Grocery shopping can be absurdly stressful.  Why?  Because that's life.  What used to irk me were crazy drivers in the parking lot; inconsiderate shoppers; bratty kids whining and begging; and, though I'm ashamed to admit it, on one occasion, even a pitiable slow-moving, burned-out cashier wearing wrist braces for carpal tunnel got under my skin.  HA!  I wish.  Those things aren't even blips on my radar anymore.  When I go shopping these days, I'm a woman on a mission:  Get in and get out fast; and try to have 80-90% of my purchases be organic, local and/or sustainably farmed.  

You'd think this would be easy cheesy.  Go to the organic aisle of the grocery store, pick the items that you want off the shelves, head to the register, spend anywhere between 15-60% more than you would for conventionally farmed items and guiltily bag your goods in either plastic or paper because, once again, you've forgotten to bring your green bags along.   Ah, if only life were that simple!

Together we've learned that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are bad for us and like ants at a summer picnic, get into everything - even in the organic food aisle.  We've also learned not to trust so-called "organic" products from overseas (excluding Europe and I'm not sure about Canada); and to look for the PRODUCT OF THE USA stamp and the USDA Organic label.  

With that in mind, I have decided to learn, once and for all, if my favorite oatmeal, Nature's Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal: Optimum Cranberry and Ginger is indeed the good stuff.

To begin, I checked the Non-GMO Shopping Guide (available for download) that Goin' Lupi fan, Sarah Schneider, shared on Goin' Lupi's Facebook fanpage.  (Thanks Sarah!)
Directly from the guide:

Cereals & Breakfast Bars:  

Many cereals and breakfast bars include GMO ingredients because they are often made with corn and soy products and non-cane sugars.

Some or all of the products produced by the brands featured below are verified by the Non-GMO Project:  

• Bakery On Main

• Barbara’s Bakery

• Chez Gourmet

• Crofters

• Eden

• Erewhon

• Field Day

• Hodgson Mill

• Lillabee Allergy Friendly Baking

• Lundberg Family Farms

• Nature’s Path

• New Morning

• Nutiva

• Old Wessex

• Purely Elizabeth

• Ruth’s Foods

• Sambazon

• Skinners

• Stark Sisters Granola

• Tasty Brand

• Uncle Sam

• Vigilant Eats

Uh oh! They used the word SOME.  
I checked the box:  USDA Organic label, yep.  PRODUCT OF THE USA, yep.  
So now I've got to look for the Non-GMO label:

D'Oh!  It's not on the package.  Curses!  
I'm not ready to be give up yet.  I'm going to keep checking.  I want to believe my favorite oatmeal is the good stuff.  I'll get back after I've investigated this further.  Maybe I'll just go right to the source.  I feel an email coming on.  If I send on and get a reply, I'll share it with you. 

Keepin' it Lupi!
Tina Lupiezowiec
Owner & Eccentric Urban Farmer
Goin' Lupi, LLC