How much do you make an hour? Is that your worth? I hope not, but reality is, that is how an employer defines your worth and sometimes it equates to pennies. The performance evaluation often generates a small raise that is not very significant, but does generate income. Believe me, I am not complaining, because I appreciate the raise and enjoy receiving outstanding performance reviews by giving more than my best in all I do. Ride this blog with me and you'll get to see why I am bringing up your worth and organics in the same story.
This morning, I was mulling over my next blog topic and thinking about the greatest complaint I hear about eating organic and how expensive it is. But have you thought about how expensive eating is and how much money is wasted buying groceries?
I scream eat organic and there have been many tiffs in my house over the price of organic vs. conventional, but I usually will refuse to buy it if I cannot buy organic. But occasionally, I will give in if it is something I really want, but the price I pay is in taste, my health and my energy! I am pretty grocery savvy and stay away from processed food but there are some foods that I am not a Suzy homemaker and my family will fare much better if it comes from their beloved box or jar. In better terms, I don’t milk a cow for milk or shake the milk to make my own butter, or grind the peanuts for organic peanut butter, but for my basic groceries that I personally eat, I circle the outer perimeter of the store. I gravitate to the organic fruits, vegetables, grass fed meats and you bet I don’t miss my organic coffee which is not placed on the outer perimeter of the store, but buried inside the aisles and usually not in my favorite store. I travel more than 50 miles to get my favorite organic decaf coffee and buy a few bags so I am never have to miss my morning coffee.
But I digress. Let’s get real about one of my shopping trips. My family loves chips, me included. I would buy a bag of organic chips, but mostly, we head straight to the chip aisle because it is convenient and I have to make some family members happy with convenience. I usually will buy something I won’t eat so I am not tempted, but that bag of plain potato chip or sourdough burnt pretzels is music to my taste buds. Not at all healthy, but moderation is always the answer. But let’s do some real talk about organics and non-organic potato chips.
I intentionally stopped at two different stores to compare prices. My favorite store has an excellent selection of fresh organics and I went to a local supermarket that is more budget friendly for potato chips because I really wanted to stay within your budget and this is a popular convenient store to shop in with name brands.
At my favorite store, I purchased a 3lb bag of organic russet potatoes at $4 a bag. At the local supermarket, I knew they did not have organic potatoes so I went straight to the snack aisle and did some comparing. An advertised 8.5oz bag of flavored Cheddar Sour Cream Potato Chips is $4.29 a bag, but look closely, it is really an 8oz bag, a 5oz bag of Sea Salt Poppables is $3.29 a bag and single serving 0.8 oz Organic Veggie Chips is $1.09 a bag. Ridiculous, that is robbery for an organic single serve bag of veggie chips, but I really wanted you to see the big picture.
This is where the comparison gets a little dicey.
My 3lb bag of organic potatoes are $4.
The flavored 8.5oz bag of potato chips are $8.08 a pound.
The 5oz Poppables are $10.53 a pound.
The 0.8oz bag of Veggie Chips are $21.80 a pound. Read that, again. $21.80 a pound for a single serve bag of veggie chips.
The 4.25oz Popcorn Butterfinger bag is $11.55 a pound that costs $3.79. Whoa!! Yes, Butterfinger popcorn is yummy, but seriously $11.55 a pound for flavored popcorn!!
Now, here is why it is so costly per pound. There are employees who are prepare, process, oversee each piece of equipment used from preparing the potatoes to end product and the employee who is stocking the shelves. A big process for an 8oz bag of potatoes that costs $8.08 to $21.80 a pound. Goodness knows how long they have been sitting in a bag too.
Now that 5lb of potatoes can produce a lot of chips. Usually one potato is enough to make a snack for one or three potatoes can be a family treat. The $4 bag of potatoes will make about 10-12 bags of potato chips and the prep time is under 30 minutes total for three potatoes, especially if you have an air fryer and they are fresh.
I bet you are asking, what does a bag of potato chips and a bag of potatoes have to do with my performance appraisal. Let’s put them together. You are working hard every single day of your life, even on your days off.
Is a $10.53lb bag of Poppable chips worth more than half of what may be making an hour?
Are you working 30 minutes a day to buy a bag of chips?
Sure, it may only cost $3.29, but add it up. The amount of food you are buying for convenience is overwhelmingly expensive when you read the unit price per pound.
A man I know works for a guaranteed on-time delivery company and each minute he sits in traffic, he has to remind himself that he is making 35 cents a minute for every minute he is delayed. This helps him to keep his blood pressure in check instead of screaming at the traffic to move when they can't hear him yelling at them. At $21 an hour, he is working 31 minutes to purchase a 5oz bag of Poppables or if buying a single bag of organic veggie chips at $21.80 a pound, he is working 62.2 minutes for a 0.8oz bag of veggie chips.
Let’s put this into perspective. What you may be purchasing and eating is not healthy for the income you are receiving and it has a greater cost of your health. I am not saying do not eat the potato chips. But I am saying, there are ways that you can afford to eat organically.
Spend $4 on a bag of organic potatoes and make your own potato chips and if you don’t have an air fryer invest in one to make the potato chips or bake them in the oven. The cost of the organic bag of potatoes and the organic olive oil will be much healthier to your paycheck and your body and they taste so much better and are very fresh.
The next time you think it is too expensive to eat organic or think you cannot afford to eat organic food, think again. You can afford to eat organic food, just by making simple adjustments to your lifestyle.
Sure, you can drive to the store, spend time finding the chips, open the bag and eat them less than 10 minutes or you can grab the organic potato, slice it up, spray a squirt of olive oil, put in the air fryer and cook on the fries setting for 12 minutes and savor each flavorful bite at a fraction of the cost. The next time you think organic food is too expensive, do the math. How many minutes are you working to enjoy a bag of processed food?.
Comments