Safeway is Canadian owned - I am shocked you would support a large US conglomerate." Fair call. I had considered this previously... however out of familiarity and convenience I continued to shop at Safeway.

I had recently travelled around Western Canada and the US with my parents and we found new, wonderful Safeway shops in most larger towns/cities. Safeway is obviously a conglomerate, and doing very well! I can now walk into any Safeway and find what I need very quickly. Surely time and convenience is important when shopping? And I know the quality of the product is ok. Well I THINK it is... but, actually I don’t really know. I also don’t really know a lot of things that it should be my right, in fact, my necessity to know...
1: I don’t know what my money actually pays for? Are the profits used for good?
2: I don’t know where my money actually goes? Is the shop locally owned, or at least Canadian?
3: I don’t know how my food is transported to the store? Does it come from hundreds of miles away?
4: I don’t know if the packaging around my items is minimal? Is the packaging particularly harmful?
5: I don’ know if there have been chemicals used in the production of my items?
6: I don’t know if the labour used to create my items has been adequately compensated?
7: I don’t know what happens to the excesses (and the MUST be excesses) from the shop?
8: I don’t know the production methods used in creating my items? Are they best practice (and by that I mean environmentally sustainable)?

Of course some of this information is available on the individual items. And I spend time looking for it - and it often takes time. I also find that where there is a choice of products (and the usually is) it takes a lot of time to compare and contrast the relevant virtues of one product over another...

So, am I am informed shopper? I do know what I would prefer (local, chemical free, sustainably produced, appropriately (as in fairly) priced, and minimally packaged items bought from a locally owned, community, and sustainability conscious and ACTIVE shop). And it is very hard to find that.

At this point it is fair to note that I do choose to live in a Prairie province, and I feel like I should say "so what do I expect" or "well, we do the best we can!". But I do expect - great things... and I want to do better - much better, because we all should expect our food, the very nourishment of our bodies, our temples, our beings to be healthy for me and for my home - the environment.

So I came back to work and began researching. I took out a map and located all of the possible grocery shops within a reasonable circumference from where I live. Please note that reasonable was determined by the location of the shops, not by how far I would like to travel to a shop. Remember I am now on foot...

Once I had a list of shopping options, I began to do a web search for thing said by and about each shopping company. I discovered that I had some big decisions to make... mostly because the information was not easy to come by (SURPRISE!). Once again I was left to spending time comparing and contrasting the relevant virtues of my selected shops.

If I was to make a recommendation on the information at hand I would have to say that my instincts (lead by familiarity and convenience) were right. Safeway began in the US and although it is a large conglomerate it does much to ameliorate this fact. It shops locally, where possible, it employs locals, it gives back to the local communities, it says they are conscious of packaging and food production. At least the Safeway marketers are aware of the right things to say. That is more than I can say for Extra Foods and Sobeys.

In fact, the closest shop to me has just been over taken by Sobeys and converted into a gourmet shop. Now I can purchase pre-prepared meals... oh joy! That takes me one step further AWAY from being more responsible for what I put into my body!

However, all is not lost. I have recently discovered that my university student union is a drop off point for "Good Food Boxes".
Excerpt from the website... "The Students' Union participates in the Good Food Box Program as a neighborhood drop-off site. Good Food Box orders are delivered to the Students' Union every two weeks. All you have to do to participate in the program is come up to the Students' Union Front Desk and purchase one of the Good Food Box options. Good Food Box order cut-off dates and drop-off dates can be found in the Students' Union Calendar or at the Front Desk. Each neighborhood drop-off site has a volunteer coordinator who collects and advance payment for the box. U of R students' can do this at the Students' Union Front Desk (Second floor - Dr. William Riddell Centre Building). We select only top-quality produce to be included in the box, considering freshness, variety, nutrition and ensuring the best food dollar value for our customers. The produce is delivered farm fresh to our warehouse and volunteers help us pack it on the same morning that it is received. Our drivers then immediately deliver the boxes to a network of volunteer-run community drop-offs. The volunteer coordinator takes delivery of the box, ready for you to pick up, and holds the recyclable boxes for our collection. The Good Food Box is an initiative of the Regina Food Security Project, Regina Education and Action on Child Hunger, City of Regina Social Development Division, Regina and District Food Bank, Saskatchewan Social Services."

So, I excitedly wait to test this option out and to make the necessary comparisons. Yes it will take more research, but then... it always does!!