I've driven through many rural parts of the country and one thing that always blows my mind is how so many of small towns don't have a grocery store within a 30+ minute drive. I'm not talking about a major chain grocery story (Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, WalMart, etc.) either. Their only "grocery store" is a gas station with about a 10'x10' area full of junk food and that's it. I've heard that some people make a once-every-two-months trip to the grocery store located 100 miles away and that’s just insanity to me.
I understand that many of these people get some of their food from the animals on their farm, but what happens when you run out of milk, produce, or basically any other food item? Yes, some people enjoy the rural lifestyle but in today’s modern world, you’d think it’d make sense to be closer to a reliable source of food. I’ve got hungry while driving through small towns all over western Texas, New Mexico, Montana, and even some of the Midwest, but whenever I type in “food near me†into Google Maps, it often says “50 miles W of current location†or some other absurd distance. People here have to eat, right?
Here’s a cool map showing how far you need to travel to reach the nearest grocery store.
http://flowingdata.com/2013/08/27/in-search-of-food-deserts/
I’m sure plenty of people on this board live in a place like this, so can you explain your grocery habits?