Free range and organic food is all that is locally available here-you buy at the local non-chain grocery, butcher shop, farmers market, etc-locally produced food is cheaper-no army of in-house employees to harvest, slaughter, package, inspect and no trucking company to transport it miles to the supermarkets-if you insist on going to the chain supermarket in the city to buy organic/free range meat and produce, then you are going to get ripped off on the price, because it didn’t come from a factory farm, and the townies who consider it trendy have a good deal more income to spend on food than someone out here who is an independent contractor/small business owner, etc. Big chain markets charge what the market will bear...
I buy the good stuff when I can, even in the city. And I live in the center of the agricultural universe...Sacramento.
And it’s till expensive, even directly from the farm.
I can taste the difference in a second...the very first bite. Sometimes from the aroma.
My grocery bill easily runs $150+ per week and I live alone.