What Are Your Food Foibles?

The weather was warm today, and Sunday is generally produce markdown day at my local grocery store, so I took a nice little walk to the store and back.

And I did score on sweet bell peppers in the markdown bin - yellow and orange peppers at 3 for a dollar, woo hoo! Combine that with what I got at the Mercado the other day and I see some fajitas in my future!

Unfortunately, I suffered a bit of a lapse, and came home with some other things that I probably shouldn't have - mostly dark chocolate and exotic fruit, 2 of my very worst weaknesses!

The thing is, dark chocolate is "healthy" (wink wink, nudge nudge). But I'm never sure which brand will be the best, so today I decided I really should do some comparison shopping and came home with three different kinds. Because, you know, it's very important to be an informed consumer. (The Lindt Lindor Extra Dark Truffles are the best, BTW.)

Anyhow, it got me to thinking about what I do and don't consider to be a splurge in terms of grocery shopping, and I'm not entirely sure that there's a whole lot of rhyme or reason to it.

Generally though, I think my splurges fall into one of two categories - the "too expensive" category or the "too unhealthy" group. Then, of course, there are the really decadent ones that manage to fall into both categories. Like... say... the um... Lindor Truffles....

So here are my Food Foibles:

• Dark Chocolate - I think this qualifies in both categories
• Ice Cream - vanilla only, and just the real stuff, no guar gum or unpronounceable ingredients - probably both categories on this one too.
• Berries & Cherries - fresh, frozen, dried, you name it, I can't resist them. I once bought a four pound box of fresh cherries at Costco and managed to down the entire thing in a matter of days. I know they're considered to be healthy, but they do contain a lot of histamines which can either provoke or worsen an allergic reaction, so I'm supposed to be careful with them. Plus, they ain't exactly cheap. So probably a bit of an argument for both categories on this one too.
• Dried Fruit - any variety, I pretty much can't resist (well, except for those yucky banana chips - could totally live without those.) Generally dried fruit is considered healthy in small quantities, but I'm sorta incapable of eating only small quantities.
• Grapes - I could live on grapes if they weren't either toxic or ridiculously expensive. So, this is an either/or choice on the expensive vs. unhealthy depending on whether you go organic or not.
• Shortbread Cookies - only the homemade variety made with LOTS of real butter. Pretty cheap, but nothing even remotely healthy about them.
• Cream, Butter, Full Fat Milk & Full Fat Yogurt, or anything made with cream, butter, full fat milk or full fat yogurt like Alfredo sauce, whipped cream, cafe au lait, cheesecake, etc. Not terribly expensive, but not terribly healthy either.
• Imported Cheese: Gouda, Havarti, Jarlsberg... the list goes on. Probably not too bad for you in moderation... Ha! And WAY too expensive to enjoy very often.
• Nuts, by which I mean Cashews & Pistachios - I'm allergic to most of the rest. Definitely too expensive to indulge in every day, plus I think they're only "healthy" when you consume them in moderation... something that I am incapable of (are you sensing a trend?)
• Buttered Popcorn (usually with powdered Parmesan Cheese too) - Cheap but artery clogging - see the above entries on butter and imported cheese...
• Smoked Salmon & Lox - OMG, OMG, OMG... is there anything more delicious? Now, salmon is healthy, but I think the fact that it's smoked might sorta cancel some of that out. But it's sort of a moot point because it costs a small fortune.

So there you have it. Those are my food foibles. And now you know what to fill a gift basket with if you ever decide you have to send me one! 

But interestingly enough, there are a lot of foods that are supposed to be decadent which I'm either indifferent to or find to be outright disgusting like potato chips or chocolate ice cream, BLICK! 

And anything really sweet like marshmallows, cake or frosting just makes me sick to think about. So I suppose I should count myself lucky because my list could be worse.

I'm curious to know how your lists compare with mine. And do you have any other categories besides "too expensive" and "too bad for you"? I suppose if I were a better greenie, "too environmentally destructive" would be a third category, but alas... it hasn't quite gotten equal billing with the other two... at least not yet.

So tell me, if you were gonna splurge at the grocery store, what would you come home with?