The Real Shopping Cart 28/11/24
a really delicious chicken dish and the grocery industry's manipulative ways
Image description: a big metal bowl with spinach, burgol, chicken and tomato pesto.
Highlighted Meal of the Week
Calabrese Pesto Chicken
Ingredients: baby spinach, burgol, butter, canola oil, chicken breast, chicken broth, chili garlic sauce, garlic salt, red pesto. Cost: $4.88 for two and for one: $2.44. Blood sugar level: 6.7.
It doesn’t look like much in the photo, but this meal goes on final meals on my deathbed list. We occasionally eat out of big metal bowls. I know, we’re weird. I accept and rejoice in it. We call these meals “big bowl salads.” I can eat only small amounts of grain because it tends to be high in carbohydrates, which raises my blood sugar levels too high. Burgol #2, a type of bulgur is delicious. I can have 60 grams of bulgur in a balanced meal. This meal requires a very elaborate preparation. We treat meal preparation as a way in which to enjoy each other’s company. In order not to get overwhelmed, we do the preparation in stages. Here are all our stages and preparations for this meal.
Chili garlic sauce
The basic recipe calls for sriracha, but neither Charles nor I enjoy it. Plus it contains sugar, which I avoid as much as possible. Our version of chili garlic paste includes Gochujang, our favourite condiment, garlic puree and soy sauce.
Tomato pesto
We plucked fresh basil from our own plant, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast and tomato paste.
Make bulgur
Cook chicken in pan with butter
Combine pesto, chili garlic sauce and water, then coated chicken.
This Week’s Cart
Stores considered this week were Metro.ca, Walmart, Massine’s, Isabella Loblaws, Kowloon and Farm Boy, which are within walking distance, and the Real Canadian Superstore, Metro Rideau and Food Basics, which are accessible to us by public transit.
If we could get the cheapest price at all the stores, the total amount would be $222.82.
By combining delivery from Walmart and the Real Canadian Superstore, plus a few strolls to local stores, Charles has obtained a price of $225.17 for this week’s shopping list, only one percent higher than the cheapest price if we could shop all the stores.
The marketing of paper products has made the purchase decision into a degree in mathematics with labels such as standard, double, double extra or triple rolls, confusing the consumer into spending more for less. This type of consumer manipulation hides shrinkflation while making the consumer think they are getting more for less. An example is 1176 sheets of 2 ply paper towel: the cost varies this week from $20.94 to $48.97 which is 134% more than the lowest price.
In this week’s chart each store on its own will cost a shopper anywhere from three to thirty-three percent more or an extra $73.25. Any store that provided less than thirty-one of the thirty-nine items we were looking for was disqualified.
I wish you nutritious, delicious and affordable meals, lingering conversations with loved ones, joy and whimsy.
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