Challenge 3: Holiday Gas Station

I went to the Holiday on Hamline and Marshal in Saint Paul. The first thing I noticed is that the actual grocery section consisted on a one sided isle that was about 12 feet long and a couple fridge doors that contained dairy and some meat products. I took a look around and to say the least was not impressed.

I ended up walking out with a box of elbow noodles, canned corn, green beans, sweat peas, and a can of light tuna.  I choose the elbow macaroni for a base to my meal, and the can tuna was really the only decent protein besides eggs in the whole store. I went with canned vegetables because even though they may be lacking on flavor, they still have a decent amount of nutrients in them.  I figured with this I would at least be able to put some kind of hot dish together when I got home.  I spent a total of $11.42 on my items.

When I got home to start my meal I was at a loss of how I was going to make this healthy.  I guess it would at least have some vitamins and minerals from the veggies and tuna is a good lean protein.  But so many aspects of this meal were far from ideal.  I went with a Tuna noodle casserole, with peas and corn in the salad, and then I served the green beans on the side.  I just cooked the noodles and added in some milk and mayo to give it a little sauce and threw it in the oven to heat it through.  There was plenty of casserole to feed two and then left overs for both the next day.  However I have to say it was not one of my most exciting meals I have cooked this semester. And it was quite eye opening for myself to just see how far my food standard has come since I started to learn about it.   I really had no interest in buy or eating this food.  It really goes against my thoughts and views on food.  I understand that this is what many people have to eat everyday and have no choice of organic or not.  But this makes me even more certain that with my dollar I make a vote everyday and the more and more people that vote to eat local and sustainable then the price of those niche foods will even out, and hopefully we can start to see more real food in real areas. I think that there is a lot happening in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul that are reaching out to those who cant afford healthy food and trying to get it out there.  This makes me want to get more involved in those kind of groups.