Paying Up For Non-Generic Food ... For Now

Just after picking up our little princess from her class the other day, we headed over to the Cold Storage at Great World City to pick up some grocery.

I have been clearing out the fridge of all the remenants, as well as many science projects, for the past week. But before I could pare the contents of my fridge further down, we ran out of milk. Running out of milk is an unacceptable situation in our household. Our little princess goes amok, and I can't bake (and go amok as well).

Since making the decision to give our little princess organic milk, we have been picking up cartons of them whenever and wherever we see them. Due to the much higher pricing, they are stocked only at selected supermarkets which are located in premium neighbourhoods with high disposable income. Great World City define their target market as being made up of families "with a monthly household income above S$10,000". Don't be surprised that Cold Storage at Ngee Ann City doesn't carry organic milk but Cold Storage at Greenwood (a primarily landed residential belt in Bedok South) do.

Isn't it ironic that people not from such premium neighbourhoods are the ones who could least afford to be sick but yet they are the very ones who are not even given the benefit of a choice by these supermarkets to feed their bodies better.

But then again, the economics behind the decision of the supermarkets not to stock these supposedly healthier, and inevitably pricier, choices and their customers not buying them are no rocket science.

Just take a look at my bill.

If I re-organise it and compare some of the items, the differences will be more noticeable.



If you read carefully, you will notice that the non-generic beef and pork are in fact cheaper than the usual ones. By non-generic in this instance, I mean they are free range beef and pork. Why the price difference? I can only speculate that cattle feed is more expensive these days as compared to putting the cattle out on the pasture to feed on free grass. Good news for free range meat supporters! Please note that free range doesn't not mean organic.

For the remaining items, the price difference remains quite wide for now. But I have been reading good news that organic sales are shifting to regular grocery stores and that organic farming are growing fast. Hopefully these would all point to cheaper organic food options in the future.

Would you pay more for non-generic food?