What's the Point?

In which Mama iMoo despairs of ever getting her husband to do as he's told.

10 October 2007: Mister iMoo and I have been known to have the odd scrap in the supermarket, usually concerning the thorny issue of waste. To be fair, I do have some form when it comes to filling the trolley with expensive, healthy food and then emptying the fridge of the very same food a week later and putting it in the bin - alongside empty takeaway cartons and all my good intentions.

But since I've started on this organic kick with food, my purchase-to-consumption ratio has improved quite a bit. Don't get me wrong now; there are always a few forlorn carrots or sprouting potatoes in the veggie drawer come the end of the week but I'm just not AS wasteful as once I was. 

The baby on the other hand has no qualms about wasting food which is how we ended up having our latest supermarket spat: "What is the point," Mister iMoo wanted to know, "in spending four quid on organic broccoli, if he just spits it out?"  As usual, he is missing the point. The real question is 'What is the point in spending four grand on a Laura Ashley sofa only to have it covered in spat-up broccoli?'  But of course it's always left to me to look at the bigger picture.

Fighting in the supermarket is undignified but it's amazing how the social niceties desert you once you've had children. It must be something to do walking around with baby sick down your back for a year. You lose all your inhibitions. Or your manners.

So there we are, having the SAME argument over organic food and I've used every weapon in the arsenal including accusing him of poisoning our child with pesticides and I'm half thinking I'm going to have to pretend to cry, when we realise that the child is hanging from the trolley with a packet of Skittles in a death grip, sucking every last E number out of the bag.

How do children know? It's as though they have a built-in device that tells them broccoli is bad; sweets are good, before they have even had the chance to taste either one.

So in our haste to get home before the fallout from the sugar rush (okay we still have some inhibitions), the four quid broccoli made it into the trolley. It's sitting in the fridge now like a ticking time bomb. If I don't get it cooked by tomorrow night, I'll never hear the end of it.

Amazingly, my fussy four year old daughter REQUESTED brocolli the other day, and ate it all! It's all about either peer pessure or television creating positive suggestions. NOTHING we do will make them eat what we want, I don't think. There has been so much sugar in our house recently. It's like a plague. Yet I'm a helpless perpetuator. Sigh.

Tempura is good for brocolli and all veg, as is roasting. Eveything's nice roasted. Have you seen the Japanese range in Tesco, it's good. Sushi and Tempura batter.

What's all this arguing about organic - I'm assuming form the site, you're Glenisk? Why organic milk but not veg?

I buy your milk! I think it's worth the extra cost, especially since I saw a Despatches typpe documentary about modern dairy farming, Tesco's artificilally low prices etc. A friend whose daughter was formula fed refused all cow's milk except Glenisk when she was weaned to it. I think that speaks volumes.

Hey Jo, I don't work directly for Glenisk but I do provide content for the website and they very kindly allow me to blog here! I'll pass on your comments about the milk - the Clearys will be delighted. They love to get feedback.

I try and buy as much organic as I can including fruit and veg but it's frustrating that it's not more widely available. I keep promising myself that one of these days, I'll start growing my own veg out the back...maybe if I spent less time on the computer, there'd be a remote chance of that happening...

The sugar thing is a killer. It's the short-sightedness of motherhood. Hand your child a biscuit and you get five minutes peace. But then you spend 10 minutes wiping smeared biscuit off the window, sofa, telly, toys etc. and then another 10 minutes dealing with the consequences of sugar high. So you give out to the child for acting up and he cries and then you feel guilty so you give him a biscuit.

Heh. Yes, except I don't really worry about wiping up. I wash the children every couple days or so and the rest can just solidify.

You may think that's funny but sadly it's true.