is it realy cheaper NOT to buy from supermarkets?

LJM

i use which ever has the bargains on at the time,sometimes its the supermarkets,others its my local shop or bit of both

SailorSam

zippychick wrote: »

I have seen myself go to scoopa, then tesco, then butchers and greengrocers and come home completely exhausted (I go shopping on my push bike !!!!!!!!!) . But that would do me for an awful long time.

How do you manage to carry all your shopping on a bike Zippy ?

honeythewitch

I find that on the rare occasions i can discipline myself to stick to the fruit and vegetable offers in Lidl it is much cheaper than the fruit shop.However i usually end up buying more stuff and yet coming home with "nothing" . I only ever buy meat at the (very large) market and i am sure it is much cheaper though that is also because the supermarkets don't seem to sell the cheaper cuts.

zippychick

SailorSam wrote: »

How do you manage to carry all your shopping on a bike Zippy ?

I do a lot of pilates, so my balance is quite good and my core strong! I balance it out on the handles, and stay off the roads . Practice makes perfect he he

it's quite the sight! other option is pay for taxis taxis taxis. No patience for buses and would still involves walking with bags!

So basically, I just man up and get on with it.

mummysaver

honeythewitch wrote: »

I find that on the rare occasions i can discipline myself to stick to the fruit and vegetable offers in Lidl it is much cheaper than the fruit shop.However i usually end up buying more stuff and yet coming home with "nothing" . I only ever buy meat at the (very large) market and i am sure it is much cheaper though that is also because the supermarkets don't seem to sell the cheaper cuts.

When you next come home with "nothing" try including it in a meal plan for the following week - amazing what you can come up with from fairly disparate ingredients!

If you have a Morrisons nearby it's worth a look for the cheaper cuts of meat, the butcher in our local one is really good and a properly trained butcher too! They always have oxtail and ham hocks and scrag end (cheap lamb cut, neck poss, good for stews), in our one.

SallyForth_2

I think we all prefer the independants, but whether they are cheaper depends upon several things.

Are they easy to get to? For me, a trip to a proper butcher would envolve a tour around our town's ring road and then a game of carpark hopscotch, followed by 'find the correct change' game for the pay and display. In fact, scrub that, they have closed that shop. I think they moved to another town somewhere. There is no Greengrocer,fish monger or bakery in our town.

Related to the above, are they all in more or less the same place? Not for me, shopping would be like doing 'tour of the county', and I have in the past ended up visiting several towns in an endeavour to get a particular item, without using a supermarket.

When are they open? We have a farmers market, every last Friday of the month. One of the local farms has a shop, but closes at the weekends and lunchtimes. I am at work.

Are they a bit too specialist? We have a shop in town that has won 'awards' for its produce. it does pies and things. The prices would win awards as well.

Sadly, my local supermarket 'Tesco' is not far away, easy to park, and has a large variety of produce which tends to be cheaper. We have Waitrose, Marks and Spencers and Sainbury's in the town centre, more car park hopscotch!

For Aldi's, Lidl or any of those places which are really cheap, the nearest is 15 miles away.

Fire_Fox

I think it really depends on what is available in your area. Studies have shown more deprived areas tend to have the worst availability of healthy foods such as fruit and veg ('food poverty'), tho if you have a high Pakistani/ Indian population the opposite can be true as Asian supermarkets tend to be dirt cheap and stock basics such as lentils, onions, tomatoes and wholemeal flour.

cooking-mama

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I think it really depends on what is available in your area. Studies have shown more deprived areas tend to have the worst availability of healthy foods such as fruit and veg ('food poverty'), tho if you have a high Pakistani/ Indian population the opposite can be true as Asian supermarkets tend to be dirt cheap and stock basics such as lentils, onions, tomatoes and wholemeal flour.

Location wise im fortunate, in that I live in a village which in one direction is a 5min drive into town,(small town,but it has a large tesco,+small Asda)and a 10min drive in the other direction into the countryside with loads of (expensive)garden centers,and a very expensive farm shop(altho to its credit the farm has its own butchers and sells its own butchermeat,but cost almost double the supermarket prices;))The only Asian shop we have is the local "open all hours"favoured by the local buckfast drinkers and underage smokers:eek:
I think from an economy point of view I may be cheaper sticking with the Supermarkets,but will have to modify my shopping by either A)shopping online...therfore avoiding temptation,or B)taking a shopping list AND sticking to it;)
Thanks everyone.

Penelope_Penguin

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motherhen2234

I try and go to my local farmers market. Per Kg some of the meat is cheaper than the supermarket and even when its equal or slightly more expense (i.e. when its on special offer etc) I prefer it as its higher quality, less food miles and I feel i'm helping a local business.

I guess the main issue is the more place you go for your shopping the more petrol you use.