If Whole Foods was a man . . .

. . . I'd want to spend the rest of my life with him . . .it. I love, love, love, love shopping for food at Whole Foods. Where else do you have a reasonable expectation to find organic Italian kiwi, next to the organic kale (red OR green leaf, whichever you prefer), which is next to the organic fresh herbs? YUM! If I was a bajillionaire I would shop there every day. I would also weigh 350 pounds.

Today was my weekly shopping trip. I LOVE MY WEEKLY SHOPPING TRIP! Other than the mild nervousness of not knowing whether all the yummy things I want to eat will fit within my budget, it is my favorite weekday thing to do. I plan and re-plan my menu all week long down the exact fruits I want to eat for which breakfast (this of course changed when I got home because I now have a large Costa Rican pineapple instead of my usual bunch of bananas). The bananas were all green. I don't like it when I have to choose between bright green organic bananas and semi-ripe conventional bananas. So today I chose no bananas, proudly driving home with my ripe organic Costa Rican pineapple, which I butchered promptly so I could have a little with lunch. Yum! And then I remembered why I often see sliced pineapple in the shape of a ring. There's sort of a core thing in the center. Hmmmmmm. I'll remember that next time.

Sadly I think most people assume that eating organic is too expensive. Is it cheap? Certainly not. But it doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive. Often you can get an organic version of something for just a bit more than the conventional version. And when my budget seems really tight and I'm deciding whether I should just get the conventional because it's 50 cents per pound cheaper I say to myself (and I'm not joking): "So what you're saying, Darcy, is that you would eat pesticides if someone paid you 50 cents to do it?" Because that's what it amounts to.

I've also been making the most wonderful discoveries while comparison shopping between Walmart and Whole Foods. Walmart, to their credit, offers a growing number of organic items including a bag of three hearts of romaine. Then I discovered that Whole Foods has it cheaper. Hello! I've been discovering over and over again that while, yes you can spend $12.99 for a pound of Yodeling Goat Gouda at Whole Foods, you can also get a bag of organic baby spinach for $1.99 and a liter of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil for $5.50. (Note: These are Greenville, South Carolina prices.)

I've also discovered that the hole in my budget once occupied by meat can now easily be filled with more fresh fruits and vegetables, encouraging me to try new things like the bunch of kale I left the store with. *GULP* I think I mostly bought the kale because it seems a lot of vegetarians eat it (plus it was on sale). I also bought it because I found a really great-looking recipe for crispy kale leaves (we'll find out if it's great tasting tomorrow night). Next week I'm trying quinoa for the first time. Hopefully the week after than I'll try another new thing, and the week after that, and the week after that.

My eating habits can easily get into a rut, and I can only imagine that yours sometimes do also. This week try shaking things up a bit. Shop at a new store, add a new vegetable to dinner, and add a few organic items to your pantry.