2012 no supermarket shop challenge

Looter

A._Badger wrote: »

I follow a middle way. In my experience, most supermarket meat (Waitrose excepted) is vile (my mind reels when I see posters on this forum praising a supermarket's meat - I can only assume they've never eaten better) and mass produced bread is just nasty.

So, I use local butchers, the local baker, buy fruit and veg from farm shops where possible. I also grow my own and have done for years - but feeding a family from a garden or allotment is fantasy thinking unless you can afford the time to become, in effect, a peasant farmer. We also have problems growing bananas, oranges and pineapples down here in Kent.

But for things like soap powder, toohpaste, canned goods, washing products, kitchen rolls, frozen foods, booze etc, I use supermakets. Why not? They are usually cheaper and buying those products from them minimises the harm done to local traders who add value to their goods - like butchers and bakers, or those greengrocers and market stall holders who take trouble over their fruit and veg - unlike many supermarkets.

Good luck with the project - but I predict you'll wince when you have to pay twice the price for a kitchen roll or a packet of frozen peas.

I suppose location plays a part - I live in Greater Manchester and in my mind there's an alternative to the big 4. For example, in Ashton-under-Lyne there's an Indian wholesalers that's also open to the public, you wouldn't dream of going there for your loo rolls and washing powder but they're cheap, and they sometimes sell 5 cucumbers for £1.

Mental note: cucumber sandwiches 1st week in Jan!:rotfl:

bramble1

I would seriously love to do that, but Waitrose opened in our village and now we have no butcher, greengrocer OR baker... so i haven't much choice! Which is a shame.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I started a challenge in 2007, over on the OS board,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/369405


Yes you do pay more for stuff, and got less for your money, BUT in all honestly you get better quality, AND at the time I stayed in budget, as there were hardly any impluse buys etc...which the supermarkets try and tempt you with to try and make you spend more..

We have all done it, gone into a supermarket only wanted a few bits, and come out spending upteen times more on 'impluse' offer things, which lately are not real offers ( prices totally inflated beforehand to make it look like a bargin) we are getting savvy to all this malarky...

My thoughts about the experience.......

In the begining it is quite easy, as you allready have stuff in your store cupboard etc, its when you start to run out of things it gets harder..

YES.. you do notice the price differences. lower and higher, but you seem to only remember the things that are higher in price...

so you have to look at the overall price of your weekly shopping..

I also found i done alot more baking/cooking and didnt have the fraction of junk food in my cupboards ( as lets face it, it seems alot of the supermarket offers are on junk food/treats)

I also found by cooking with quality meat and eating bread from the bakers we snacked less anyway, as we were full for alot longer.

Shopping is all down to habbit, and they say it takes on average 6 weeks to form your shopping habbits ( this is why when a new supermarket opens, or when they send you money off x spend etc, there is allways a few of them for consecutive weeks, and this is why asda do a £5 off your next spend offer, this is to try and form a shopping habbit)

So basically it should take you approx 6 weeks to break your supermarket shopping habbit....


If you are thinking of doing this...

sit down with a cuppa, and think about the independant shops in your area... and potentially what part of your shopping you could do there.

then the shopping which is left, see if you can buy it off the internet, cash'n'carry or a smaller supermarket..

Even if you just end up using a butcher,baker, petshop petrol station etc.... you are a customer that shop never had before, and you are helping then survive the hard economic times and the supermarkets




edit..... ooppps sorry for the long post....didnt realise i waffeld on...lol..

kippers

toontron wrote: »

Its absolutely 100% not for me, but I wish you very well with your idea and will follow it with interest.

Me too..i would love to do it but my local shops hardly sell anything and what they do sell costs the earth.

Good luck though

valk_scot

I only go into my local Tesco at Whoopsie time. I can get some pretty amazing bargains then (got all my fruit and veg for last week at ~ 10p a pack, plus meat and cheese at 90% off) and it pleases me to know Tesco is making minimal profit from me. I usually get staples like milk and bread flour when I'm in too.

The rest of the time I shop at my local Lidl, local shops, the monthly farmer's market and my allotment. We've got a great little independant greengrocer and while I don't actually buy a lot of veg from him given I grow my own, I go there for local free range eggs, good artisan bread, local honey and amazingly good pickles and chutneys.

I'd like to buy more at the local shops but the budget can't cope without the whoopsie hit atm so I compromise. I do make a point though of buying as much as I can locally as long as I can afford it ie I'll make a definate decision to postpone buying something till I'm next in the local shop which sells it. I do have more time than most to shop so I can do this, others probably can't spend time trailing around shops. I am on a tight budget but supermarkets really are not the cheapest option at least half the time, not for my shopping list anyway! Another 25% of items can be bought elsewhere at the same price and of the other 25% it's often only pennies, unless there's a good offer. Actually if it wasn't for the whoopsies and the occasional real bargain offer, like 3-4-2 on their bread flour lately, I would probably manage not go to Tesco at all.

So...thinking about it, I might try and see if I can shift the balance over a bit more and use the local shops a bit more often. 10% more? That seems do-able. And if everyone tried to buy 10% of their weekly shopping locally at the small independants, that might be just enough to keep them going.

ecoelle

I think this is a really interesting idea as i happen to work in the big 5th supermarket:) I think some people have misunderstood and assume you are saying 'no supermarkets at all' when i n actual fact if i'm right you're saying you will not shop at Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA or Morrisons. Is that right? If so then i think it's doable due to the fact that you can still shop in Aldi, Lidl, Farmfoods, Co-op, plus all the towns independents. This would be a very interesting challenge, not sure i'm up to it, but might give it some thought. I'm going to subscribe anyway so i can see how you get on:)

Looter

ecoelle wrote: »

I think this is a really interesting idea as i happen to work in the big 5th supermarket:) I think some people have misunderstood and assume you are saying 'no supermarkets at all' when i n actual fact if i'm right you're saying you will not shop at Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA or Morrisons. Is that right? If so then i think it's doable due to the fact that you can still shop in Aldi, Lidl, Farmfoods, Co-op, plus all the towns independents. This would be a very interesting challenge, not sure i'm up to it, but might give it some thought. I'm going to subscribe anyway so i can see how you get on:)

Yes, my main aim is just to avoid the big 4. Having said that, it's not my intention to do my weekly shop at Aldi or Lidl, I'm going to use small independent shops wherever I can that specialise in the items they sell, that have passion for what they do and who will appreciate my custom.

GentleGiant_2

I would never go to local stores - I dislike being ripped off and charged too much.

Farmers markets are the worse for over charging.

Sorry, but give me a large supermarket with big buying power any day.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

GentleGiant wrote: »

I would never go to local stores - I dislike being ripped off and charged too much.

Farmers markets are the worse for over charging.

Sorry, but give me a large supermarket with big buying power any day.

You are the ideal customer who the supermarkets love......making you thing that they are cheaper on everything....They have really reeled you in......

I find quite a few things cheaper in local independant shops...

The only thing with the supermarkets it is all under one roof

Happy shopping

shammyjack

I use Lidl a lot for basics such as flour, oats etc. Aldi occasionally when they have items cheaper than Lidl or that Lidl do not stock.

I only use 3 out of the Big4 for Whoopsies or reduced items ( I know all the reduction times ! ) .TESCO is on permanent boycott !

Local market for steak, chops fruit etc. 1 stall does 3KG of bacon offcuts for £3 or 2 huge ham shanks for £3 .

Discount stores for all cleaning and household goods.

Savings I make by shopping my way leave me enough cash to bulk buy when I see exceptional bargains reducing my outlay even more .

I am a near 60 tight fisted Yorkie that can make a frugal Jock look like a spendthrift !

shammy