Small town and food choice

niniundlapin

First of all, no offense to people out there living in small towns. This is just something frustrating and kind of affect my diet plan now and I want to vent...

My goal for diet now is to gradually reduce the sugar I get from processed food and increase protein intake. One thing I've been able to do is adding plain greek yogurt (instead of flavored) to my breakfast. For some reason those grocery stores we'd like to go here don't carry plain greek yogurt anymore! Instead, all I can see on shelves are flavored Chobani or whatever that has 17+g sugar per serving... My bf said the stores kind of eliminate what people don't really purchase and bring in those people are crazy for. I understand it's their strategy for sales and making more profit, but it makes me mad seeing so many high sugar products out there and I can't find my low sugar ones when I want them.

Anyway, I grew up in a major city overseas and was living in big cities for the past 9.5 years in US until now. Never experienced this in the past... I'll stop whining and go find a different grocery store now...

acheben

You could always try asking the store manager to stock the plain greek yogurt.

suruda

I would do the above, they are in the customer service business and don't want you to go to a different store. Ask... it can't hurt!

jgnatca

I've lived in a small town in a very remote part of the world. It was 200 km in either direction to get to a major center. Hubby and I would make a shopping list and hit the big box stores as soon as we hit the city. Lots of our small town neighbours had food hoarding going on; big pantries, big freezer.

When you do get to shop in a larger center, pick up some organic unflavoured yogurt, some cheesecloth and canning jars, and experiment making your own yogurt from home.

tulips_and_tea

Do they carry plain regular yogurt? If so, you could buy that, put it in a strainer lined with a few paper towels in the fridge (covered) for a day or two and that eliminates some of the liquid and makes it thicker. Not quite as good as Greek but close. Just an idea.

niniundlapin

Oh those are really good ideas! Thanks ladies I'll definitely do it!

@jgnatca I totally forgot this option... making yogurt myself should be fun

juggernaut1974

acheben wrote: »

You could always try asking the store manager to stock the plain greek yogurt.

Exactly

I live in a town of ~1500 in rural Iowa.

The thing I've found about small town grocery stores, is that when asked, they will generally bend over backwards to stock stuff that the locals want to buy.

jgnatca

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

The thing I've found about small town grocery stores, is that when asked, they will generally bend over backwards to stock stuff that the locals want to buy.

You would think. In my small town there was a large population of immigrant South Africans. A pro-active member of that community went with a list of desired foods to the local grocer, who turned down most of them. His was part of a larger chain and he was restricted to getting food items from their existing contracts. Crying shame, really.

Speckle38

We lived in a small town (pop. 1500) and people just asked for the things they wanted from the one store. We were very limited as everything was shipped from our nearest major city, and took 5 days to get to us, so all bread, milk, meat, etc was brought in frozen. Without flying, there was nowhere else to go. The store management was very good about ordering in things that people requested.

RodaRose

Buy a yogurt maker

Soopatt

I am sometimes challenged by what I am able to find in Randburg South Africa and then I go on on of my work trips to Dar es Salaam, Lagos or Kampala and recognize how good I actually have it back home, particularly when it comes to items with limited sugar or fat.

You can find every imaginable imported biscuit, chocolate or cereal in one of the decent supermarkets in Lagos, but fresh fruit and vegetables? Lean meat cuts and skinless chicken? Wraps? Decent wholewheat bread? Not so much.

I understand and sympathize with your supply challenges. As the posters suggest above, you are forced to get creative. Good luck!

kshama2001

niniundlapin wrote: »

Oh those are really good ideas! Thanks ladies I'll definitely do it!

@jgnatca I totally forgot this option... making yogurt myself should be fun

I think you're talking about making Greek yogurt from regular, but here's a recipe for making yogurt from milk: http://www.examiner.com/list/homemade-yogurt-recipe-for-beautiful-skin-and-weight-loss - a friend tried it and said it really does work - you just have to be careful to be at the right temperatures for the particular steps.

jgnatca

I wasn't totally clear but I was talking about home-made from milk, too. You still need a starter, which can be got from...yogurt!