How do YOU stay trim and healthy?

Seriously, I do want to know. I cannot understand how anyone in this country (or at least this city) can possibly do it. There is a certain grocery store I go to, beginning with the letter "K." It is a fabulous grocery store. It is so big and bright and chock full of stuff. CHOCK FULL OF STUFF. Like 76 different varieties of Pop-Tarts; 4 or 5 aisles of potato chips, corn chips, soda; aisles of candy and sugar cereals; and in between those aisles are the ready-to-heat'n'eat meals; shake'n'bake this and stir'n'squirt that....

Wayyyyyyyyyy back in the back corner, alllllllll the way past the racks and racks of zombie food bread and donuts and cakes and pies and twinkies and Little Debbies, is the produce section. It's an okay produce section, it really is. They have a nice stock of regular and organic produce. It's just that it's so daggone hard to GET there with your eyes closed.

Meat. Oh, meat is another story. You can find the meat ALLLLLLL the way on the back wall of the store, past the rows and rows of assorted, previously mentioned artifically flavored, extra-processed, prodigiously-preserved and super-sugared stuff; but before you actually get to the meat which you might have to COOK, you must peruse the fridge-fulls of meat which you only need to HEAT. Hot dogs, polish sausage, ready-made breakfasts, pepperoni already sliced, patties and slices of this and that which are ALREADY COOKED AND IN THE BOX, waiting for you and your handy microwave.

The item that really scrambled my eggs was this: for the time-strapped homemaker who does not have time to boil eggs (or who doesn't know how):
Pre-boiled, pre-peeled eggs. Ready to serve!

No, wait: the item that really fried my bacon was: hotdogs ALREADY IN THE BUNS for those too busy to shove a dog in the (pre-sliced) bun themselves.


Oh no, wait....the item that really nuked my potpie was the "Crockpot Classics."

Watch Instructional How-To-Reheat-RTE-Food-In-Crockpot Video

Ahhh, and for the seriously time-crunched child, who just can't manage to down that bowl of SuperSugarCereal in time to catch the school bus, and NEEDS that sugar-high to jumpstart their school day, there are these:
Description: Straws are crunchy cereal shells with a delicious layer of flavored crème coating on the inside. "Dip ­ Sip ­ Munch" is the slogan for Kellogg's Cereal Straws. Dip the straws, Sip the milk and Munch the straws, available in two varieties ­ Fruit Loops and Cocoa Krispies.

Seriously, people, SERIOUSLY!!!!

Americans, why let yourselves be taken by all this garbage?

Who is buying this stuff? Why are the store aisles loaded with stuff that a)ought not be eaten by humanity and b)steals the money right out of your wallets? You're being robbed *twice*!

Oh, ugh. And the very worst part, the part that really fizzes my pop, is that if you actually wanted to buy, say, a loaf of bread that is actually made from actual whole wheat, and other items *you would use* if *you were baking it yourself*, well by golly, you can just pay three times as much. I have found it to be true of almost every item in the store: if you want it healthy and natural, you will pay for it.

Unless you learn to buy the ingredients you need to make your meals from scratch. Neither of which is hard. Both of which will save money, and probably your and your childrens' health.

Mommas, it's time to get gutsy. Learn how to cook, learn how to manage your time, shop thriftily, save your money, do your job at home feeding your children the foods they *ought* to be eating.

Stop making a market for the scammers who are trying to make a buck off of your babies.

Okay, jumping off soapbox.