My wallet VS. my conscience

I actually had a very pleasant early morning grocery shop with my two year old this past weekend. No tantrums, no little sister to take his spot in the cart, and no Daddy; who lets him run wild in the store making it practically impossible for me to concentrate. My shopping trips have become increasingly more difficult with a larger family and a much smaller budget. While I'm not currently working and all economic things considered we're like any other family in this country, we're feeling the pinch. I know now that eating healthy and budgeting are an extremely difficult balancing act. Kate Gosling is the only person I've ever seen do this flawlessly and she has help in the way of the TLC network. So no extra money or guest chefs appearing at my house anytime soon, I have to think hard and weigh my options. I found myself at the market standing in front of the eggs for a lengthy amount of time. There, was a carton of eggs for 99 cents. Large white generic eggs in a pink Styrofoam carton. In my other hand I had a carton of free range, organically fed, hormone free eggs resting nicely in a recycled cardboard carton. Obviously I would have rather bought the organic eggs,no hormones to make my son develop man boobs, and the cardboard could be flattened out and put in our compost heap. But today the were more than quadruple the price of the eggs in the Styrofoam container. Can you tell by now I have a hatred for Styrofoam. I must of stood there for 5 minutes talking it over with my oblivious toddler. In the end, my husband's voice rung in my ears. I chose money over what felt good to me. I try to be responsible about what goes into my children and my environment, but I can't always choose what is best, if the "best" is always a few bucks more. I already switched Oliver's chicken nuggets from Organic to Tyson. I used to make his baby food myself. Milk, is something I won't budge on. I'm convinced that's why girls are developing at such an alarming young age. I, by no means claim to eat all organic (god, and my ass know that a bag of oreos have nothing good about them!) but I know how important it is to reduce my family's carbon footprint and save my kids from harmful chemicals. So why do companies make it so hard for us to do that. Why can I get a case of Ding Dongs for a buck, but something grown in the ground naturally from a seed is gonna cost me fifteen. I guess clipping my coupons will have to make up the difference in the cost of the eggs. I have thought about those damn things all week. That Styrofoam is haunting me from my fridge!