Choosy Peanut Butter Shoppers Choose Less Packaging

I love grocery shopping! My two favorites are Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

It brings back memories of Saturday mornings with my dad. Back then, grocery shopping wasn't about organic foods and local produce. It was mass market and whatever was on sale. He'd hand me a bunch of coupons and I'd set off on my journey to collect all of my items. Apples were from New Zealand or some other country. It was all about meat and potatoes, Lucky Charms and Skippy peanut butter.

Today, grocery stores are still filled with those brands that I would not likely touch anymore, but they are also developing their own lines of organic foods and labeling local produce.

When I'm in Whole Foods, I feel good. Healthy. It's clean and there is such a wide variety of wholesome foods to choose from. And these days, I focus more on the outside aisles than the inside ones stocking all of the processed foods. Not only are most processed foods not healthy, but they also carry a lot of packaging.

On a recent shopping excursion, as I looked down my list, I was pleased to see "peanut butter." My favorite part of Whole Foods is the peanut butter station. They have machines that grind the peanuts right in front of you. I love watching the peanutty goo pour out into the cup and feeling the warmth of the freshly grounds peanuts. Plus it tastes great.

The other day I was enjoying my zen peanut butter experience when a girl came up and started to use the machine next to mine.

She reached under the shelf, but instead of pulling out the container, she only pulled out the lid.

I tried not to stare as she began pouring the peanut butter onto the lid. And then she licked it. She made a face, threw away the lid, grabbed another one and repeated the process on another machine filled with honey roasted peanuts. Same pour. Same face.

I removed my container from the machine and slammed it down on the counter to distribute the peanut butter.

But really to make a point.

She looked at me and I glared at her lid. She looked at it, too. Then threw it out and walked away.

As I became increasingly annoyed I thought about how many other people have just "tasted" the peanut butter. Or the ice cream. All of those little plastic spoons and cups that we all gravitate toward at Trader Joe's and Costco.

We are using so much energy to make things we care so little about.

On my way out, I walked by the peanut butter station again. There was a dad holding his little boy who was thrilled at the idea of flipping the switch and watching the creamy peanuts flow. I looked at them and hoped that by the time the little boy could reach the machine on his own, he would know what the peanuts tasted like so that he wouldn't need that extra lid.