A recent news report spoke about the increase in canned Spam sales due to the rising cost of food at the market, and how it is becoming an inexpensive way to feed a family. What??? I know that Spam is very popular in the Hawaiian Islands (and this is not meant to offend anyone who enjoys the product from time to time), but my concern is the inference that some American households are lacking the ability to discern healthy shopping habits and getting a solid deal at the same time.
Now, this is not a treatise on where to spend your money and how to feed a family of two or more, but using my collective years as a health inspector for our great city, I had made it a habit to check the prices and look for the good quality deal, while making sure that the refrigeration temperature met our state’s standards. The canned Spam comparison and the cost of a whole chicken at the market (if you hawk the advertised prices), leaves me to believe that food shopping and meal preparation has now become more a matter of time and convenience for the American consumer. Open a can of Spam or cook a chicken. Buy a head of fresh California lettuce or spend your money on a 12 pack of Diet Coke. Which do you suppose would be more on the healthy side?
We have all watched the price of food going up, but we are so fortunate to have America’s bread basket as our country’s most valuable renewable resource.
There may be a connection with food buying habits and the influence of the internet. It’s no secret in years past the daily newspaper, noticeably present on practically everyone’s kitchen table, was the best vehicle to get the grocery ads and coupons into circulation. But no more – newspapers are barely surviving, and along with the loss of the print media comes a very large gap in folks getting the information on what’s good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and the incumbent competitive prices and coupons that grocery stores very smartly provided.
Are food prices going up? Yep, but pick up a newspaper, check the ads, and you might catch on to some nutrition hints and find that food costs might not be as outrageous as you may think.