You are what you eat

Aimee sent me an email last week with a link to pictures of families all over the world and their groceries for the week.

It. Blew. My. Mind.

I thought I'd share. *Disclaimer: I do not own these photos. I just got them in an email. I Googled around a bit, and here is the photoset I found on FlickR, and here is the link to the book it seems like they came from.

Japan: 37,699 Yen or $317.25

Italy: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Germany: 375.39 Euros or $500.07 North Carolina, U.S.A: $341.98 Mexico: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09 Poland: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27 Cairo, Egypt: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53Ecuador: $31.55 Bhutan: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03 Kuwait: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Beijing, China: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
California, U.S.A.: $159.18
Mongolia: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02 Great Britian: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15 Chad: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

What I found the most interesting is that the less money spent, the more fresh produce was bought. Conversely, those who spent the most purchased the most frozen and pre-packaged, which are the least healthy. Yes, maybe the quantity we can afford counts for something, but my friend GiGi and I bought thought that the German family was probably just as malnourished as the family from Chad. And we both agreed we'd rather be the Chad malnourished. At least our skin would feel better.

I decided that, since it was grocery day anyway, I would add my family to the mix. And so, here we are, the Mr. Lady Family, Vancouver, Canada: @$300.This is a full week of breakfasts and dinners, about 2 weeks of sack lunches, and doesn't include the 5 more gallons of milk and the 2 or 3 more pounds of apples and pears I will buy this week. And I want to state for the record that I only bought Kraft Singles because they were out of Provolone. And I like Kraft Singles. So there. The tab was actually $357, but that included the months vitamins, toilet bowl cleaner, etc. I subtracted those and went just with food purchases.

What I notice most about my own spending habits is that though I do buy a lot of produce and fresh foods, I spend an assload of money on prepackaged lunch stuff, like Teddy Grams and crackers. I do this because A) I am too groggy in the morning to put a ton of thought into lunch and B) I ate gross, free school lunch every day for 12 years of school. I overcompensate by sending my kids with really cool, enviable, swappable lunch items. School lunch is crucial social networking time, and I want my kids on the top of that food chain. Yes, I have issues. Yes, many of them surround food. I'm ok with it.

OK. So there it is. I double dog dare you to post your groceries for the week on your blog. DOUBLE. DOG. DARE.