Where is the Quality?????

Tonight I am on my "soapbox".
I hate wasting food and I am in a foul mood anyway tonight after spending yet another day in headache land. Missed the shared lunch at my quilt group, so I'm shitty about that.

We live in one of the most food productive countries in the world, so why can't we buy some decent bloody food? Buying seafood this far from the coast is, I suppose, a bit of a challenge, but hey come on, with all the elaborate refrigeration and transport we have today, there is no excuse for the pitiful Australian prawns I purchased yesterday. These were purchased from a franchisey type grocery store and they seemed to look okay in the display cabinet. I went to a lot of effort (with the No 6 out of No 10 headache) to do a lovely rice and prawn salad with a chilli/lemon dressing. After a couple of mouthfuls, I nearly puked, as the prawns were clearly tainted with some hard to detect taint. Maybe washing liquid/bleach which they must use to clean the cabinet and trays? Or maybe they were just a bit old, as when I was peeling them I was a bit sus about how long they may have been in said cabinet.

The dog enjoyed them.

For afternoon tea I decided to eat an apple from the same grocery store. One bite in I knew there was some more waste a-comin' up. Okay, this one is probably my fault, as I have bought fruit that is not in season ,and has probably been sitting in cold storage for God only knows how long. But holy dooley, how awful can an apple be? Lesson learnt.

Last year some time, hubby and I were travelling from Brisbane to Toowoomba and stopped at a popular "local produce" store in the agricultural belt of the Lockyer Valley. The Lockyer Valley is renowned across Australia for its fertile soil and ability to grow all sorts of vegetables, especially potatoes. So, imagine our surprise when we picked up a bag of spuds only to see that they had travelled all the way from South Australia. We dropped them like a hot potato. We purchased only a couple of items as we fought our way through those little flying insect things, that warn you the fruit and vege has been hanging around a while.
Hubby liked the look of the "fresh" asparagus - he had been hankering for it.
It was a handsome price, but since he rarely treats himself, why not?
The following night he unwrapped all the plastic wrap and pulled off the "local produce" sticker which was conveniently covering the fact that the aspargus had made its way to our shores all the way from The Phillipines. LOCAL PRODUCE - my arse. It was thrown straight in the bin.
More waste!
From now on I am going to be a very descerning shopper when it comes to so-called fresh food.
Currently, due to a blow out over Christmas/New Year, I am being kind to my body and trying to eat fresh as much as possible. But when I want fresh I want bloody FRESH!!