About once a month I’m obligated to shop at a mainstream grocer, usually Safeway because it is only 5 blocks from my Bend house and has a growing organic section. Still, I much prefer produce from my hometown health food store, or the Farmer’s Market in Season. I get other healthy organic products from Wild Oats, a large corporate healthy foods store. Today was a Safeway day because I only like Best Foods mayonnaise. Also, they sell the whole wheat Boboli Pizza crusts and none of the healthy foods stores sell a whole wheat pizza crust.

 

Still I really dislike mainstream grocers for a number of reasons. Today I made the mistake of running back to get a forgotten item while they started ringing me up. They had used 3 plastic bags before my return when I handed them my canvas bags (which sent them into a tizzy). I’ve learned to tell them NOT to rebag what has already been packed up because they just toss the “used” bags. I ended up with one canvas bag with a large bag of organic blue corn chips in it, along with the mayonnaise. A plastic bag held the second bag of corn chips, which was almost the same size as the grocery bag itself (they were on sale so I got two). Another plastic bag held one dozen free-range organic eggs. The third plastic bag held two pairs of dish gloves. That’s it! A small gripe I suppose, yet emblematic of so much more.