If you've been reading my blog in the last several months, you might have noticed me posting several times about the economy. My last post was about a possible food shortage. Well, if you are interested in stocking up on the cheap, you might want to check out your local Fry's/Kroger sale paper. They have a great sale going on, where if you buy 10 items from this list (mix and match though), you get $5 back instantly. You can do this up to 3 times per transaction.
I did this today, and this is what I got for $15.66. That includes tax, and I did not use coupons:
10 cans Hormel Chili
5 boxes Betty Crocker Cake Mix
4 boxes Kroger Pop Tarts
2 packages Goldfish Crackers
6 packages Lipton Sides
3 packages Pillsbury Flaky Layers biscuits
I normally do my shopping on Mondays, but I wanted to try to do this deal twice, so I made a special trip today for this sale. On Monday I will redo this deal, but use coupons... so I should be able to do even better, because I'm sure that there are some coupons that match some of these deals.
If you want to do this deal a lot but are low on money, check on Monday or Tuesday. If they run out of their sale items they will give you a raincheck and you can do this deal next week or whenever they get them back in. I bought the last of the Lipton Sides today at my store... they may or may not restock them tonight. I did this a couple of months ago when they had Tombstone Pizza on sale... $1.50 each if you bought 9. They also had $.99/lb ground beef patties in 5 pound bags. They had sold out, but I was able to get rainchecks for them, and a few weeks later when they restocked, I was able to get 20 pounds of ground beef for $20 and 9 Tombstone pizzas for $1.50 each.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
An Upcoming Famine?
When I went grocery shopping Monday afternoon, I picked up 8 bags of pasta. Tomorrow when I go shopping after taking the kidlets to the library, I plan on getting a 20 pound bag of rice.
No, we're not gluttons (well, not my kids or my husband at least, and not me to that extreme), but I'm starting to get a little concerned. All that flooding going on in the midwest? It's destroying some of the crops in this country. I saw a sign at the grocery store the other day saying that weather in other parts of the world were making bananas harder to get to America, and another friend in another part of the country saw the same sign. Ever since then, the bananas that have arrived have been more bruised and have been of poorer quality, and the price went up $.20 a pound. In Asia, some of the rice harvest has been decimated and the price of rice is going up there... some countries are not going to be exporting.
The cost of food is going up all over the world, according to MSN. Food is getting more scarce everywhere.
Here is a video from CNN about the subject:
In the US, many of us depend on the grocery stores to supply us with our daily bread. What would happen if a major shock to the world's food supply hit the news today? What would happen if you turned to CNN.com and discovered that several countries had decided that instead of exporting their food, they were going to keep it inside their own countries in order to keep their citizens from starving? What if a major weather event hit our country this year and most of the crops were destroyed? All at the same time? Do you think that the grocery stores would empty pretty fast?
We've lived in a land of plenty for so long, that we think that a food shortage could never happen here. Perhaps the people of Egypt felt the same way during Joseph's day? There were seven years of bountiful harvests. You say, Joseph was storing grain away... but the people were not. The Egyptians ended up giving Joseph all their gold, then they ended up selling their livestock to Egypt, and eventually the country ended up owning everything that the Egyptians had, because they had no other way to get food but to sell all. They obviously weren't planning for famine, or they would not have had to sell everything that they owned in that manner.
I don't have the resources to gather much, but at this point I think that getting a little extra is a good idea. The Bible says that in the beginning of the tribulation, there will be famine. The rapture will take the Christians away before the tribulation, but that doesn't mean that there will be an abundance of food until that point. If I could, I'd rather be prepared as much as I could. 8 bags of pasta and 20 pounds of rice might not feed a family of 4 for very long if there was nothing else in the store to buy, but it would feed someone a little longer than 0 bags of pasta and 0 pounds of rice would.
No, we're not gluttons (well, not my kids or my husband at least, and not me to that extreme), but I'm starting to get a little concerned. All that flooding going on in the midwest? It's destroying some of the crops in this country. I saw a sign at the grocery store the other day saying that weather in other parts of the world were making bananas harder to get to America, and another friend in another part of the country saw the same sign. Ever since then, the bananas that have arrived have been more bruised and have been of poorer quality, and the price went up $.20 a pound. In Asia, some of the rice harvest has been decimated and the price of rice is going up there... some countries are not going to be exporting.
The cost of food is going up all over the world, according to MSN. Food is getting more scarce everywhere.
Here is a video from CNN about the subject:
In the US, many of us depend on the grocery stores to supply us with our daily bread. What would happen if a major shock to the world's food supply hit the news today? What would happen if you turned to CNN.com and discovered that several countries had decided that instead of exporting their food, they were going to keep it inside their own countries in order to keep their citizens from starving? What if a major weather event hit our country this year and most of the crops were destroyed? All at the same time? Do you think that the grocery stores would empty pretty fast?
We've lived in a land of plenty for so long, that we think that a food shortage could never happen here. Perhaps the people of Egypt felt the same way during Joseph's day? There were seven years of bountiful harvests. You say, Joseph was storing grain away... but the people were not. The Egyptians ended up giving Joseph all their gold, then they ended up selling their livestock to Egypt, and eventually the country ended up owning everything that the Egyptians had, because they had no other way to get food but to sell all. They obviously weren't planning for famine, or they would not have had to sell everything that they owned in that manner.
I don't have the resources to gather much, but at this point I think that getting a little extra is a good idea. The Bible says that in the beginning of the tribulation, there will be famine. The rapture will take the Christians away before the tribulation, but that doesn't mean that there will be an abundance of food until that point. If I could, I'd rather be prepared as much as I could. 8 bags of pasta and 20 pounds of rice might not feed a family of 4 for very long if there was nothing else in the store to buy, but it would feed someone a little longer than 0 bags of pasta and 0 pounds of rice would.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Should It Be A Secret When Cows are Hormone-Free?
I saw this article on MSN.com this morning regarding hormone-free cows:
Ben & Jerry's in food-safety fight
Evidently, Montesanto doesn't want you to know whether the cows that make the milk you drink (or in this case, eat in ice cream) are pumped up with recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH. They say that rBGH is perfectly safe, and cows that use this hormone make milk that is just as safe as cows that do not.
Shouldn't the consumer be the one to decide? If we think that it is safe, then we'll buy the milk. If we don't we won't. I remember when Nutrasweet came out, and they used to put out these commercials that Nutrasweet was so great because it came from nature, or something like that. More than 20 years later, many people have serious doubts about its safety (do a google search on Nutrasweet, or even look it up on YouTube). I personally have discovered that it makes my memory go, and I avoid it when at all possible. Since I discovered the connection between Nutrasweet and my memory a few years ago, I've had about 2 sodas that had Nutrasweet in them, and I love soda.
There are a lot of people out there that will pay a premium for organic. They'll pay extra for organic carrots, hormone-free meat, and I've even talked to some people who buy a share in a cow so they can have non-pasteurized milk. I can't afford too much of that myself, but I think that people should have the right to choose what they will and will not eat, and part of that choice includes whether I want pesticides sprayed on my food, AND whether I want to drink milk that comes from a cow that took hormones.
A representative from Montesanto said "We need to stand up for our technology or we're going to lose it." It's not a matter of technology and whether you would lose it or not. It's a matter of whether rBGH is something that the consumer wants or not. Just because the technology exists doesn't mean that you should use it. We have the technology to make atomic bombs, but that doesn't mean we want to use them. We have the technology to clone human embryos, but that doesn't mean that we should do it. It's a little like comparing apples to oranges, but a technology should be used (or not used) based on it's own merits. And people should decide whether they want to go along with it or not.
I don't know whether I'd avoid these cow's milk or not. I can't really afford milk as it is, which is why we get WIC. But if I had the choice between hormone milk and not hormone milk, I'll choose not hormone milk every time. Which is what Montesanto fears... BUT we should have the choice anyway. And there will be people that can't afford the non-hormone milk if it's more expensive anyway.
Maybe Montesanto should stick to making stain repellent for carpets.
For now, I'm glad to know that Ben & Jerry's make ice cream from the non-hormone cows. Makes me more likely to choose their ice cream.
Ben & Jerry's in food-safety fight
Evidently, Montesanto doesn't want you to know whether the cows that make the milk you drink (or in this case, eat in ice cream) are pumped up with recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH. They say that rBGH is perfectly safe, and cows that use this hormone make milk that is just as safe as cows that do not.
Shouldn't the consumer be the one to decide? If we think that it is safe, then we'll buy the milk. If we don't we won't. I remember when Nutrasweet came out, and they used to put out these commercials that Nutrasweet was so great because it came from nature, or something like that. More than 20 years later, many people have serious doubts about its safety (do a google search on Nutrasweet, or even look it up on YouTube). I personally have discovered that it makes my memory go, and I avoid it when at all possible. Since I discovered the connection between Nutrasweet and my memory a few years ago, I've had about 2 sodas that had Nutrasweet in them, and I love soda.
There are a lot of people out there that will pay a premium for organic. They'll pay extra for organic carrots, hormone-free meat, and I've even talked to some people who buy a share in a cow so they can have non-pasteurized milk. I can't afford too much of that myself, but I think that people should have the right to choose what they will and will not eat, and part of that choice includes whether I want pesticides sprayed on my food, AND whether I want to drink milk that comes from a cow that took hormones.
A representative from Montesanto said "We need to stand up for our technology or we're going to lose it." It's not a matter of technology and whether you would lose it or not. It's a matter of whether rBGH is something that the consumer wants or not. Just because the technology exists doesn't mean that you should use it. We have the technology to make atomic bombs, but that doesn't mean we want to use them. We have the technology to clone human embryos, but that doesn't mean that we should do it. It's a little like comparing apples to oranges, but a technology should be used (or not used) based on it's own merits. And people should decide whether they want to go along with it or not.
I don't know whether I'd avoid these cow's milk or not. I can't really afford milk as it is, which is why we get WIC. But if I had the choice between hormone milk and not hormone milk, I'll choose not hormone milk every time. Which is what Montesanto fears... BUT we should have the choice anyway. And there will be people that can't afford the non-hormone milk if it's more expensive anyway.
Maybe Montesanto should stick to making stain repellent for carpets.
For now, I'm glad to know that Ben & Jerry's make ice cream from the non-hormone cows. Makes me more likely to choose their ice cream.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Cardboard Bun Story A Hoax
Because I wrote about this story earlier this week, I feel that it is the responsible thing to print a retraction to the Chinese cardboard bun story. It has been shown to be a hoax.
I still don't trust a lot of the food coming out of that country, but at least there is nothing as egregious as people serving rolls made from 60% cardboard.
If you wish to read more about the hoax, an article is available here.
I still don't trust a lot of the food coming out of that country, but at least there is nothing as egregious as people serving rolls made from 60% cardboard.
If you wish to read more about the hoax, an article is available here.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Is John Stossel Right About Price Gouging? Zimbabwe and Food
Right now, Zimbabwe is facing a crisis. The people are starving. The president, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to ban the import of groceries for resale, despite starvation in the country.
I guess he's afraid of price gouging. There seems to be an inflationary crisis going on there. He recently forced electrical shops to reduce the price of televisions to 2 million from 50 million Zimbabwe dollars... there are no more TV sets to be found now.
John Stossel's position, stated in Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity, is that price gouging is not bad. Huh?
Well, maybe he's got a point.
I didn't know anything about Zimbabwe's problems until yesterday. I guess Paris Hilton getting to wear new underwear and having phone privileges in jail is more important than a starving African nation (who knew?). Doing a quick Wikipedia search, I learned that last month's unofficial inflation rate was 11,000%, and may reach 1.5 million percent by the end of the year. Yowsers! And I thought that seeing the cost of bread rise from $1 to $1.50 was bad.
Getting back to the food crisis and price gouging. The president is banning the imports of groceries into the country. People are starving. Does this make any sense? Just about as much sense as when farm owners used to spray crops during the great depression so their food was inedible because they couldn't afford to pay people to pick the crops (um... couldn't they have just given the crop pickers a few pounds of the food they picked and called it even?).
The fact that President Mugabe forced a lower price on television sets makes me believe that he's probably concerned about price gouging. But when your country is in the middle of runaway inflation and your citizens are starving, that seems to be a small thing in comparison. So let the groceries in the country and sort out the price gouging thing later... wouldn't that make sense?
Back to why John Stossel thinks that price gouging can be a good thing, and how it relates to Zimbabwe and the price of food and television sets.
In his book, he points to Hurricane Katrina. People were jacking up the prices of batteries and generators. On the surface that seems really bad. However, if you keep the prices low, a few people are going to come into the grocery store in a panic and buy out all the batteries. They might only need one pack of batteries, but they're going to buy 5 because a) they can, and b) they're scared because the hurricane's coming. But because a few people buy out all the batteries, many other people are left without batteries. Perhaps the solution to this is to limit the number of batteries per customer? But raising the price can have a similar affect.
What about generators? People aren't going to buy 10 generators in a panic. Most people will buy one. However, if generators sell for more, it encourages outside people to bring generators into the area. One example I remember reading about, a man found out that people needed generators after Hurricane Katrina, and he rented a truck and drove some down to the hurricane-affected area. It cost him a lot of money to rent the truck, pay for all the gas to get down there, plus he took on added risk by driving the post-hurricane streets, etc. So he sold the generators for well above the normal cost because of this. He got in trouble for this. It seems a little unjust, because the people that purchased the generators were probably very happy to have them. The man wouldn't have been able to get the generators to the customers without increasing the cost above normal.
So back to starving Zimbabwe. If you were in Zimbabwe, wouldn't you be happy to find food? Obviously some people are able to afford it at the prices being offered, otherwise the groceries wouldn't have been imported and sold at that rate. It's hard to imagine here in America, where we currently have such a surplus of food that most people are well fed, but if you are starving, you are happy to have food, at whatever price. By banning food imports, not only is Mugabe keeping the high-priced food out of the country, but the food that is left is going to skyrocket in price... that is, if he doesn't try to put price controls on the food. If he does put price controls on the food, a) there will quickly be no food left on the shelves to sell, and b) a food black market would most likely open up where food sells for an outrageous price.
I don't know what will happen in Zimbabwe, but it doesn't sound pretty there. Runaway inflation and no food is not a scenario that I would like to go through.
Perhaps they should learn how to make chopped cardboard dumplings? Sorry, I suppose that might be a bit in poor taste... but I had to say it anyway.
read more | digg story
I guess he's afraid of price gouging. There seems to be an inflationary crisis going on there. He recently forced electrical shops to reduce the price of televisions to 2 million from 50 million Zimbabwe dollars... there are no more TV sets to be found now.
John Stossel's position, stated in Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity, is that price gouging is not bad. Huh?
Well, maybe he's got a point.
I didn't know anything about Zimbabwe's problems until yesterday. I guess Paris Hilton getting to wear new underwear and having phone privileges in jail is more important than a starving African nation (who knew?). Doing a quick Wikipedia search, I learned that last month's unofficial inflation rate was 11,000%, and may reach 1.5 million percent by the end of the year. Yowsers! And I thought that seeing the cost of bread rise from $1 to $1.50 was bad.
Getting back to the food crisis and price gouging. The president is banning the imports of groceries into the country. People are starving. Does this make any sense? Just about as much sense as when farm owners used to spray crops during the great depression so their food was inedible because they couldn't afford to pay people to pick the crops (um... couldn't they have just given the crop pickers a few pounds of the food they picked and called it even?).
The fact that President Mugabe forced a lower price on television sets makes me believe that he's probably concerned about price gouging. But when your country is in the middle of runaway inflation and your citizens are starving, that seems to be a small thing in comparison. So let the groceries in the country and sort out the price gouging thing later... wouldn't that make sense?
Back to why John Stossel thinks that price gouging can be a good thing, and how it relates to Zimbabwe and the price of food and television sets.
In his book, he points to Hurricane Katrina. People were jacking up the prices of batteries and generators. On the surface that seems really bad. However, if you keep the prices low, a few people are going to come into the grocery store in a panic and buy out all the batteries. They might only need one pack of batteries, but they're going to buy 5 because a) they can, and b) they're scared because the hurricane's coming. But because a few people buy out all the batteries, many other people are left without batteries. Perhaps the solution to this is to limit the number of batteries per customer? But raising the price can have a similar affect.
What about generators? People aren't going to buy 10 generators in a panic. Most people will buy one. However, if generators sell for more, it encourages outside people to bring generators into the area. One example I remember reading about, a man found out that people needed generators after Hurricane Katrina, and he rented a truck and drove some down to the hurricane-affected area. It cost him a lot of money to rent the truck, pay for all the gas to get down there, plus he took on added risk by driving the post-hurricane streets, etc. So he sold the generators for well above the normal cost because of this. He got in trouble for this. It seems a little unjust, because the people that purchased the generators were probably very happy to have them. The man wouldn't have been able to get the generators to the customers without increasing the cost above normal.
So back to starving Zimbabwe. If you were in Zimbabwe, wouldn't you be happy to find food? Obviously some people are able to afford it at the prices being offered, otherwise the groceries wouldn't have been imported and sold at that rate. It's hard to imagine here in America, where we currently have such a surplus of food that most people are well fed, but if you are starving, you are happy to have food, at whatever price. By banning food imports, not only is Mugabe keeping the high-priced food out of the country, but the food that is left is going to skyrocket in price... that is, if he doesn't try to put price controls on the food. If he does put price controls on the food, a) there will quickly be no food left on the shelves to sell, and b) a food black market would most likely open up where food sells for an outrageous price.
I don't know what will happen in Zimbabwe, but it doesn't sound pretty there. Runaway inflation and no food is not a scenario that I would like to go through.
Perhaps they should learn how to make chopped cardboard dumplings? Sorry, I suppose that might be a bit in poor taste... but I had to say it anyway.
read more | digg story
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Chinese Chopped Cardboard: Yum?
*** THIS STORY WAS FOUND TO BE A HOAX. ***
Not trying to harp on China or anything, but eeew. Fox News has a report about a man who served steamed buns in a neighborhood in China. The main ingredient: chopped cardboard softened in an industrial chemical. It was then mixed with fatty meat and then cooked.
Even worse, where does he get this cardboard? Off the ground. Double eeew.
The police shut down this operation, but it really makes you wonder about the safety of food imports from China. As if bad toothpaste, poisoned pet food, and moldy diapers weren't already causing a concern.
And... I think I might cancel any trips to China. Or at least be careful when eating anything there.
Not trying to harp on China or anything, but eeew. Fox News has a report about a man who served steamed buns in a neighborhood in China. The main ingredient: chopped cardboard softened in an industrial chemical. It was then mixed with fatty meat and then cooked.
Even worse, where does he get this cardboard? Off the ground. Double eeew.
The police shut down this operation, but it really makes you wonder about the safety of food imports from China. As if bad toothpaste, poisoned pet food, and moldy diapers weren't already causing a concern.
And... I think I might cancel any trips to China. Or at least be careful when eating anything there.
China Returns US Meat
In a previous post, I mentioned that China has been importing shoddy and/or dangerous products into our country. Some pets have died from poisons in Chinese pet food, poison has been found in Chinese toothpaste, even diapers imported from China have been found with mold in them. Clearly, the quality of Chinese imports seems to have gone downhill.
Now, there's a second part to the story. China is now refusing some of the US's meat imports. While you might say... uh... who cares?... this could lead to more serious consequences.
I've been saying for years that China is clearly not our friend. I made several trips to Panama in 1999. If you recall, at the end of that year, the US gave back the canal to Chin... er... Panama. Even though the canal is technically Panama's... China has control of a lot of the property down there.
Nobody can know for sure whether this import fight will lead to anything more, hopefully it will not. However, China is big, they want to be a player on the world's stage, and they have a lot of people. The Bible also says that the Kings of the East will be supplying a large supply of people for the big Middle East fight in the tribulation. The China story is definitely one to watch.
read more | digg story
Now, there's a second part to the story. China is now refusing some of the US's meat imports. While you might say... uh... who cares?... this could lead to more serious consequences.
I've been saying for years that China is clearly not our friend. I made several trips to Panama in 1999. If you recall, at the end of that year, the US gave back the canal to Chin... er... Panama. Even though the canal is technically Panama's... China has control of a lot of the property down there.
Nobody can know for sure whether this import fight will lead to anything more, hopefully it will not. However, China is big, they want to be a player on the world's stage, and they have a lot of people. The Bible also says that the Kings of the East will be supplying a large supply of people for the big Middle East fight in the tribulation. The China story is definitely one to watch.
read more | digg story
Friday, July 6, 2007
Really Sad
I was snooping around the Gerber web site, trying to find out where their products are made, and I came across some really depressing statistics:
Who feeds their kids like this? It was a study of nearly 3000 children, so I guess a lot of people do. I remember my cousin feeding her daughter soda in a bottle, but I always thought that was the exception rather than something normal. When my daughter was a baby, probably around 9 months old, she played with another little girl who was a few weeks younger than her that ate Cheetos, but again, I thought that was not normal.
I kept most sweets away from my baby daughter until she was a year old. She got cake for her birthday. My soon-to-be 8 month old son's desserts consist of Gerber's "Hawaiian Delight" or bananas, pears and apples. I thought most babies ate that way.
I know that toddlers can be picky, but no fruit or vegetables on an average day? Wow. My 8 month old gets fruit AND vegetables nearly every day. My 5 year old gets both almost every day as well... nearly every weekday I serve vegetables, she's always eating fruit and we can't keep it in the house long, and she's always asking for fruit juice.
Us grown-ups might have a hard time consuming good food, but at least we can say that our brains are done growing. When children are babies, their brains are growing at the fastest rate that they will in their entire lives. I just find it sad that so many people are not giving them a good start by feeding them fruits and vegetables, and keeping the sweets (especially soda) away.
I mean, how hard can it be to keep soda out of a 7 month old's diet? It's not like they're actually clamoring for the stuff at that age.
- Soda is being served to infants as young as 7 months.
- Nearly 25% of children ages 19-24 months don't eat a single fruit or vegetable in a day
- French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable for toddlers aged 15-24 months
- By 19-24 months, most children consume sweets, salty foods, or deserts at least once a day
Who feeds their kids like this? It was a study of nearly 3000 children, so I guess a lot of people do. I remember my cousin feeding her daughter soda in a bottle, but I always thought that was the exception rather than something normal. When my daughter was a baby, probably around 9 months old, she played with another little girl who was a few weeks younger than her that ate Cheetos, but again, I thought that was not normal.
I kept most sweets away from my baby daughter until she was a year old. She got cake for her birthday. My soon-to-be 8 month old son's desserts consist of Gerber's "Hawaiian Delight" or bananas, pears and apples. I thought most babies ate that way.
I know that toddlers can be picky, but no fruit or vegetables on an average day? Wow. My 8 month old gets fruit AND vegetables nearly every day. My 5 year old gets both almost every day as well... nearly every weekday I serve vegetables, she's always eating fruit and we can't keep it in the house long, and she's always asking for fruit juice.
Us grown-ups might have a hard time consuming good food, but at least we can say that our brains are done growing. When children are babies, their brains are growing at the fastest rate that they will in their entire lives. I just find it sad that so many people are not giving them a good start by feeding them fruits and vegetables, and keeping the sweets (especially soda) away.
I mean, how hard can it be to keep soda out of a 7 month old's diet? It's not like they're actually clamoring for the stuff at that age.
Boycott China?
I was surprised to read the other day that some diapers made in China have been recalled due to excessive fungus in the diapers. Great... in case you're wondering, I checked. Pampers diapers are made in the US, Luvs diapers are made in Mexico, Huggies diapers are made in Mexico, and Especially For Baby diapers (sold at Toys R US) are made in the USA. I'm not sure what diapers are made in China, but I wouldn't want to put them on my baby... yuck.
Fungal diapers are just the latest substandard product made in China to be recalled. Baby formula, baby clothes, pet food, and toothpaste are just some of the dangerous Chinese products that have been sold to us.
Maybe we should just stop buying from China. That would cut down on our trade deficit. It would cut down on the amount of business that Walmart does... but then again, if we stopped buying products made in China, they'd have to get their products from other places.
I have nothing against the Chinese people. I have a lot of respect for the Chinese Christians and pray for the Chinese Christians' Back To Jerusalem movement. I like Americanized Chinese food. But I also know that they employ prison labor, have gross civil rights violations, and imprison many of their Christians (the ones that aren't part of the official, watered-down, government-sanctioned christian church). And lately, they've been pumping out shoddy products for us to use.
While I suppose I'm not going to go nuts and boycott Chinese products right now, I do think that I will be paying more attention to where things are made, and perhaps try to avoid some things made in China. Like food. Clothing... I can deal with for the right price. I have a sewing machine and I know how to use it. I think I might avoid Chinese diapers and toothpaste too. I couldn't find where Gerber baby food is made, it looks like Beech-nut products are made in New York... I'll try to look at where my baby's food is made more as well.
Fungal diapers are just the latest substandard product made in China to be recalled. Baby formula, baby clothes, pet food, and toothpaste are just some of the dangerous Chinese products that have been sold to us.
Maybe we should just stop buying from China. That would cut down on our trade deficit. It would cut down on the amount of business that Walmart does... but then again, if we stopped buying products made in China, they'd have to get their products from other places.
I have nothing against the Chinese people. I have a lot of respect for the Chinese Christians and pray for the Chinese Christians' Back To Jerusalem movement. I like Americanized Chinese food. But I also know that they employ prison labor, have gross civil rights violations, and imprison many of their Christians (the ones that aren't part of the official, watered-down, government-sanctioned christian church). And lately, they've been pumping out shoddy products for us to use.
While I suppose I'm not going to go nuts and boycott Chinese products right now, I do think that I will be paying more attention to where things are made, and perhaps try to avoid some things made in China. Like food. Clothing... I can deal with for the right price. I have a sewing machine and I know how to use it. I think I might avoid Chinese diapers and toothpaste too. I couldn't find where Gerber baby food is made, it looks like Beech-nut products are made in New York... I'll try to look at where my baby's food is made more as well.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Food fight?
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.
Reading the newspaper is almost like reading the last books of the Bible sometimes. We have wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in diverse places, the threat of superbugs like bird flu... even our food supply seems to be coming up with one poison after another. I don't remember seeing too many food recalls even a few years ago, but I've been seeing about one every month recently. Even the toothpaste and pet food is coming up messed up.
Between hurricane Katrina and the bird flu scare (which is a threat that hasn't really gone away it just doesn't make news any more), I have started to become a food collector. An extra box of cereal here, a bag of beans there. Stuff that will last a while.
I'm very budget conscious... I notice when the prices go up. The price of a gallon of store brand water, for example, has gone up $.09 in the past year at my local grocery store. The price of a 2-liter bottle of soda has gone up about $.25 in the last 6 months (they're always having sales so sometimes it is higher than that and occasionally lower, but the that's the raise of the typical price). Bread has gone up $.20 in the last 2 months. And many other items which I used to be able to get for $1 during the store's low point in their sales cycle has gone up to $1.25 during the low point in their sales cycle.
I used to be able to get a whole week's worth of food for $40, for me, dh, and my toddler. Now I'm spending $80. The $40 value wasn't 20 years ago... it was 3 years ago. Now, part of the grocery increase was due to us having more money and buying more stuff that's not on sale. $10 of that money goes to buy my dh's lunches... if he took leftovers to lunch that amount would go down. If I shopped the same way as 3 years ago, I'm pretty sure I would need at least $65 a week to buy the same amount of food that $40 could buy 3 years ago.
I've been reading a lot about crops getting destroyed due to a salmonella outbreak, chickens being slaughtered because they have bird flu, and herds of cows being killed because some cow has mad cow disease. With all this food being destroyed, I can't help but wonder if the world's food supply is not going to meet the demand one of these days. Then I see this article. I guess that I'm not the only person concerned about the food supply. Especially with the recent surge in popularity of Ethanol, which causes more corn to be diverted to making energy instead of food.
The day will come one day when food is scarce. That's what the Bible says. Hopefully it will be a while from now, but just in case, I'll pick up an extra box of cheerios at the grocery store this week.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius. And do not hurt the oil and the wine.
7 And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him sitting on it was Death, and Hell followed with him. And authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and by the beasts of the earth.
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