what i don't like about bargain shopping

Right now I'm reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food," which talks about the general decline in the health of western civilization ever since the advent of processed food. I read 102 pages of it today, I can't put it down. In fact, it's on my lap right now, waiting for me to finish blogging. Hang on, dear, I'm almost done.

So, I don't like to buy processed foods. For 13 years, from 10 until 23, I was a vegetarian and later vegan, and I actually started eating meat again because most vegetarian protein sources are processed foods. Its actually insane how many chemicals go into making meat free stuff. So my problem is, most coupons are for processed foods. Every once in a while I'll get one for bagged lettuce, but that's about it. It really bothers me because even though pop tarts may be on sale with a coupon, I don't really want to eat pop tarts.

In addition, a lot of times when there is a deal on something, its not very environmentally friendly. For example, in my kitchen I have a bunch of the littlest bottles of Palmolive dishwashing liquid. Not only is that the kind of thing that doesn't break down when its washed into the water system, but that's a lot of packaging. I bought them because they were practically free during a CVS deal, but the other side of it still nags me every time I pull one out.

What to do? I don't know. I'd love to spend more on quality things I feel good about, but I also want my debt gone. So, I really don't know. Priorities, priorities...