I don't use the self-scanners, figuring I'm helping to save someone's job. Also, it's like I'm doing free labor for the store. Give me a 5% discount for using the scanner, and I might be very tempted.
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Xanthan seems expensive, but a little goes a long way. I use 1/4 tsp in a cup of hot cocoa so that I don't have to use carb-y milk, and then I add some heavy whipping cream for flavor.
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I think the reason they keep rearranging the products in a grocery store is to make you wander around, hoping you will see something you don't usually buy and put it in your cart.
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I also think the ratio of carb foods people buy are about equal to the ratio in the store. It's what other people's carts look like to me.
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I admit, sugar tastes great, but it isn't great for me. If I didn't know better, I'd be at the donut shop every day like my father used to do (it killed him when he was younger than I am now).
At one time my taste buds ruled what I ate, now my brain and my taste buds have reached a point of compromise.
That zero-carb burger bun at netrition doesn't taste nearly as good as the 'real thing', but it holds my 100% grass-fed organic burger with A2 cheese on it just fine and is an acceptable substitute.
Stevia in my tea doesn't taste quite as good as table sugar, but it's a great compromise.
I could go on and on but all of us here have our own compromises.
And there are things that there is no substitute or compromise for. I grew up eating macaroni (now mostly called pasta) but I haven't had any in decades. The zero or low carb noodles just don't do it for me.
But I'm 72 and on zero meds. That's pretty rare these days.
Bob
PS And yes, food is expensive. When I was a child working as a bag-boy in a grocery store, a woman bought $50 worth of groceries. It took two carts to wheel it out. She had a VW Beetle. We filled the trunk the back seat, the floor in the back, the front riders seat, the floor in front of that, and to get it all in she drove away with one bag on her lap.
Inflation eats away at our savings, but it benefits the big banks.
The rate of inflation was pretty stable until Nixon took the USA off the gold standard, allowing our currency to fluctuate, and the rate has since been controlled by the Fed Reserve Bank, and remember, banks like inflation so the rate of inflation is regulated as the highest rate the people will stand for.
At least that's what an economics professor told our class when I was taking some night courses.