This post is going to be controversial, and the controversy is exemplary of the obesity epidemic in the US today–it simply shouldn’t exist.
Here it goes…
Stop buying food in bulk.
Now before you tell me to go choke on the 7 boxes of cereal for which the cashier paid you $0.04 after all of your coupons and discounts, hear me out. By “food” I mean real food. The kind that is grown and probably isn’t packaged in a box. The kind you should be eating instead of cereal. Which is why the show Extreme Couponing makes me cringe and warehouse-like food marts make my skin crawl. Simply put, our obsession with saving money is ruining our health by distorting our idea of food shopping.
Here’s why:
- Buying in bulk usually doesn’t involve fresh food.
- We buy snacks, not meals.
- It perpetuates the “more=good” mentality.
1.Buying in bulk usually doesn’t involve fresh food. I had a big club membership for a brief stint. Yes, it was convenient for stocking up on cleaning supplies, party goods, toilet paper and paper towels. When it came to actual food, however, big club always left me disappointed. When buying produce, I stick to the dirty dozen rules for buying organic. To keep costs low for bulk purchases, warehouse marts just can’t afford to stock bulk organic produce. And I understand why; the shelf life of organic produce is shorter than non-organic.* I’m also pretty picky when it comes to choosing lean meats and wild-caught fish. Call me a food snob, but I view the extra money I pay for these items to be an investment in my health for the future.
2. We buy snacks, not meals. Every time my husband and I did shop at big club, we had to go home, unload the car, and then go back out to buy food to make actual meals for the week. The double-header on a Sunday was exhausting. Sure, we had just spent almost $200, but what did we have to show for it? Some popcorn I’d have to munch on to get me through the next round of grocery shopping, and a bunch of snacks. No matter how healthy these snacks are, they can’t replace real, wholesome food.
3. It perpetuates the “more=good” mentality. Everyone loves a bargain, which is why our society pays homage to the discount shopping god, Black Friday. However, more for less is not always best. When it comes to food, think quality, not quantity. You’d rather have an iPhone 6 than 3 Nokia cellphones from the late 1990s, right? If we can splurge money on technology and gadgets, why do we cheap out on the very thing that will fuel our bodies and help us live long, healthy lives? When we buy snacks in bulk, we eat in bulk, and we distort our image of healthy food shopping, meal preparation, and eating.
So if you want to be fit, follow this rule: Eat. Real. Food. That means saying “No!” to buying in bulk.