There's probably enough gustatorial diversity in America to make up a separate study, as evidenced by my looking at the two American families featured and thinking, "That doesn't look anything like the way our family eats." And so as an experiment I offer a photo of last week's shopping.
The Darwins, Round Rock, TXTotal for this trip: $112.44
(not pictured: mid-week run to store, bringing weekly total to close to $130)
Now obviously this isn't everything we eat in a week. It doesn't take into account things already in the pantry, like refried beans or flour for the pizza or the farm eggs from the chickens that Darwin's manager raises. But it is a fairly accurate picture of how we shop for food (as this was a trip in which I didn't have to buy diapers, wipes, laundry detergent, or a new broom). We don't tend to buy packaged snacks (the pretzels were an impulse buy after a request from the ladies) or prepared meals, and we don't often eat fast-food or go to restaurants.
I'm curious as to how other families eat. I'll tag anyone who's interested to participate in my informal shopping photo documentary.
Oh what a good idea! We saw that article and I think Dom even blogged on it, but it didn't occur to me to do a photo of our weekly food shopping. It'll be a week or two before I resume our shopping. Right now my mom's here and taking care of us as best she can-- she deserves an award for doing housekeeping in someone else's house is surely one of the hardest tasks I can think of. But I'll try to post a picture once I'm back in the saddle.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing other people's photos.
There was one thing I felt the article left out that I'd have loved: an itemized list of everything on the table. Sometimes it was hard to guess what boxes and jars and packages were.
I saw that Julie had gotten the link from Dom, so perhaps I should have given him a secondary hat tip. :)
ReplyDeleteJust for comparison I've taken a picture of this week's shopping, which I'll put up in a separate post. I often wonder if we're spending way too much or less than most on groceries, so I'd be glad to see what other families buy and how much they spend. Don't rush it, though; you and the baby get some rest!
What a cool idea! I'm inspired!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you feed your children paper towells! How cruel!
ReplyDeleteThey're a good source of fiber, don't ya know.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat idea. Too bad I already did our big grocery trip this week. The next few weeks should just be produce (and probably a few forgotten odds and ends). Perhaps next month I'll take a picture of it all before I manage to shove it into our cupboard and fridge.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that original article was inspired by the book Hungry Planet, but it certainly reminds me of that. Chez Ouiz had a couple posts about that book in the last couple months. I was really struck by one comment she mentioned in this post where a woman is asked what her favorite food is and she doesn't know how to answer because all she's ever eaten is rice with some vegetables thrown in. I keep thinking back to that every time I'm at the grocery store and I see the huge variety available.