When did filling the supermarket trolley become an ethical head melt?

LAST UPDATE | 28 Sep

Niamh O'Reilly

LIKE IT OR loathe it, we are all firmly living in the era of conscious consumption where supermarket influencers, ingredient gurus and food content creators flood our feeds with an endless list of often contradictory dos and don’ts for feeding your family healthily, ethically and mindfully.

For most people, the weekly grocery shopping is rarely described as a leisure activity. True, many parents will remember the sheer glee of going to the supermarket solo when their children were babies or toddlers, taking their time to read labels or make choices about their coffee not solely based on their level of sleep deprivation.

However, for most people, me included, the weekly pilgrimage to the shops is less leisurely label reading and more like an episode of Supermarket Sweep, except instead of me winning money by throwing things in the trolley, when I get to the tills I’ve got none left.

I try to go in with a meal plan and a list and stick to it. Even that’s getting harder to do, especially when you’ve got this never-ending narration in your head, based on headlines or some seemingly solid, but often inconsistent advice we can’t help but pick up from some randomer on social media.

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Some of the content out there is genuinely helpful. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reading food labels, or looking at packaging for more than a few seconds, because while it’s currently a case of blink and the price has doubled on that packet of frozen peas, it’s also a case of blink and you’ll miss what’s right in front of you. Like that Irish honey brand you like to buy is actually made from non-Irish bees in hives from halfway around the world. Many of us are too busy to stop and see what’s in plain sight, so there is a case to be made for being more mindful.

Too much information

But as helpful as some of this supermarket influencer narrative is, for many shoppers, especially the mums out there, it’s exponentially adding to the mental load. Yes, dads do the shopping too, but let’s not pretend that much of the food shopping and meal prep does not still fall to the mums because it does.

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According to the CSO, 64% of women said they were mostly responsible for grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation, compared with 23% of men. Even where both partners worked full-time, 43% of women said they were mostly responsible for groceries/meals, compared with 20% of men.

But it’s not just food shopping and keeping up with your family’s likes and dislikes any more; now you’ve got to ensure you are purchasing healthy food that’s not processed, is ethically and morally produced, locally sourced with as few air miles as possible, is also organic, with 98% recyclable packaging, but somehow fits in with your dwindling budget too.

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It’s too much, we are bombarded by information, and it’s turning a simple grocery trip into a guilt trip thanks to a narrative that is hard to turn off…

Did that supermarket influencer say frozen veg was better than fresh veg? What about the kid’s cereal? Oh yes, it’s full of hidden sugars, even the ones that say they are wholegrain on the box, so I can’t get that then. I’ll give them toast, but wait, isn’t sliced pan the devil in disguise because of all the sugar?

Fruit juice is cool though, right? Or did that wellness guru do a whole five-minute expose on how they are just as bad for teeth as fizzy drinks, if not worse? Grand, I’ll get some milk for them to guzzle instead, but hang on is dairy healthy or not these days? Should I get oat milk instead, because what about the welfare of the cows? But does that have enough calcium for the kids?

Global politics now feeds in to how we think as consumers. 'Have these products come from occupied West Bank?' for instance. Alamy Stock Photo

I’ll do porridge then and chuck on fresh blueberries; that can’t possibly have any negatives, right? But the label says the berries have come from Morocco, so that’s an air miles no-no, and I can’t get that garlic from China, can I? Isn’t the Spanish one supposed to be better for you? And what about those dates? Are they really from a small Palestinian producer in the West Bank, or are they owned by a settler company?

Nutrition, animal welfare and sustainability

Packs of processed ham are full of nitrates, according to that food content creator’s latest deep dive, so I’ll go to the counter to get fresh slices, but what about the pig welfare issues? And how do I know it’s still not pumped with water?

Regardless, I’ve got to pack the trolley with protein. I keep hearing we’ve all got to get more protein in, and look, it’s helpfully slapped on everything, even that new toilet paper because what person behind couldn’t do with some protein-infused tissue? It’s just like Oprah joyfully telling the audience, “You get a candle, you get a candle, everybody gets a candle.” Everything has a dollop of protein in it, whether it needs it or not-brilliant. I can tick that off the list, so.

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And oh look, there’s bone broth which is full of protein. Who was talking about that again? Was it that actress who likes to steam her vagina on her off days? And what’s the craic with Brazilian beef? I saw a concerning headline, but was too busy juggling a million other jobs to drill into it to find out more.

Buying meat products is a minefield - were the animals treated well, is it suistainable, has the beef come from Brazil, is it full of water, hormones? Alamy Stock Photo

Speaking of a million other jobs, I’ve about five minutes to wrap up this instalment of going wild in the aisles, so I’m not late to pick up the kids from GAA and whack on a stir-fry that’s not going to kill us all from my unhealthy, unethical purchases.

Wait, the total is how much? How did that magically double in price from last week’s food expedition?

It all sounds bonkers, but when consumers are inundated by this all-too-often contradictory messaging around the clock, it becomes very hard to switch off and engage your rational brain.

And before you say, ‘just do the grocery shopping online,’ I’m not sure that significantly helps reduce the noise. If anything, it’s driving you toward the source of the confusion: your smartphone or device. Online shopping on an app makes it far easier to click on and inspect every food label in detail for as long as you like, while you simultaneously swipe over to a supermarket influencer’s social media deep dive to either confirm or deny your proposed healthy purchase.

Is it any wonder that most mums feel burned out by the food shop and feeding the family? There are days when I cannot keep up with it all and reach the ‘f*ck it, just chuck it in the trolley’ point of no return and hope for the best, because something is going to get us all in the end, right? It might as well be the pack of processed ham.