Buying into the Evil Empire

I shopped at WalMart today, and I am ashamed.

I can’t help it!!! Much of what they sell, you can’t even buy elsewhere because other retailers can’t compete. And okay, sometimes you can buy the stuff somewhere else, for twice or three times the price.

Naturally, I want to be the one to lead the way, and in theory don’t mind paying what something is worth. But the truth is, what the other stores carry for two or three times the price is the same Chinese junk (no boat pun intended) that WalMart carries.

WalMart just gets a bigger, better deal from the junk-makers, so they can undercut at the retail side as well.

But I am proud that I stuck to the list, which had exactly six items on it:

~ hankies – the main reason for the trip, and WalMart has very decent big white ones, 13 for $9.

~ tights for Naomi Rivka – in the back of my mind since someone mentioned going to WalMart for tights a few weeks ago. One pair all-cotton, $5, one pair bamboo rayon, $4.

~ indoor watering can - $3 (plants are dying because I can’t find the blue dollarama one)

~ markers, Crayola – I dunno, maybe $4?

~ inkjet cartridge, $40 (eek!!!) - and, yes, they do probably sell printers, with ink cartridges, for less than $40… what are we supposed to do, buy a new printer when we run out of ink???

~ earrings for me because the top pair is too small and they are slipping into my earring holes…so $10, kind of an impulse because they were only added to the shopping list in the parking lot. But it still counts as sticking to the list, right?

Does it cancel out the good karma of overwintering plants (instead of buying new ones every spring!), using cloth hankies and choosing renewable fibres if I buy the stuff at WalMart…?

While I am celebrating Tacky White Trash day with my trip to the evil retail giant, I was also struck by the insight that Not Every Supper Must Be Wonderful. What a revelation! I couldn’t think of what to make and didn’t want to shlep to the grocery store a day early, so I decided we can darn well eat cheap, easy food lovingly hand-crafted from the contents of the potato room.

Suppers!

Tuesday:

~ Leftover Shabbos chicken soup

~ Superstore Chicken

~ Roast tinned potatoes (no onion soup mix, though… definitely inferior without it!)

~ Creamed corn / leftover Shabbos corn

Wednesday (today) – the supper that doesn’t have to be wonderful!

~ Roasted-garlic potato bread

~ Some kind of soup with broccoli in it

~ Tuna patties (in keeping with the Tacky White Trash theme) w/mushroom sauce

~ Stir-fried multi-coloured Ontario peppers

So yay, me!

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