Grocery Shopping

Now I have seen it all.  Last night we went grocery shopping in a new store .  We realized it was time to go shopping when we realized that Zech is allergic to everything in our pantry. In order to stock up we had to go to the Whole Food Store in Indy.

Upon arrival it looks like your everyday run-of-the-mill grocery store.  There is s produce section with watermelon, tomatoes and corn--all organic, of course.  There is a meat department with hormone-free chicken, grass fed beef, free-range brown eggs, shark, octopus and even kangaroo.  They had rows for gluten-free flour, cookies and pasta. One for lactose-free milk, pudding and cheeses.  And another for peanut-free cooking oils.

But then I saw it!   What to my wondering eyes did appear?  "Organic, all natural, gluten-free dog food"!  No kidding.  No joke.  I wish I had my camera so that I could have taken a picture because we sure didn't buy any.  Now don't get me wrong.  We love our dog.  We really do.  I am just not sure we love her that much.  And how exactly does one know that a dog needs gluten free food?

And as you can imagine none of these "free" foods had a price tag anywhere close to "free".  The producers and sellers know that they have you in their clutches if you are in this kind of store--either by choice or by necessity.  For example,  we usually pay roughly $1.00 for 4 lbs of flour.  Last night we spent $4.00 for a little more than one pound of the gluten-free stuff.  (My mathematician husband tells me that is 16 times as much!)  It trust that he is right.  I also trust that we are going to have to reconfigure our food budget.

Needless to say, until Zech outgrows these allergies...because I just have to believe he will...for birthdays and Christmas, Zech wants gift certificates to the Whole Foods Store.  But don't worry, we won't spend them on dog food.