Why buy?

moanymoany

When I did my mum's shopping I bought her the chilled ready meals and lots of cakes and pots of trifles, posh puds with other treats. The carers only whacked stuff into the microwave.

People did look at my trolley and only once did anyone say anything. When I said they were for my mum and the carers microwave them she sniffed and said if it was her mum she would cook all the meals herself. :rolleyes:

I buy ice cubes - there I've said it!

Essex-girl_2

trying-very-trying wrote: »

:rotfl:PMSL, Were they on special offer??

EG, I take it you don't have any kids then

No sorry didnt expain properly :rotfl: he did it to embarass me at the checkout. I did learn to fish them out before we got to pay. None of them made their way home:D

FairyElephant_2

Well, I try to be as OS as poss. but like many others I am working fulltime, have a busy life, and am trying to spend as little as poss. I try to balance out OS vs. Cost vs. Time, and sometimes it's a tricky juggling act!

One example is tinned or packet custard = always! I don't like custard myself anyhow, and we only have it when DH's kids come to stay (DH & I don't normally 'do' puddings when on our own). By the time I bought the ingredients and spent ages stirring madly to stop it being lumpy, I'd spend more in money and in energy than in buying a cheapie tin in Lidl and zapping it in the microwave......I will be serving it with HM crumble or pie though...unless there's a 'whoops' or special offer on a pud which makes that much cheaper...

If there's a 'value' 'smartprice' or whatever alternative, I'll always buy that as first option - unless we've tried it before and it is really horrible (have to say that is very rarely the case though).

A tin of 17p smartprice tomato soup is cheap, warming & filling for my lunch - I can keep it in my desk 'til I need it and zap in the microwave at work in 2 mins....or I can spend £2.00 on a pre-prepared sandwich when I've forgotten to bring in my lunch - hhhmmmm - I wonder which I should do?!?

I have to say that I've been amused and a little surprised at some of the pre-prepared stuff I see in the supermarket - but I mean on the shelves and not in other people's baskets - chopped onions got me the other week - I'd never seen them before and did wonder who would be so 'lazy' as not to chop their own...then I thought about it and did think of disabled people and how convenient it would be for them....and if they were on offer or 'whoopsied' so they were cheaper than the whole ones, of course I would buy them - who wouldn't?!?

The DSK's still think my cooking is much better than their BM's (sorry - I am human - this makes me feel not a little smug LOL!!!), and that I cook loads of 'proper meals' so I guess I must be doing something right!

I want to be a SAHM, with a garden full of veggies, and some chickies, make HM bread every day, pick blackberries & stuff in season & make jam, sew my own clothes and furnishings...... but I just don't have the time, the garden (or the children!) so until I can, I'll keep juggling my bills, my diary, my slowcooker and my housework (with white vinegar, stardrops & washing soda of course!) and dream of my ideal OS life......

Addiscomber

Idiophreak wrote: »

Afraid I have to echo the sentiments of Chika and Smashing, here...

This thread is probably the closest to snobbery I've come across on the OS board (not that I'm a regular hereabouts) - and is rather unappealing, really...

I agree with regard to some of the earlier posts, and they remind me of the threads that start off asking "how much should I being spending on my grocery shop?" Some of the replies were/are so sanctimonious that they put me off even reading the OS board for a while. I have returned to reading but contribute less than I used to and I just never even open a thread if it looks like a "how much should I be spending" one, because I just know that some of the quoted prices are completely unachievable in London where there is really no such thing as locally grown or raised.

Caterina

rosieben wrote: »

Caterina, do you find it cheaper to buy like this even though you presumably pay [strike]postage[/strike] delivery charges? I 'd be interested in the name of the catalogue please?

Hi Rosieben,

I buy from Infinity Foods, they are based in Brighton and I can do it because I do it through my business. They mainly supply health food shops and buying groups, and have a minimum delivery value of £250.

If you are a buying group you get the delivery free but no discount as you are not trade. I get the discount as trade, as when I was working as a doula (looking after pregnant and birthing mums) I promoted organic living all the time. So I got a small group of clients who order through me and I put a tiny mark up and then the discount, which varies according to how much you spend.

If I order over £400 I think it is 3%. So it all adds up really, and I get my own stuff in bulk and make a small profit.

If you have a catering business or a shop, or even have a group of friends who want to buy together, I am sure they would be interested to hear from you.

www.infinityfoods.co.uk

Other wholesalers worth trying are

Suma: www.suma.coop

and Community: www.communityfoods.co.uk/

Hope this helps

Caterina

Idiophreak

Caterina wrote: »

when I was working as a doula (looking after pregnant and birthing mums) I promoted organic living all the time.

As a complete aside, there's an episode of Frasier where Niles and Daphne hire a doula, but honestly didn't know it was a real thing til just now

ALIBOBSY

Hmm read this thread with interest. I do think pancake mix is a big much, but I appreciate people buy "convienience" foods of differing levels and for different reasons.
For me personnally we weighed up the income less the extra costs of going back to work part time verses me being at home and able to cook/do more from scratch.
Especially now hubby is looking to go contracting and may not be able to help picking up/dropping off kids (the daily juggle most working parents do lol). For us it works out better for me to be time rich money poor and cook much more from scratch. I also did a bit of growing my own this year, which we are going to greatly extend next year.
But at the end of the day people make that choice themselves and I try not to judge (but know in the back of my mind I do a bit lol its just human nature).
I think with the credit crunch people will have to start making the decision about what to buy ready made and what to cook from scratch. Like moving down a level with food a la Martin, people can buy the next "less convienient" food.

ali x

Juliepink26

Just reading this thread and wanted to say, yes I buy frozen ice we go through so much, with partys most Sundays. I love looking in other peoples trollys, I aways wonder about strawberry yorgerts... I always buy a masive tub of plain and make my own fruit yourgets by added a spoon of strawberry or rasberry etc Jam. mix really well and tastes better than the ready made ones. Then use the yougort to make taziggi, greek yougort and cucumber dip. Or small plate of plane yourget. sprinkel with black pepper and salt touch of lemon, finely dice some onion then dip with pita bread.

Sorry I love cooking I cant help my self, my mum was the most appaling cook, my dinner as a child always went "Ping", I refuse to even have a microwave in my house now.

Ben84

Some people really are too busy to make things. Food is an unavoidable need, and depending on your lifestyle you may realise you need the time more than the money. I am exceptionally busy on my course, the workload is pretty intense, and I need to put most my resources, both time and money in to getting a good mark right now. I need 80% minimum to transfer to biochemistry. On those nights before exams when I need to spend all evening reading books and notes, frozen pizzas are a wonderful invention!

got-it-spend-it

I love seeing people at the checkout who are bulk buying a few items- I always try and guess what they might be buying it for.....like people who are buying loads of tea bags and biscuits, or loads of eggs etc.