First attempt

So, today I went shopping for the first time with my new set of guidelines (even though typically we don't start until Sunday). I figured, I would go easy for the first run. Food - how hard could it be to find American Made food. Most food is made and grown in the USA, right? Well, yes. Most food is grown right here in the US. Vegetables, breads, dairy products. Fruits, well, fruits don't come from China - mostly Mexico. As I headed off to Whole Foods, I figured "This should be pretty easy. Food is American and Whole Foods is a pretty social responsible, environmentally friendly company. " I hadn't done any research, but did learn that coffee is not made in the US. Well, Puerto Rico grows coffee and so does Hawaii. We will be getting coffee mailed to us for the rest of our lives. I started shopping at 1:10 and ended at 2:38. Insane! But when you need to look at every item and search the bottom of every box and jar, it takes forever. So what did I learn. When it is American Made, the company broadcasts it. It is very easy to find. However, when it is not made in America, where it comes from is tiny. I mean, tiny - like I should bring out a magnify glass tiny. Or the company writes distributed in America, which means we stuff the crap in a box right here in the USA or maybe we slapped our American Made label on this jar of pasta but really everything was made somewhere else. Probably harvested by a four year and grown on a farm that the farmer gets paid 5 cent a day to run. But come on the label is made right here in American, doesn't that count. It concerned me a little that for some of the products I couldn't figure out where they were made at all.

Anyhow, what else did I learn. I learned that as I thought, most food is made in the US. Trying to buy food made in the US and from a company that received an A or B was a little difficult, but not too hard because I had been trying to buy from these companies for a little while. I was sad to learn that one of my favorite breakfast sausages was made in Canada and received a C in the Better World Shopping Guides. Boo-hoo

Soaps and toothpastes were difficult to find that fit all our criteria. I couldn't find body wash, so had to settle for bar soap. Grr. I think, this is going to be a trend. I'm just going to be giving up things left and right. I decided $8 for toothpaste is too much, so I'll make mine own. But I did find toothbrushes that were made from recycle yogurt cups and American made and not too much. Score me! No pasta is American Made. It all made in that f'in Italy country. God, you would think they invented pasta or something. So, maybe I'll figure out how to make that too. Any ideas?? No pasta sauce and diced tomato sported American Made labels, so I decided to just pick two. After research at home, I learned the company made products in both the US and Canada. Since, I can't find out where my can came from I'm just going to pretend it comes fro mthe American factory. Vegetables were easy as Whole Foods is nice enough to not only tell me where it was grown, but how far away it grows. My mushrooms were grown 216 miles from DC and my tomatoes 93. After glazing at the fruit section though, I decided I just didn't need any of it. Every sign told me it came from a warmer, tropical place. Next time, I'm somewhere warm and tropical I'll just fill up.

Surprisingly, it as hard to made veggie burgers and meat alternatives that were both environmentally friendly and American Made. Apparently, this things can not co-exist in the meatless products. Tofurky is made in Oregon, but gets a D. And Quorn products better rating but made in the United Kingdom.

Other fun facts - The French love meds, Italians love all things related to pasta, there is only one tofu made in the US, and we are going to have to stop drinking coffee.

All my American Grown Food No idea where it was made Imported

Can you really buy only American made products?

So, I know the answer to this question before even starting down this road. You cannot. Things that immediately come to mind that are going to be hard, if not impossible, to buy American are coffee, cell phones, computers, and well any type of electronics.

You may be thinking what is going on. Well, Sara and I (actually this is Sara's idea) have decided to try to buy only American Made items. As many of you already know, I also try to buy products from companies that are environmental friendly and social responsible. Keeping all these criteria in mind is going to make buying anything a challenge. Hmm I think, maybe I can buy all the products I want from Seventh Generation and Paul Newman. So I guess for 2012, I'm going to be eating a lot of salad and cleaning a lot. LOL.

Here are the guidelines we are going to try and follow:

1) First and foremost, buy from American companies that are also 'green' (i.e. Seventh Generation, Organic Valley)
2) We can't buy anything from the top 20 Corporate Villains (http://www.betterworldshopper.org/worst.html)
3) We will not pay an unreal amount for something just because it is American made and 'green'. In this case, we will either go without or buy from a country other than China.
4) We can buy used items that were original made in China. Our rationale is that someone already gave China the money, so we are not supporting China but the local thrift store.
5) Only buy from companies that received an A or B in the 'Better World Shopping Guide'.

Wish us luck!