Coupon, schmoupon

I won’t ask, because of course, you’ve been to the grocery store recently. Everyone has to eat, right? Well, I admit to the need for food. As shopping goes, I prefer grocery shopping to any other kind of shopping, and if you know me—and some of you might—you know how much I hate shopping. At least with grocery shopping I don’t have to try anything on for size or wonder if I’ve read the book before. In the grocery store it’s just me, my conscience, my dining plans for the week and my budget. Yup, I try to follow a budget. The problem with my current budget is that it barely covers the basics. Maybe you’ve got the same problem. The number of dollars spent on food has increased, while the number of grocery bags filled has decreased. I think there’s a problem.

So, let me start with explaining how I figured I had grocery budget problem: Bacon. It started with the pursuit of bacon.

Recently, LOML and I had a couple visiting us for the weekend. Wait a minute—most weekends during the summer we have people visiting us. However, the breakfast menu for the first morning included bacon. Of the dozens of things on the grocery list, I was adding one package of bacon to my grocery cart. If you’re about my age, and some of you are, you know I mean the one pound/500- gram package of pork product goodness. The package we have been reaching for, without thinking, when bacon is on the list. Right?

Without thinking, I picked up a package of bacon. Of course, I made sure it wasn’t turkey or chicken bacon. No pretend products for me. No pretend butter, pretend sugar, pretend jam and, most definitely, no pretend bacon. The price on the package should have whispered “put it back,” but we had guests. One pound of bacon stayed on the list and hit the grocery buggy with a delicious thunk. It wasn’t until I opened the package, at breakfast, I realized there wasn’t a pound of fatty deliciousness in that package. One of the guests laughed and said, “I see you don’t buy bacon very often, or you’d know the packages are only 375 grams for the 500- gram price.”

Egads. Not only was I getting taken for a ride on the Gypped Express, but I wouldn’t even be enjoying what little was going to be passed around the table. Grrr. It would have been nice if the surprises stopped with bacon, but I opened the egg carton and half of the large eggs had been swapped out for humming bird-sized eggs. Obviously, someone else was feeling the pinch of grocery prices and had done a little switcheroo at my expense. H-E-double-yolked Grrr.

So, food prices? And, I’m not just talking about those faux-pounds of bacon. Everything on the grocery shelves has increased dramatically in price since last summer. Three per cent overall, to be precise. We’re paying almost 10 per cent more for meat, fish and poultry. If you like cold cuts, you’re looking at an overall increase of close to 11 per cent. Fresh fruit has increased by close to nine per cent and fresh vegetables by almost 12 per cent. However, cereal products, dairy and eggs have actually decreased in price by about two per cent. And sugars, fats and oils have also decreased. How ever you look at it, it’s becoming more and more difficult for the average person to eat a healthy diet.

It might be time for the provincial government to institute a healthy eating grocery rebate— like the property tax rebate, except on the amount a family or individual spends annually in the grocery store on healthy food. It needs to be better than coupon clipping, and easier than Pop Tarts. Go on, you know I’m right.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca