Why are you shopping at the grocery store??? Why would you buy fruits and vegetables in that strange florescent-lit, air-conditioned building, where all the tomatoes look the same, and you have no idea where they came from???
if it were winter, i could give you a break...
if you are poor, maybe i'll let it slide, but i'll tell you later an alternative.
if you don't know where else to shop,

have you ever heard of a farmer's market??

i can pretty much guarantee that wherever you live, you wouldn't have to go too far to find one. you can get local, organic (maybe not certified, but close enough), fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season, and didn't have to travel more than a couple hours. you can meet the people that picked your peaches, that picked your tomatoes and squash, and you can ask them questions about how to cook with vegetables you may not be as familiar with. (usually the answer is cut em up and fry them with oil and salt)..

not only can you get fruits and vegetables at a farmer's market, but homemade cheese, bread, sweet stuff, granola, herbs, eggs, free-range meat, flowers, and even soap. maybe even clothes. and when you eat your fresh, local food, you can feel good that you are supporting local farmers instead of big business factory farms.

so go to the farmer's market!! be healthy!! appreciate where food comes from!!!
appreciate the people who grow your food!! what would you do without them??? support farmers!!

okay, fine, so you want some mangoes, i love mangoes! fine so you want bananas. so you want beer, you want rice and oreo cookies and tofu and soy sauce. well, i'm not saying you shouldn't go buy those things, but go there on your way back from the farmer's market.

and here's a little secret.... if you can't afford to pay real prices for real food, you can still go to the farmer's market. they sell "seconds" of a lot of things for really cheap, and they're not bad, they just don't look perfect. or if you have a few free hours on the weekends, you can ask the farmer if they need help selling, and you can usually get paid in money and food. also, if you're poor and you have a lot of time, you should go to the farmer's market at the end, when there's all this food they couldn't sell, and offer to take it to people who need it, like a food bank, or food not bombs, or something, and then have some for yourself.

so,
find your local farmer's market.
and go!
every week!
twice a week!
tell your friends!
meet new friends there!
be healthy!