The Freezer Aisle

Maybe it's because I haven't really had to go grocery shopping too much yet, but it just hit me today as I went into the store to get some healthy choice meals - how much ready-made, frozen, and packaged foods we eat. As I passed the rows and rows of freezers, it made me a little sad. My roommates in India didn't even want to buy frozen peas but would rather buy fresh and shell them themselves (which ironically sometimes they ended up in the freezer anyway!) But really there aren't many frozen options available there at all. Overall there are just not as many processed, packaged foods.

As I was tempted by frozen Aimee's thai stirfry, the $5 or 6 for one meal made me wince. Dang, I forgot how expensive this stuff is! I had to all but close my eyes as I walked through the frozen dessert freezers, conveniently located last thing before you reach the check out.

So in the end I guess I am conflicted about it. Indians' insistence of fresh foods and dislike for prepackaged items results in women spending a huge portion of their day in the kitchen preparing fresh meals. (Does it make that much difference that the food was fresh after it's been chopped and stewed and simmered to death so that it is now beyond recognition? Well, I don't know.) But I bet they still spend a smaller percentage of their paycheck on food than we do. But then, when I was in India I did miss the variety and choices we have in the US. It's nice to walk through the store and have the option of 10 different brands of ranch dressing and to have an entire aisle dedicated to breakfast cereal as opposed to having maybe 7 cereals to chose from. And even though I know it's still not healthy, I do love that I can buy lots of weight watchers desserts, and still have my sweet fix knowing that it's at least fewer calories and fat than buying a cookie from Donut Bank...