Choice lovers beware......

I was doing my fortnightly shop with my boyfriend this morning and we always make a list – you know so we don’t ‘blow our budget’, what we buy is pretty much the same week to week. The necessities for us go a little something like this: bread (gluten/wheat free and normal), milk, vegies, fruit, rice noodles, sultanas, nuts. From week to week we’ll sometimes buy something a little naughty as well, whether that be a tub of ice cream (Connoisseur or Sara Lee), pack of lollies (Natural Confectionery) or a block of chocolate (Swiss Dark) – we usually go for the same brands each time and don’t think outside that square unless absolutely necessary.
I know when my parents go shopping they reach for the brands they know as well, if dad wants a choccie biscuit he’ll reach for the traditional Tim Tam, if mum wants some coffee she’ll reach for the Nescafe traditional flavour. I mean why wouldn’t we, we love the brands and quality we’re getting and there is no need at all to think outside the square – especially if we don’t have a lot of funds to support our decisions.

Which brings me to my point – why do brands such as Tim Tam feel the need to keep introducing more and more flavours of the biscuit when everyone already loves the original flavour? I know for a fact that the new range of Tim Tams aren’t doing well, honeycomb clusters and mocha clusters are bombing at the checkout so have been moved to the ‘on special’ rack at the start of any old aisle. They’re left to expire on their shelves in the hope that someone walking through the cereal aisle will look past their ‘list’ and grab a pack just coz they’re ‘on special’. But the thing is, the reason they were moved to that aisle in the first place is coz they’re not even being picked up.

In a world where variety is the spice of life is there in fact too much choice?

Think about when you head down to your local Gelatissimo or Cold Rock Ice Creamery, there are about 30 different flavours to choose from (at least!) then you can choose what cone you want it or whether you want it served in a cup, what toppings you want on or inside the ice cream. Don’t know bout you but, take me back to the good ol’ Neapolitan ice cream days where the only flavours to choose from were chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

Do you think dropping all the choices we have these days (the ones we don’t ‘need’ but ‘desire’) see a drop in the amount of cash we’re ringing up at the register?

Today we have never had so much choice and although a range of choices is always good I do believe 2008 marks the year that obesity has well and truly hit rock bottom – literally. In the year 2000, the Australian population alone had over *47% of women and 63% of men overweight - that was 8 years ago - imagine what that percentage is like now. Don’t even get me started on the United States. I really believe that if we did get rid of all the un-necessary choices in the market right now – i.e Pizza Hut and Domino’s ever expanding pizza flavours, random milk/juice/cordial flavours and yoghurt/desserts our world would be a happier and less greedy place. If the supermarkets went back-to-basics and used the ingredients that were all made and produced from the land, soil and animals the world would be a better (and less pudgy) place to live in.


Let me know your thoughts.

Peace Out Food Lovers,

Girl Next Door xoxo

*Info courtesy of Nutrition Australia (2000)