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Alright, since that thread slightly blew up, please remind me to share with y'all the absolute gauntlet partner and I have to go through to get groceries within a major city's limits when I'm not lunch drunk. Because groceries are a lot more than health and what they cost.
You know what, fuck it. Let's do this.
Partner and I live less than two miles from the downtown area of a major city (y'all know what it is if you've followed me at all).
Partner and I live less than two miles from the downtown area of a major city (y'all know what it is if you've followed me at all).
The way the city is set up has Three Rivers, which means a bunch of valleys and infrastructure and whatever, so it takes a little longer to get downtown - even regardless of public transport - than you might think.
But that's not the problem here.
But that's not the problem here.
The problem is that downtown, for all it does have, has no food. My small neighborhood has no real grocery store. It has a LOT of amazing regional markets and small restaurants, but no blanket grocery store. At all. I live in a major urban area, and also an effective food desert.
So when we need food, we need to LEAVE town and go to 'burbs. But as you might expect, transportation to the 'burbs is not as great as transport within city limits. In fact, though we live 10-ish miles away from Target, it takes two trains and +/- 90 minutes to get there.
So we need to set aside at LEAST four hours to go grocery shopping.
When's the last time you had four free hours to go get some bread
When's the last time you had four free hours to go get some bread
It also costs us $7 a piece to get to the store and back. That's more of a criticism of my city's shitty public transportation system, but I can't be the only one, so it's worth mentioning. Fare hikes are theft. Charging for transfers is theft.
So we get to the store. We have about an hour to shop before we have to get back on the train. That's fine; we're not much for lingering.
Target has shit for produce, and as I mentioned, produce is heavy. So we mostly get boxed food or frozen food.
Target has shit for produce, and as I mentioned, produce is heavy. So we mostly get boxed food or frozen food.
Box food and frozen food are not the worst for you, but they are not amazing. But you know what's cheap? Yeah, that. And like I said, I can get 5lbs of apples for $4.99, but then I have to carry that additional five apples home. And what can I really do with 5lbs of apples?
So mostly we get bread, peanut butter, pasta, taco stuff, frozen pizzas, and yeah, some bag salads, sure, but those only last MAYBE a week. And we can only shop once every two weeks or else it's just not worth it.
So we have mostly carbs and pre-packaged food. And then we have to go home, with like 35lbs of groceries shared between us, on our arms and on our backs, and standing in the sun or the cold while we wait for the next train.
And I wanna say: partner and I are not -poor-, not really. We are maybe lower middle class. But there is no way we could afford a car. We've never been in a position to have a car, either, so neither of us have a license anyway. It costs money to get a license.
Luckily in the time of COVID we've had some friends who have been willing to help us shop and that has been amazing. But sometimes we don't. Sometimes we just have to get on the train. Four hours and $125 later (and a lot of sweat) we have some groceries, almost none fresh.
So blaming folks for the food they eat?
Fucking knock it right the fuck off. That's a privilege that tells me a hell of a lot more about you than it says about me.
Fucking knock it right the fuck off. That's a privilege that tells me a hell of a lot more about you than it says about me.
