"It's CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!!"

Captain Obvious is a silly name we use in our family. When something puzzles one of us and the other two see the obvious answer, we will tease and say (in very dramatic voices) "Look!!! It's Captain Obvious!!!" It is sillier when you hear it in person.

I don't like it when I miss something obvious. The first time it happened (when relating to food) was when I realized that just because a food is labeled "Natural" it really doesn't mean a dang thing.

Now the wool has been pulled over my eyes again. We have Kroger stores in our area. I can tell the difference in taste between organic and non-organic chicken. Organic chicken is insanely expensive. (I am about ready to raise my own in the back yard!!!)

Anyway, Kroger's new Simple Truth line sounded like a great deal! Finally a fast and easy way to tell non-organic from organic! Just look for that pretty lime green packaging and you can tell the organics right off the bat!

Oh..... but no grasshopper...it does not mean that at all. Case in point. There are six packages of chicken below. All were marked down in price for quick sale. I was tickled to find both breast strips and boneless, skinless thighs the day I bought these. You can see the prices were from a few dollars per package to over six dollars per package! I was willing to pay the prices though, since they were such a bargain!

(singing) "One of these things is not like the others...one of these things just isn't the same"

Over the past few weeks Krogers has really been promoting their Simple Truth line of foods. I began to wonder how they seemed to have all these new organic foods available! Where had they been all my life? What a wonderful thing, to have affordable organics through the store brands! Then I thought to myself, "How do we really know if these foods are really organic?" There are SO MANY different products coming out in that Simple Truth line. My skeptical brain wanted me to do the research...so I did. The picture below has a circle on one of the packages:

You can click on the photos to see a larger version, but the circle is around this symbol:

If the product doesn't have that symbol, it cannot say it is certified organic. What pisses me off more though, is the green packaging. All six packages have the same size green symbol from Krogers. One says Simple Truth and one says Simple Truth Organic. "HEY, IT'S CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!!"

Shame on you Krogers, for fooling me with this one. You won't get me again...well, not on the fact that your new Simple Truth line is not all organic. It is only organic when it says it is organic AND has that USDA symbol on it.

I do know about cage free, vegetarian fed chicken, that is all natural. Those terms don't mean a dang thing. First off, chickens are not vegan. They eat bugs, worms, and would even scavenge on meat chunks if available...heck they will peck at each other till they kill off the weaker ones!  I know this for a fact. I used to raise chickens on a farm as a kid and on, well into my adulthood.

Cage free doesn't mean they are running through the grassy meadows with the wind blowing in their feathers and the sun shining bright. It just means they are not in a cage. They will be in a large building on the floor though. Many egg layers are caged. Meat birds are generally in crowded conditions so they don't move around too much.

And natural? What does an unnatural chicken look like? Is it purple? Does it have horns coming out of its head? The word natural is not a regulated word. Anyone can use it.

So dear readers, unless you grow it yourself or go to the farm yourself, you really don't know what you are getting. Read the fine print. Look for the USDA logo if you want certified organic. Or get to know a few farmers. I still think I should get a few birds for the back yard. Cock-a-doodle-do!!!