Trip to the health food store.

Recently, I was given a gift card for $40 to a health food store near us. It's called the Natural Food Patch. The store is above average. It's not the worst health food store I have been to, but not the best either. They are consistent in what they carry and their prices are ok. Anyway, Libera and I run in there earlier today and I was once again reminded of the irony of the environment in that place....Sheesh, I expect to see HEALTHY people in such a store. I see more unhealthy people in there every time we visit. Of course, there will be hippies, your token vegans, hypochondriacs, young socially conscious vegetarians, older citizens who are trying some homeopathic medicine options and of course people like me (the occasional carnivore). The sights and sounds in this place can really be a trip. One aisle you can walk past a disturbed vegan with atrophied musculature and the next aisle you can try to squeeze past a young overweight female (PETA shirt on, of course) who claims to have been a vegetarian since high school. Ok. Needless to say there tends to be many artists (actual artists who paint, musicians, writers and other right hemisphere - types). Like I said before, I am usually never disappointed by this place, but the people watching is second to none.
Our next chapter in this episode was to figure out how to burn $40 in this joint. Usually we drop $10-$15 on small ticket items (milk, peanut butter, chocolate, fruit leather, small snacks, etc.). The majority of items in this store are Organic and as you should know, that increases the price of the respective item; usually by 20% or more. I am sure it's a psychosomatic thing, but there are certain things that are labeled organic that I really prefer and I can tell the difference. I have tested it--blindly. Milk is probably the main item. We drink skim and I can tell the difference between organic skim and non-organic. Seriously. I don't think it's on the same level as bottled water though. I have a cousin who cracks on me for my preference to bottled water...I can tell the difference betwixt Evian and tap water...Seriously.
That's a different post for another day though. Back to shopping. I usually will never buy produce labeled organic because it is usually much more expensive and I like to think I won't turn into a former resident of Chernobyl by eating non-organic fruit. I eat 6-8servings of fruit a day. I would have to say that organic peanut butter is the other item that we consistently get. Mmmmmm. Good stuff. So.....we bought milk, a few bars of soap, some chips that were made from dehydrated carrots, some tofu ice cream sandwiches (they're good and you cannot tell, really), Thai veggie burgers and some other snacks...Maybe a $6 bar of soap is not the best use of money, but it was a gift card and I figured it might be interesting to try...I suggest you hit a health food store and take in the sights and sounds of the people...