Organic Food Prices

Each Friday a box of Organic Produce is delivered to our door, and we execute a frenzied raid on it. In fact most of the goodies are gone before Saturday morning. Each week I pin the invoice for the delivery up on our fridge so I can go through the list and make sure everything is there (which it always is – our supplier is very efficient). It has all become a ritual.

However…

Last week LTSH (Long Term Suffering Husband) happened to avert his gaze from the world of binary code and quantum theories to focus on his immediate vicinity… which was the fridge heralding the invoice, as he paused in his role of ‘organic food scoffer’.

I was in another room at the time and this is what I heard:

“What the… ???” silence.

“No way!”

I listened to the purposeful patter, patter, patter of LTSH feet down the hallway. He was an outraged invoice holder on a mission.

His face appeared momentarily at the bedroom door.

“Have you seen how much this stuff costs?” He waved the invoice in the air.

Of course I had – I was the one paying for it each week from my grocery money. I didn’t bother to point this out, and merely replied with: “Organic Produce is generally dearer than the normal stuff. You see, it’s not made on the huge scale basis that the GM and pesticide covered food is…”

I paused for effect, but LTSH has this annoying habit of waiting to hear all of the facts so he formulate a very effective argument.

“… and it’s grown locally, not imported from overseas where labour is very cheap and the workers are taken advantage of, which allows them to sell at a much cheaper rate.”

LTSH: “Uh huh, and is there some way we can get the organic stuff cheaper?”

“I could always find out how much the produce is direct from the markets, I guess.”

LTSH: “Excellent idea! Then you could weigh up which is more economical. Test and measure…”

Trust LTSH to apply scientific thought processes and methods to getting wholesome, healthy food!

LTSH: “Work out how much hassle you’re saved getting the stuff delivered, and how much cheaper it is to buy direct. Then if having it delivered is the better option then we’ll stick to it, and if going to get it ourselves is more effective then we’ll do that.”

Okay, I conceded, that sounded fair. I’ll head into the markets and see what I find, and estimate…

Oh, no, hang on – we’re talking about LTSH here – he’ll probably require a full-scale analysis accompanied by a pie chart… groan, maybe even a Power Point Presentation on my findings…

Sigh – why didn’t I just throw that invoice in the bin after I got it?