The True Cost of Cheap Food?

competitionscafe

geordie_joe wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't cross the road to buy, or look at a farmers market.

I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush. I went to the Edinburgh one this morning and got big bags of fresh organic beetroot for 50p a bag, the same stall and another one there both do a weekly veg box delivered to your door for less than it costs to buy the equivalent at a supermarket. Steak mince was similar price to butcher and supermarket. Another stall had buy one get one free on pork sausages, the fish stall had monkfish for £15 per kg - cheaper than the fishmongers at £20 to £23 and the supermarket at £25 to £35 (M&S charge the latter price!) So it depends which farmers market and even then which stall - some of them are pricey but you soon learn which ones are good. It's still not budget shopping but in most cases the quality is excellent.

VfM4meplse

competitionscafe wrote: »

big bags of fresh organic beetroot for 50p a bag.

Well done. Fresh beetroot is an excellent foodstuff and you bagged a bargain here. I prefer it uncooked and shredded into salads.

geordie_joe

competitionscafe wrote: »

I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush.

I wasn't tarring them all with the same brush. The line before the one you quoted said

I'm sure other people can buy cheap stuff from farmers, but down in Dorset my experience is they hike up the prices because people will pay more for it.

Personally I wouldn't cross the road to buy, or look at a farmers market.

geordie_joe

thriftlady wrote: »

I wonder if the price hike in Dorset is due to The River Cottage effect down there Joe?

I might be, but I've always thought it was because of all the small towns surrounded by countryside. You either pay the price in your local market, or travel 20 miles to the next town to see if it's cheaper there.

thriftlady wrote: »

I applaud Hugh FW for his food campaigning and I love his books but I gather from the River Cottage forums that he charges a fortune for his porduce.

I'm sure he does, people will pay extra for the label!

thriftlady wrote: »

I too avoid my local farmer's market mainly because it is on a Sunday and I don't like shopping on Sundays (not for religious reasons) but also because it is flaming expensive. I prefer a farmshop where I can get 4 pints of milk for £1.25 and 20 kg of spuds for £4. Local is my watchword;)

If I could drive I'd try the farm shops, there must be lots in Dorset.

nesssie1702

Plum_Pie wrote: »

I've just looked up the ingredients in a supermarket premium range pizza and they seem fine - and cost twice as much as mine even though they are currently on offer. The ingredients in a 99p cheese and tomato pizza are less reassuring:

"Wheat Flour, Tomato Puree (31%), Mozzarella Medium Fat Soft Cheese (12%), Cheddar Cheese (8%), Vegetable Oil, Yeast, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Sugar, Wheat Starch, Malt Flour, Dried Basil, Black Pepper, Preservative (calcium Propionate), Emulsifiers (mono-and Di Glycerides Of Fatty Acids, Sodium Stearoyl-2-lactylate), Flour Treatment Agent (ascorbic Acid)."

I'm not obsessive about additives but I really don't think I need to eat the red highlighted items on the list above.
.

The flour treatment agent - ascorbic acid is actually Vitamin C, it helps the dough become more manageable.

Sometimes the additives in our food are not necessarily bad, just names that we're maybe not familiar with?

luckys_mum

We dont have a farmers market here on a regular basis. What we do have is a man with a vegetable stall close to the roadside and a layby which holds 3 cars at most. He stands outside in all weathers and is there 6 days a week. He sells locally grown produce and then buys in produce which can't be grown here. His prices might be 2 - 5 pence dearer but the vegetables are fresh from the field and keep much longer. My daughter in law from Scotland didnt know what a dirty carrot was until she came to the stall to shop with me. I would rather support his enterprise than pay Mr. T for second rate fruit and vegetables.

ben500

luckys_mum wrote: »

We dont have a farmers market here on a regular basis. What we do have is a man with a vegetable stall close to the roadside and a layby which holds 3 cars at most. He stands outside in all weathers and is there 6 days a week. He sells locally grown produce and then buys in produce which can't be grown here. His prices might be 2 - 5 pence dearer but the vegetables are fresh from the field and keep much longer. My daughter in law from Scotland didnt know what a dirty carrot was until she came to the stall to shop with me. I would rather support his enterprise than pay Mr. T for second rate fruit and vegetables.

You must be going to one of the better Tesco's if your getting second rate fruit and veg.

MrsE_2

I had to go up to Rugby today (to pick my new kitten up).

Stopped at a farm selling eggs.

Chickens running about in the field alongside the house.

Eggs £1 a half dozen:j :j :j

Bought 18;)

grimerking

MrsE wrote: »

I had to go up to Rugby today (to pick my new kitten up).

Stopped at a farm selling eggs.

Chickens running about in the field alongside the house.

Eggs £1 a half dozen:j :j :j

Bought 18;)

Oldest trick in the book. My grandfather used to keep thousands of hens in barns (not battery) and also a few to run around the very large garden. The sign said 'fresh eggs' and had a painted picture of one of his white hens. People naturally assumed that they were freerange. If anybody asked if the eggs were freerange, he told them the truth. Hardly anybody ever asked.

MrsE_2

grimerking wrote: »

Oldest trick in the book. My grandfather used to keep thousands of hens in barns (not battery) and also a few to run around the very large garden. The sign said 'fresh eggs' and had a painted picture of one of his white hens. People naturally assumed that they were freerange. If anybody asked if the eggs were freerange, he told them the truth. Hardly anybody ever asked.

Maybe

Sign said free range.

He didn't just have a few chickens in the field, their was a load of them.

Also the eggs were sold in old supermarket boxes, I would guess if he was a big commercial enterprise he would buy in his own boxes rather than re-cycle old ones?