We all know that food is essential to life.  What we may not know is that people in the US spend less time and money on food than do people in most countries.  Food purchases represent a smaller portion of our income and, on average, we spend far less than an hour a day in food preparation — including clean up.

While that may seem like a good thing, it has hidden costs.  In many cases, we are seeking out inexpensive, fast options that are highly processed and quite unhealthy.  (Of course, there are exceptions.  Grabbing an apple as a snack is way faster and less expensive than even slice and bake cookies.)

If eating well and being healthy is important to you, you need to make it a priority in terms of time and money.  If buying higher quality meat means you eat meat less often, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  If buying locally grown fruits and vegetables at a farmers market means fewer restaurant meals, that's a good switch. 

Smaller portions of higher quality food can actually be more satisfying.  For example, I love caramel.  I can buy a big bag of caramels at the grocery store.  They will be mostly corn syrup and artificial flavors.  Or, I can spend more and buy small batch homemade caramels that will taste a hundred times better.  I can get the satisfaction of 5 pretend caramels from a single true caramel. 

Taking time to actually cook a meal and eat it with utensils, off a plate, at a table is a strong indicator of the importance we place on food.  Eating out of a paper wrapped behind the wheel of the car also shows an importance level, but it's probably not what you were going for.

Does food matter to you?  How do you show it?