Mother's column – keeping my grocery bill low

While I keep half an eye on Sifra - she uses the shopping cart as a climbing frame these days - I think about what will be on the menu for the next few days. I like to be guided by the special offers and search for discount stickers all over the shelves. But to appease my conscience, organic, better life-starred or home-grown products also occasionally are added to my cart.

I prefer to cook a little healthy (e-numbers, salt and sugar in moderation, fibre and vitamins in abundance). But if I want to be serious about eating enough vegetables, these days, I find myself easily picking off a kilo of beans or chopping mountains of peppers. In this respect, cauliflower is my best friend. Unabashedly, I grab the biggest one from the shelf because otherwise, I need two. That's a bit too much for me.

Mother's column – saying no

07-01-2023

Babbling

Time to go to the checkout. For a bargain hunter like me, that is not the most enjoyable part of shopping these days. "The herb cream cheese used to be 55 cents, but now you pay 1 euro 19 for it," I grumble to Sifra on the way home. She has no idea what I am talking about and responds by happily babbling back.

Suddenly I am reminded of that mother from Madagascar who told her story to the Dutch broadcaster a while ago. For two years, she has only been able to feed her children soup made of cactus leaves; nothing else grows on the land because of climate change.

Mother's column – playing the energy game

17-12-2022

And then there is the father from Afghanistan, who embarrassedly tells the reporter that he sold his son's kidney to support his family. How can I end this column with a good conscience? With the intention to go for fair trade chocolate sprinkles from now on?

The contrast is too poignant, a solution too far away. Sometimes it's best to shut your mouth. Or whisper softly: Kyrie eleison.

Neline is married and the mother of five: Martha (9), Abel (7), Jolijn (5), Reinout (3) and Sifra (1).