Just a couple of years ago, I was totally ga-ga for the couponing craze. If I could get it free, or very near free, I was totally in. Then, kind of as quickly as it came on, I lost the lovin’ feeling for couponing. I started to really look at what I was feeding my family, and wanted to move back to our roots–simple whole foods. Of course, we still indulge in some processed foods–it’s a balance, but for the most part, now I cook all of our meals from scratch. It wasn’t just my family, either, I feel like our country kind of took a step back and evaluated their food. More and more people started shifting back to basics.
I posted about the removal of artificial colors in processed foods a couple of weeks ago, so I kind of knew that companies were catching on to the country’s new buying trends, but then I stumbled across an article on the New York Times that basically confirmed the shift. People are buying more whole foods, and moving away from ingredients they can’t pronounce. “Soda sales are down by 25% since 1998…sales of packaged cereals…are down by over 25% since 2000.” Change is slow, and while that drop is over a 15 year span, at least it is moving in a positive direction.
Companies like General Mills, Hershey’s, and Kraft are planning on transitioning to more consumer friendly ingredients {read: you can actually pronounce them}, they will have to act pretty fast, and make some radical changes. The article stated that 42% of people aged 20-37 “don’t trust large food companies.” No product loyalty means they won’t sell the product, and since money talks, I hope this means we can actually feel good about buying pre-packaged products in the grocery store again some day soon. Wouldn’t it be nice to buy something that was convenient and not feel like you’re a laboratory rat?
I’m curious, are you in the 42% of people that don’t trust large food companies? What would they have to do to earn your trust again?
~Mavis
Peggy says
I don’t trust, and am over 37, and I don’t think I could trust a company with profit as the bottom line ever.
Marcia says
I’m 45 and I don’t trust them either. Funny, because as a Chemical Engineer, that could have easily been my career path.
But then I’ve been interested in health, diet, and fitness for 30 years now. (Seriously about 10-15 years ago, my mom made me a scrapbook out of articles I cut from magazines as a teenager. I wish I’d kept it.)
Anyway, I read a lot of books and watch a lot of documentaries now. Michael Pollan (saw him in person too!), Food Inc, Just Eat It, King Corn, Marion Nestle books. I’ve probably seen/ read almost all of them. (That said, if you have one to recommend, please do!)
I too did the couponing thing years ago, then went back to basics. I don’t garden, but I do belong to an organic CSA. While I don’t set aside the budget for 100% organic/ local/ free range, I do try to make that a decent % of our eating.
That’s not to say we don’t eat processed foods. We have Trader Joe’s chicken fingers in the freezer. Pre-made meatballs. Frozen Costco Pizza. Cheerios, bagels, and “pumpkin bars” from Trader Joes. Most of what we eat though are just regular, plain foods.
Andrea says
I used to do the whole coupon thing. Then one heart attack at an early age turned things around. I had to start checking labels for salt, fat, sugar, etc. Then I realized that some of the ingredients I couldn’t pronounce interfered with my medicine. It just became easier to cook from scratch so that I could know exactly what was in my food. I went one step further and started growing a lot of my own. But once I started cooking from scratch, the taste and flavors were amazing. My kids will not even eat frozen pizzas anymore where they were once a standard coupon item. After learning and investigating chemicals and practices of large companies, I don’t trust them. Their bottom line is making a profit.
Amber says
I think people are actively looking for healthier alternatives in almost every food category and the market is in flux right now. Some companies are probably trying to figure out if a new labeling gimmick will work. I think a brand’s healthy reputation will become increasingly important as people learn to trust a company again. Ther is an opportunity for a company to gain a passionate consumer following by clearly labeling ingredients, sources, and perhaps the science behind their decisions.
Danielle says
We started making the transition to more whole foods when we lived in San Diego, but really embraced it wholeheartedly when we moved to Colorado. Now we buy a 1/4 cow and 1/2 pig at a time from a rancher whose beliefs echo ours. We buy the organic basket from Bountiful Baskets and shop at our summer farmer’s market. But, I still coupon for laundry, hair and teeth products. That’s how we can afford to put what we should put in our mouths. Too bad I can’t get my two littles away from certain processed foods like candy and crackers.
Amber says
Most coupons available are for products I’d never feed my family.
I’m starting to feel concerned about ingredients when I dine out too. I’d rather eat out less but eat well when I do.
Dinner parties at home are much healthier and can save money over going out. Bonus: you can linger and talk and you don’t feel like someone is waiting for your table to leave. 🙂
Tisha says
Trust them to what? I trust large food companies to provide me with food that perhaps is nostalgic for me or comforting in certain circumstances. I trust it to be quick or convenient when I need it but I have never depended on it to be good for me long-term or for every meal of the day. The only food I can be 100% sure of is that I grow myself though, so why I generally trust other sources more than large corporations, there are still definite questions even with whole ingredients produced on a smaller scale.
Sarah says
I also did the couponing thing for awhile and then one day threw it all out to cook from scratch. Once I started reading about what was in the food and how it was grown, I felt disgusted with the whole thing. I’m not sure I’ll ever trust the big companies again, but it would help if they would stop lobbying the govt to get policies that benefit their bottom line instead of the public’s health. P.S. Love reading your blog!
Kari says
I read this morning on Dr. Mercola that the FDA has approved genetically engineered salmon, and it is being regulated as a drug, not food. They have avoided somehow having to label it, meaning we consumers have no idea what we are buying. Read about it here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/12/01/fda-approves-genetically-engineered-salmon.aspx
So, to answer the question, NO, I do not trust our food supply or the manufacturers. All the more reason to grow your own!!!
Claire says
No one cares about your family like you do, so I’m generally distrustful of anyone trying to sell me just about anything. Their purpose is not to solve my problems, it’s to line their pockets by convincing me that they CAN solve our problems with their wares.
I was a couponer too, after getting so close to destitute that I had to ask my family to cover my rent until a new job started. After that, I was like a depression-era woman – If it was free, I stocked it. I still ate produce and made bread and stuff, but I had a lot more junk around. When I married my husband and became stepmom to my daughter, I realized how much crap I had that I wouldn’t feed her…because it wasn’t good for her. The realization that just because it was free doesn’t mean it’s good rocked my socks, and I moved away from couponing to shopping and eating fresh and local.
With two toddlers now, I probably have more crackers in the pantry than I need, but I do try to make the best choices of the options available when I choose snacks for them. I try to stick to those things I can pronounce, and with low salt and sugar where possible.
Katie W says
I don’t distrust big companies, but I also don’t eat much of their food. Do I believe that packaged and processed foods will harm me? Only if I eat it in unhealthy amounts – which I believe the practice of extreme couponing could lead to. At my house we mostly eat food from the outside aisles of the store, and I try to make most things from scratch. Buying in bulk is cheaper 🙂
I also don’t subscribe to the “all chemicals are evil” crowd. It seems some people want to avoid all chemicals without even knowing what they are. Water is a chemical. Pronouncing it’s scientific name may be hard for some, doesn’t mean it should be avoided.
Another thing that doesn’t bother me is GMO’s. But I won’t get into that, haha. I am probably in the minority here.
Jodi says
Amen sista! I get so irritated with the anti-chemical rhetoric. Which is basically just science ignorance in disguise. I am also pro gmo because I science and dont fear monger.
Im all for more scratch cooking and whole foods, but not because chemicals are scary. Because that just tends to be better for you since you can control the ingredients that are right for you.
Besides, mold is a whole food and easy to pronounce. Sodium chloride is a chemical compound and more difficult to pronounce. I’m sure we’re all on the same page about which we’d prefer to have with dinner.
Rajena says
I get exactly where you guys are coming from with the anti-chemical people because I like being super technical myself but I have decided that people are not really anti-chemical. They, and now I, use the word chemical because its much easier than saying preservative, pesticide, or the exact name that you mean like calcium proprionate, etc. I mean a lot of those are super long and hard to pronounce. I cook from scratch to avoid the extra “chemicals” because they don’t get along well at all with my family and I.
If you should come across someone stating they won’t eat that food because that food contains the chemical sodium chloride or some other basic ingredient you can always take that moment to teach that person what it is…and perhaps have a silent chuckle to yourself 😉
As for the GMO’s. To each his own. Myself, if its plants being modified with plants that’s fine. Its when they start modifying plants with nonplants that I start becoming wary of them. They just make me nervous.
Jodi says
Well, I’ve heard many of those who say that they’re anti chemical actually say things like “there is no reason to ever put anything unnatural in your body”. That’s anti chemical, and really, just anti science. I do get how one might just say that as a catch all, but there is still a lot of ignorance in the statement. For instance: pesticides. If you say you don’t want to eat pesticides, and you don’t grow all of your own food, you are eating pesticides. Period. Organic or otherwise. And the amount of conventional pesticides that are approved for organic farming would blow the organic fetishists minds. So how do you know which one you are getting on that over priced Apple? You don’t. The top organic pesticides are more toxic than their conventional counterparts going by their LD50 numbers, as well.
So, yea. I still maintain that by decrying all “chemicals”, one is anti chemical. And really, anti science. Or at least extremely science ignorant or illiterate.
And plants being modified with non plants isn’t quite how that particular process works, fwiw. There are actually 4 processes for gmos, the most common and most discussed being transgenesis. It would take lots of room here to explain, but it’s not quite what you say. It’s also been around for 30 years, has had thousands of studies worldwide by 100s of different agencies, bodies, and governments, and has reduced pesticide use by 37%, which seems like it would make anti chemical people happy, but they don’t like facts. They just like to be afraid, and hold to their fears despite clear data.
Kristina says
Meh. All corporations are there to make money for their stockholders or owners. Somehow, everyone seems to get their knickers in a twist because the folks that produce/sell their food actually want to turn a profit. It’s never been a great idea to eat processed foods on a regular basis, but if people are getting most of their daily calories from them, whose fault is that anyway? As for the whole pronouncability argument — arsenic, cyanide, and dirt are all pronouncable, but I’m not going to add them to my diet just because of that….just because something is called by its chemical name on a label doesn’t make it poison.
Marivene says
Now that DH must eat gluten free, our lives have changed a lot as fear as what we eat. We used to eat a lot of homemade bread. Now we eat very little. Lots of fruits & vegetables from the garden, & much less meat than we used to eat. When Shuanghai Meats bought Smithfield & multiple other pork producers 2 years ago, we ceased to eat commercially produced pork. I am leary of the FDA, but I absolutely do not trust China at all. I also do not eat “pastured pork”, because pigs are highly zoonotic creatures, & are able to modify viruses so they can pass between species. We only eat pork that is raised by family, in accordance with CDC standards, to prevent diseases. I don’t think big ag will ever regain my trust.
JC says
I came from a family that rarely used prepackaged foods to begin with so my aversion to packaged foods has less to do with trust than preference. However I don’t think I would ever switch to the prepackaged stuff because I don’t believe they can make things have a long enough shelf life and taste good without additives and I don’t want the additives.
GardenNut says
Well I’m 27 and I don’t trust the food industry as far as I could throw it. I was wary of GMO’s a few years back, but it was more in the background as I hadn’t realized any had gained FDA approval. I was working an all-consuming job and didn’t have the time to keep up on the news.
I started to garden just to grow herbs some 4-5 years ago. When I was a kid we used to grow tons of rhodies and azaleas but no real food. My herb garden quickly became a food garden because it was fun and productive.
I became completely disillusioned last year when I went Paleo (with dairy) in Nov. In the span of six months I dropped 40 pounds, lost 8 inches off my waist, felt better, slept better, stopped having ovarian cysts and actually had a stable period. My mom went Paleo with me and it almost completely fixed her asthma as well as some other things. I did not work out any more than I normally did. I did nothing different save change how I eat. Apparently when I stopped eating poison, I stopped getting, well, poisoned. Who knew?
Are they messing with the foods? Absolutely. Do I trust them? Not on your life. They’ve sunk too much money in it to change now. Sure, they’ll get slightly more consumer friendly. They’ll drop the obvious warning signs, the various chemicals and stabilizers and coloring agents. But their new mayonnaise will still have soy oil as it’s first ingredient. Their new cereal with whole grains will still be made from wheat. And it’s astounding what corn will find it’s way into.
GMO Salmon got the FDA go ahead last month. GMO Apples and Potatoes got approved back in March. Who knows what they’ll think of next?
Melissa says
To earn back my trust, food companies would have to be transparent, disclose what is and is not in their “food” products, completely redesign their entire model so that they produce locally from local farms – and then disclose which farms on the packages, and finally – they would have to produce items that are free of preservatives and thus will spoil.
Jodi says
There is already transparency: they’re called ingredient lists. If you’re referring to gmos, that’s a process and not an ingredient. And a woefully misunderstood one at that (it’s actually 4, but I don’t expect anyone opposed to gmos to know that).
Producing food o my locally would never come close to feeding the amount of people who need to be fed. Never.
MarinaRose says
Hey, at least you can shop at Trader Joe’s and feel confident that there is no GMO in any of their products. Right on TJ’s! Thanks for the post Mavis! 🙂
Renay says
Before WWII, we pretty much all cooked from scratch and processed foods were both a rarity and an extravagance. After WWII, companies figured out that they needed to get rid of a lot of pre-packaged food and revamp their business model. So, an industry sprang up to ‘help’ those harried housewives by making life in the kitchen oh so much easier. Not a bad idea, but it came at a cost, which we all see now. Ah, hindsight…
A company exists to make money and will always do so, nothing wrong with that. It is up to us to tell them what we think about their products both by letting them know with words and money. I think they got the message.
Don’t ever forget, your dollar is a powerful tool.
Vy says
I believe nothing those big food companies claim, they’re only in it for the profit and will lie and deceive accordingly. Do I still buy crap processed foods? Sometimes, I have teenagers after all, and it is about balance. I try to live by the 80/20 rule.
I’m lucky enough to be enrolled in one of the more exclusive product evaluation survey companies, and I am *scathing* on my reviews regarding anything artificial, overly processed, dessert disguised as breakfast or a beverage, deceptively unhealthy and so on. Slowly but surely I’m seeing the shift and I hope my input has gone directly into the ear of someone that can make a difference.
Deborah from FL says
I got on the coupon train around the same time you did. That’s how I came across your site. But I didn’t last as long as you did. Around that time I was diagnoses with diabetes. And shortly thereafter I finally figured out I have a sensitivity to gluten. So needless to say, coupons weren’t as helpful. And I was taking my diet more seriously than ever before.
I’m 50, so I’m outside your surveyed range, but I don’t trust corporations. Interestingly, the young people in my life (19-35) all eat nasty prepackaged and fast food type stuff. So gross. They tell me they believe they are saving money and effort (in both planning ahead and cooking), and that’s more important than their health. It blows my mind! Of course, as they get to know me, they are learning how unhealthy choices are.
Jodi says
I’m sorry, but the ignorance displayed here regarding our food sources is astounding and frustrating. Chemical phobia, science ignorance, and just it right fear mongering, are mainly what I read here. The misconceptions and factless assertions are so frustrating to read.
Because of that, I trust every Corp about the same. They’re all businesses; some better, some not. We eat whole foods and cook from scratch the vast majority of the time. It is better for you, but not because of the scary gmozzz or chemikillz. Nutrient density is key. I could make biscuits and gravy homemade from scratch and eat that three times a day, but am I healthier than if I ate a veggie filled lean cuisine instead three times a day?
Jane says
I did the same thing with the couponing! I try to do the best I can for my family and keep the budget under control, but like you I just try to have a good balance. It helps that we moved to a very health-minded town that is 2 hrs away from fast food. I think it’s great that things are trending toward whole foods, but I don’t know that I’ll ever completely trust what is in our foods. I’m grossed out by the latest with the FDA approving GMO salmon. Ick. That said, I don’t seem to have a problem chugging down a frappucino now and then. 🙂
Laura Z says
I had a store here that regularly tripled coupons and I could get lots of free condiments and lots of free junky packaged or frozen foods that I’d normally not buy. I still coupon, but mostly for staples — rice, tea, coffee, pasta, canned tomatoes, plain frozen veggies,etc. One good tip that I have is that you can contact good companies via email and ask for coupons for products you use and enjoy. By doing this, I’ve gotten free fresh PRODUCE and frozen vegetables, bread, cheese, yogurt, tofu, and a variety of healthier foods. The worst they can say is no! 🙂
Anne says
I stopped couponing and now do 90% of my shopping at Aldi. I spend half on groceries than I would anywhere else. We cook mostly from scratch with fresh or frozen ingredients. I have to shop often because I don’t keep much in the pantry. But I do get get 1 or 2 take out pizzas a week.
Laura Z says
Yes, Aldi can be great for certain things. I try to use the farmer’s market first when it’s open in the spring and summer, but Aldi’s produce specials are great, esp. for fruit. We regularly have things like 99 cent pineapples and blueberries — so we each much better and still stay on budget.
Julia says
I was raised in a very healthy, food conscious home so eating close to the earth has always been something I’ve done. I did the extreme couponing thing for about a year but only for toiletries, cleaning supplies and staples like pasta. It was very time consuming and I decided I wanted to spend my time doing other things. I cook almost all our meals and we eat very little processed food. I too have read quite a few of the books already mentioned. I found the book Salt, Sugar,Fat:How the Food Giants Hooked Us enlightening and depressing at the same time. I really like that trifecta of taste!!!! Even in home cooking it is important to be aware of keeping recipies healthy.
Wendy Brown says
Once, I tried to do the couponing thing, but the only coupons I could ever find were for products I never used. Everyone kept talking about these crazy savings, though, and I wanted to save money, and so I even spent several days, once, scouring the Internet for coupons for products that I regularly use. I found a few, but the ROI on my time wasn’t even close to being balanced.
In answer to your specific question, though, no, I do not trust the food produced by large companies to be healthy or nutritious, and in fact, I suspect that much of it causes long-term systemic damage that can not be definitively traced to those sources, because no one is doing that kind of study. They will swear that their products do no harm, but it can’t really be proven – one way or the other, and so I prefer to err on the side of caution and go with food that we know is okay – i.e. naturally grown/raised plants and animals.
So, I grow what I can. I raise some backyard livestock. I cook a lot from scratch. When we buy food from the grocery store, it’s local and/or organic. Our food expenditures are a whooping 20% of our take-home income.
We try to save money in other ways – like not having cable (or a television); not having a clothes dryer or other unnecessary electrical appliances (to save on electricity); heating with wood that we find for free (so that we don’t have to pay for heat – and we live in Maine … heat’s kind of important); buying second-hand clothes; making gifts or just sending cards. We don’t have a lot of other shiny things, but we do eat well ;).