What happens when I am not prepared for dinner.

      
  
  My summer vacation is over and I started back to work today. We had a strange busy weekend and I was not able to do my normal grocery shopping at Whole Foods. The closest Whole Foods from my work is 45 minutes away, therefore, I decided to go to Food Lion, the local grocery store.  Since I had not pre-planned for dinner, I walked around the store aimlessly trying to find something to cook for dinner that wasn't wrapped in plastic. I broke one of my most important rules, always be organized and prepared when you cook non-processed foods. 

   At Whole Foods, I sometimes purchase meat that I obtain from behind the meat counter.  They wrap it in butcher paper and eliminate any plastic packaging. I thought I could do the same thing at Food Lion and pick up chicken to throw on the grill. I walked over to the meat counter and asked the man working in this department if he could wrap some chicken breast in butcher paper for me. He stared at me like I had two heads and said, "Excuse me ma'am, I do not understand your request". I explained that I did not want to purchase anything wrapped in plastic and if I could have something from behind the counter that wasn't wrapped yet. He laughed and said, "Ma'am, we don't even have butcher paper in this store".  Then he explained that all of their meat is delivered to the store prepackaged. I asked if their meat was fresh and he said he couldn't answer that because it is shipped from another supplier. He then told me that in his 13 years at Food Lion, he had never been asked for meat to be wrapped in butcher paper from behind the counter. I left Food Lion empty handed. 

   Question: Is my lifestyle extreme? Or is the way that our society has programmed us to use single-use plastic for the majority of purchases extreme?