How easy is it for you to afford groceries, how easy should it be, and how wealthy do you consider yourself?

With all the discussion of health care lately I have been really thinking about to what we are entitled. Having food to eat is generally agreed upon as a basic right, but it occurs to me that how much you spend on food can vary wildly.

I noticed while grocery shopping tonight that I didn’t pay attention to the price of a single item. This is very different from how things were when I was younger, when I agonized over a difference of ten cents between brands. And I wasn’t sure if this is a luxury I enjoy or a common experience.

When we talk about people having a basic right to food, is this what we mean? Should people reasonably expect to be able to buy whatever they want, or is this something only reasonably wealthy people can enjoy? When we talk about being entitled to having food, do we just mean that people should have enough to not die?

What’s your experience grocery shopping? Do you plan and budget carefully or buy whatever you’d like? Do you consider yourself to be reasonably comfortable or really struggling?