Welcome back to my autism-aware shopping trip through the grocery store. Week by week, I'm showing you what the store sells, prune down the selection to what's safe for me (because autistic people can have very sensitive systems) and point out various gotchas the store tries to make you buy stuff you didn't come for.
As a reminder, I shop with the following conditions in mind:
- dairy-free
- low sugar
- avoid ultraprocessed junk
- avoid food coloring
- conditional vegetarianism
- avoid high histamine foods
- awareness of gluten-free options and sugar-free options
Last time we finished off the numbered aisles. We also saw a truly staggering number of TV dinners, and learned why, nutritionally and cost-wise, they're a trap. This week we'll look into the meat and deli sections.
It's worth noting that there will be almost nothing for me in this section, because of the conditional vegetarianism mentioned above. The US meat industry is, on the whole, supremely uninterested in matters of ethics and morality. Meat animals are treated like objects, not living creatures, and given as little freedom as possible while still producing an edible product. Maybe not a very healthy product, for you or for the environment, but that's irrelevant in the face of greed.
I'll pause here for a moment to note something very important: there are a lot of things in life to care about. One of my personal causes is the meat industry, because I think that animals deserve to have lives beyond simply being my food. If that is not high priority for you, or you don't have the money to afford more humane options, that is okay. If your passion is ending human slavery, or starvation, or homelessness, or racial inequality, or just surviving this year because you're struggling hard and there seems to be no respite from the insanity, and you don't have time or energy to spend looking at the food on your plate right now... that is understandable. This is something I care about, so I'll talk about it.
However. In no way am I saying, "animal welfare is more important than any of those other things." It is important to me, and I'll be giving you information in regards to it. I hope you'll look at it and keep it in mind, but if you don't, I am not somehow "better than you" or whatever it is self-righteous jerks are saying these days.
Skipping past the very disturbing pictures of what the meat industry considers appropriate treatment for living creatures, I'll simply link you to Certified Humane's factsheets page. Some of the common practices are described therein. You can also check the FAQs page for a lot of very specific questions about their standards.
I consume Certified Humane and Animal Welfare Approved products due to their transparency and independent verification processes. This grocery store typically carries very little of either of those, but I'll point out the exception.
I figured we could start with the fresh meat counter. I had to wait a good bit to get a shot without anyone in it, but I think it was worth it. The counter is almost always staffed by at least one person, waiting to weigh and custom-chop whatever you care to buy from their selection.
A reasonable selection. And all of it seems nice and fresh. Did you know red dye goes into most beef products to make it seem fresher than it is? They also tinker with the air balance in the cases and packages to keep that red color as long as possible. The meat isn't super fresh, it's just been made to look like it is.
Same with that salmon, by the way. That dark color is unlikely to be natural. Farmed fish doesn't have the type of diet to produce that color, so the farms feed them the processed color. Otherwise the resulting filets would be grey.
Before we dive into the rest of the meat section, let's have a look at the lunch meats. As you can see, they are legion, and roughly organized by brand. Ham, turkey, chicken, salami, roast beef, bologna, it's all here. You can also snag hot dogs on the far end there. And, though it's hard to see, meat-and-cheese snacks just after the hot dogs.
Past the the lunchmeat and the meat counter proper is a set of floating refrigerator islands that serve as aisles. They're roughly organized by meat type. For example, here's the beef cuts and lamb sections. (Lamb is all the way at the end, basically a nubbin of a section due to the lower demand.) Also, lest you be worried... that's not all the beef available. It's just certain cuts. There's still ground beef and such elsewhere, even aside from the butcher's counter above. We'll get there, but first, we have to cross an ocean of pig products.
Your basic chops and cuts for main dishes, plus a few rib racks for your barbecue-in-the-winter desires.
There's also a whole section for sausage It's mostly the ground variety, but don't worry, bratwurst and smoked sausage have their own sections. Also, in case you were wondering if there were going to be snacks in this section... fear not! Here they are, on the near end of the main aisle. They're prepackaged meat and cheese snacks, in case you didn't get enough of those in the cheese section.
And here's the rest of the sausage. And also more snacks. As you can see, the impulse buy endcaps may or may not be entirely related to the aisle they're connected to, because that's Lunchables, hot dogs, and lunch meat. None of which has much to do with sausage.
You know, prior to 2020 I think I would have said more of these aisles were devoted to beef products, rather than pork products. I'm honestly unsure if there's a supply issue with beef, or if this is just how it's been for the last dozen years and I just didn't notice. At any rate, ham and ground turkey share an aisle here. I'm told ground turkey is a lot leaner than ground beef, but since I typically buy my beef locally, I haven't had much occasion to try it. It is definitely more environmentally friendly than beef.
Did you wonder where the bacon was? Worry no more, there's a whole aisle for it. Sunday, Canadian, and streaky, it's all here. Various brands and price points, and varying levels of fattiness.
Despite most of the meat section being for pork products, there is still some room for chicken... so here it is. We're mostly looking at chicken breasts here, but there are also thighs and ground chicken.
Please note the sign here: "Due to high demand Limit 2 on all fresh chicken products." I've never actually found out if this is enforced, or if it's merely a suggestion. I've also basically never seen a sign like this prior to 2020. (Now that 2020 is over, I've seen dozens like it and barely notice except when it affects my immediate shopping trip.)
Mostly hidden in the near side of the aisle is the "we're fancy and humane" section. Katie's Best is a GAP Step 2 option. I prefer mine Step 4 and above, which is why I opt for the other available brand there: Smart Chicken.
You have your option of boneless breast meat or boneless thigh meat. It's a sign of how astonishingly sheltered I am that I honestly prefer just eating breast meat and will skip chicken entirely if it's not that. It's a texture and flavor thing. Also a "good Lord that's some serious privilege" thing.
It's hard to see on the package, but on the right hand side label, at the bottom left, there's the Certified Humane label. Weirdly, only the organic Smart Chicken has that label. The regular (blue packaging) version doesn't.
Two of the specials for this week. This isn't the cheapest I've ever seen ground beef (I've seen it for 99 cents a pound a few times), but it's pretty inexpensive. It's a pity the cows involved suffered horribly and likely never tasted grass in their lives, because that's the only way you can afford to offer meat that cheaply.
This just makes me wonder how many kinds of pepperoni a person really needs. For those counting, that's four brands, in standard, low fat, tiny, and "cup shaped" varieties. Why? I really don't know.
And last in the meat section, the only section I regularly visit. Ground beef is fine and all, but this section also sometimes contains ground bison. It also, as you can see, contains the growing share of plant-based protein products. When Impossible ground "meat" showed up next to my ground bison, I was dubious (and bought some anyway, because why not?). There seems to be a significant demand, though, because now it's not just Impossible products, it's Lightlife and Pure and Beyond Meat. I have yet to try most of these, because I'm pretty happy with ground bison and my locally raised beef. But I really should, because some of these might be delicious. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
On to the deli section. The store actually goes Meat Section, Bakery Section, Deli Section, in an L shape, but that would have made no thematic sense and also been a very lengthy post, so I decided to cluster meat and deli in one and get to the bakery later.
Once again, you can go up to the counter and have exact ounces and pounds of meat and cheese portioned out for you for the price of that meat/cheese and a smidgen of human contact.
Because meat is still meat, and dairy is not my friend, I also don't use this counter. This is a bonus, because I prefer to avoid talking to strangers as a rule. Too many factors in communicating for (usually) very little reward.
A shot of the offerings at the counter. Note the naan and various sandwich breads below the case, ready to immediately pair with whatever you ordered.
Just past the cheeses, there's a great pile of hummus and guacamole. And of course, the chips to go with it.
Meat and cheese sandwich not sufficient for your immediate snacking pleasure? Or perhaps you wanted something on the side. Either way, here's various pasta salads (a food I never learned to enjoy) as well as potato salad (same) and coleslaw (also same). They come in sweet and savory varieties. And naturally, more bread to eat it with.
We're still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, so this section 100% makes sense... but I can safely tell you this existed before the pandemic and will almost inevitably exist afterwards. If you can't muster the energy for human contact but still want fresh sliced meats and cheeses, here's an option. These are always meats and cheeses available at the counter, but pre-sliced and bagged.
"But where are the snacks?" you might be asking. We've barely had any snacks, but that's because, well... basically the rest of this post will be snacks and convenience food. Here we have chicken pieces, preportioned pasta salad, miniature Thanksgiving dinner in eco-hostile plastic trays, and more.
If you can't see, that display says, "Let us do the cooking tonight" and calls this concept "All Together Meals." You can get one of those small chickens, plus a 2 liter of Coke, for $7. That's supposed to be dinner. I suppose you could make it worse by adding a big pile of pasta salad on top of this... which would be very easy to do simply by turning around.
So for anyone who's counting, this grocery store thinks "dinner" is a roast chicken and a 2 liter of Coke. That only works if you split that chicken and pop 10 ways, according to the sign. And of course it's still missing a giant pile of vegetables and a small portion of healthy grains to actually be a real meal.
The rest of the deli section is a series of floating island-aisles, about half the length of the meat section ones. They're stubby rectangles with shelves on all four sides. This particular one is the closest to the deli counter, as you can perhaps tell by looking at the packaged-meat contents. Do note the snack packages of beef jerky and meat/cheese snacks right next to it. Those are awfully small, though, don't you think?
The grocery store agrees! Here's some bigger ones. Meat and cheese trays, cubed snack cheeses, spreadable cheese balls... and just above it, pretzel crisps to round it out.
Here's some more snack cheeses and meat/cheese snack combos. Please remember this is the second round of cheese, because we had a regular cheese section in the dairy aisle already. All of this is just bonus... or in case you couldn't be convinced to buy cheese the first time around.
Additional cheese blocks/chunks. These are the "fancy" compared to the regular cheese section. This is also your spot to pick up feta cheese.
More snack cheeses and party cheese options. Of particular note, the miniature cheese wheels in nine different flavors. Even with several of those being types of cheddar, it's an absurdity. And again, more crackers to go with your cheese. In case you don't feel like walking all the way to the cracker aisle.
Even more cheese. Presumably these are the imported cheeses, but I honestly didn't inspect it very carefully. I can't safely consume any of this.
This is the last "it's just cheese!" picture, I promise. But you get the idea. If you want cheese, you will be buried in cheese. Choice paralysis has never been so convenient! And crackers and crisps standing by once you make your choice.
This was a particularly long aisle, so I split it into two pictures to show you all the options. There are various premade cold sandwiches and subs (with a high markup) available for hungry shoppers, as well as prepackaged soups, ramen, mac'n'cheese, fruit cups, and, inexplicably, hard boiled eggs.
For the low low price of at least four eggs (possibly as many as eight, depending on the chickens' treatment), you may acquire one plastic-encrusted hard boiled egg. Hooray?
Fish filets, prepackaged crabcakes, etc. I mostly don't do seafood but it's here if you want it.
I don't even know what to say to this one. I guess I'm in the minority for not liking potato salad? There's a few varieties, of course, but really. It's all potato salad.
If you thought this place didn't have enough convenience food, you were right. Meet the take and bake pizzas, as well as more party trays and ready-made cheese fondu... ish... stuff. Have I mentioned this is all right near the vegetable and fruit section and wandering too far in any direction will land you into all this?
Yep. Before we kiss this section goodbye... if you can be tempted by convenience food but insist it be hot... well, for a nice markup, you may buy a pizza right here and save yourself the trouble of having to wait until you get home, or use the oven.
So yeah. That's the meat and deli sections of this grocery store. We're almost done with my trip through the grocery store.
By the way, you can eat meat and seafood more sustainably without having to resort to store-hopping the way I do. There's delivery services (pandemic-friendly!) that will ship you a box of clean, sustainably produced meat once a month (or more, if you want).
Butcher Box is the everything option. They'll do chicken, beef, pork, and seafood. You can let them send you a mix of what's available, or customize your own box. This is a really simple way of ensuring you eat better, fresher, and kinder. All it takes is some freezer space. As a bonus, they actually mention Temple Grandin's more humane butchering and slaughtering practices as part of their process.
For folks specifically interested in seafood, please consider VitalChoice, which has a monthly box option but also lets you do regular online orders from their thoroughly-traced and -certified offerings. Mercury and other heavy metals are a serious problem in seafood, and they're particularly detrimental to autistic people, whose bodies may be unable to purge those toxic substances from our systems effectively. VitalChoice is one of the very few autism-safe seafood options.
No comments:
Post a Comment