It's tricky - tricky tricky tricky tricky hugh!

Man alive - do you guys have any idea how tricksy my grocery shop was today?!

The recipe book is yet to be tested - we'll be dining on stuffed pesto potatoes with fennel compote one night this week, and linguine with pesto-kissed tomato sauce another (tonight is gnocchi and salad) - but I am looking forward to giving it spin (mental note - locate pounds/ounces/degrees F converter for USA to AUS conversions!!!)

BUT I was SO underprepared for those 'may contain traces of' messages!

After an hour and a half and $130ish dollars at Conder woolies I was ready to jus lay down on the floor and wah-wah-wah - almost everything out there 'may contain traces of eggs' or 'may contain traces of dairy'! So, I got sucked into the guilts and didn't purchase any of these items - and started to get sucked down low into how limited I really could be now.

Some help was at hand via the net and some forums - it appears that the message is there for people with severe allergies, 'just in case'.

It seems there is a legislation in place for products that are prepared in a factory that also prepares products that may contain 'those' ingredients. The utensils and all equipment are cleaned and washed etc in between making the different products, but minute trace elements may be in the air or around and accidentally get put in there too.

But it's a pretty big deal because you can see the initial reaction that I took - 'it might be in there so I better not, just in case...'

But I have to learn to look at the other side - it's more than likely that it isn't.

Just because there is a minute possibility that at a micro level there is a trace of something that I don't want, is not a reason to not eat it - otherwise what is there left to eat?

There is a chance in anything that I don't grow myself, that somewhere along the line there is a minute chance that it has picked something up.

If I was that pedantic I'd never be able to eat anything that I didn't make myself...

And I only live in a renty townhouse - I can't keep chickens to get my my own eggs, I can't keep a cow for milk, I can't, I can't, I can't...

I shouldn't look at this as a challenge, just to see how far I can take it - finding out what other people are doing and 'one up' them.

If the ingredient list doesn't show any meat or egg or dairy, then they're suitable for me - just because they may have other products that have these things in them, isn't a reason to avoid them all together - I should support the product...

But it still feels at some level that I'm just trying to talk myself over it for convenience and out of laziness...?

I know I've gotta make myself realise it's ok, but how do you make yourself believe something that still kinda feels like you shouldn't believe it?