Nom Nom Nom....Mac and Cheese

The first thing I think about when I am purchasing food is the price. As a college student, I am not earning a lot of money to blow on expensive organic food. But, I am a smart shopper and when at all possible I try to buy cheap and organic (I know it’s an oxymoron). What I’ve found is Trader Joe’s is a great grocery store for a shopper like me. When I am choosing the food I will eat I tend to think in terms of health as well. I will try to get fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, and carbs. I think I do a very good job of picking out healthy choices for myself. Honestly, it would drive me insane if I thought about all the environmental degradation involved in grocery stores. Yet, I try not to buy food wrapped in many layers of plastic and cardboard.

The interesting part about consumerism is the consumer drives the market. However, in the United States we forget that we have the power to choose what we want to pay for. For instance, we can chose from 50 different types of yogurt. Therefore, there is competition between these companies and these companies try to make a product that satisfies the demand. So, if we were to start buying more organic food and more environmentally friendly food. We have already seem a small change in the market, but for the majority of people buying organically is still too expensive.

I am just making an assumption, but I would guess the Kraft Mac and Cheese I ate would probably have the most impact. It seems like the unhealthiest out of all the food I’ve eaten because it has a processed cheese packet to go along with the macaroni. When making it you have to boil water and therefore I used gas energy to boil this water. The box is recyclable, so in terms of the environment that isn’t too bad. Yet, the cheese packet wrapping…I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know that it is definitely not recyclable and probably the worst environmental impact out of all of these products. The food itself created an impact on the environment. The macaroni probably doesn’t have a huge effect, but the factory used energy to make it. The cheese probably is the worst out of the two food products. But, it tastes so good. Anyway, there are chemicals put into the cheese to make it into a powder these chemicals probably have by-products that need to be disposed of somehow. The cheese packet has the worst impact on the environment because it is most likely a toxic form of plastic and thus has an extremely long half-life. So, the packet from the mac and cheese I ate yesterday will most likely be in a dump when my great grand children are alive.