a month without supermarket - new challenge for 2011 starts at post 1013

COOLTRIKERCHICK

the_optimist wrote:

Can I be rebel No 4???
:

yes you can welocme aboard:beer:

i also was a clubcard point chaser......and i am waiting for my points to come through the post anyday now....which will be used in mfi... for a new oven..... as long as the min spend is £250. mfi are finishing in april.... so this makes it easier for me.....as i was only collecting points for mfi....

i have noticed that i buy less...as no impulse buys... or if i do impulse buy... there is not much you can impulse buy in the butchers......etc......

cant wait to watch that programme tonight......

in march... i think i will also do the grocery challenge..... to prove you can stay within a realistic budget.... and not buy in the supermarkets... its all about adjusting your eating habbits.... and the meals you eat etc......

lil_me

lil_me wrote:

Dispatches 8pm next Monday is about Tescos taking over the country, sure some of you will be interested so thought would post about it, just seen the advert (PS forgot to put channel 4 incase you don't know which one Dispatches is on oops sorry)

REMINDER!!!

Not doing bad this month, I would say less than 10% of my shopping wash from supermarkets, I did buy some toiletry and cleaning items from local £1 shop today aswell.

I'm waiting for more members to join, I wanna be member 69

the_optimist

Wahay, I'm rebel no 4 :T :j

Went into town earlier on and explored our local health shop, was very surprised about the stuff on offer. Did a bit of shopping, then went to Mr T. and used my double points voucher ..... for a £50 phone top up was that allowed?:o

Have told DD and DS tonight that for lent I will not buy any more sweets (when it's gone it's gone) and that I want to do as little shopping in supermarkets as possible and rather support the local shops. Did mention that I am stuck on a couple of items as I don't know yet where to get them, so DS suggested, HE would buy them in the supermarkets so that I can follow my resolution and not shop there. If only it were that easy...:rotfl:

claire1847

WOW I LOVE this thread! We've been weaning off supermarkets where possible for ages. It was easier when we left London, but not in all rural places as we found out to our cost! You can be surrounded by fields and only have one of the 'big 4' to buy anything decent from :eek: not good. I am so convinced that if we don't make a stand, we will end up with just 4 massive conglomerate farms in the country!

we do buy from Goodness Direct and sometimes Waitrose, but where poss it's farm shops and other local stuff. i will confess I've not read the whole thread from start to finish (yet), so please don't be cross if I duplicate a couple of suggestions already made.

https://www.farmersmarkets.net - to find your nearest ones (no gtee they will be good, but some are great!)
There's a great new place set up just close enough for me to use called https://www.buy-local.net - it delivers, but only local produce. There must be others around the country.
https://www.tastesofanglia.com (and there are definitely other similar orgs for other areas) gives details of local producers, farm shops and farmers markets too.
We are lucky in that we have a local butcher and a wonderful farmshop up the road and a bakery not tooooo far away (and now on GL diet I can get lovely grainy breads there too :j )
My next step - I am on the hunt for a local dairy for local milk (if anyone lives near St Neots-ish and knows of one let me know!) preferably delivered.
I also found https://www.vegboxschemes.co.uk and am currently considering the local options. We did have one before and it was wonderful, but we're both a bit unpredictable in our days at home / away now so it may not work for us having a regular scheme, might have to stick to farmshops for the moment.

But I so agree it is the storecupboard and looroll type stuff that is more difficult, you think why pay loads for it when Aldi / Makro / etc etc have it so cheap, so I do nip over to Aldi to stock up on that stuff.

I do use our local co-op too which is great and also has a post office that is struggling to stay open. It actually brings more to the village than it takes away so I do see that as shopping 'almost local'

My best purchase was a big freezer, it means we can 'go large' in the summer at pick your owns and when we have the time our own stuff, and freezse a lot of it. Also a local farmer does beef 'freezer packs' which are too big for the normal fridge freezer but last for ages. I found him in the small ads in the local rag!

anyway, I hope that was helpful, it's something we're increasingly passionate about and thanks for inspiring us all to take more steps towards supporting the smaller producers and away from the horrid intense farming. I can't even think about the poultry farms that produce 98% (or something like that) of the stuff that ends up on our plates, it's too sickmaking. The difference in taste and texture between a piece of chicken from the butcher up the road (and is a bit of activity too, walking up there rather than driving to the supermarket!) and one from even somewhere like 'Waitrose organic' is just unbelieveable.

Am going now to eat homemade spicy meatballs made from local beef!! :T Claire

claire1847

PS re flours, I get them from Goodness Direct or straight from Shipton Mill. It may not be local, but both Doves Farm and SHipton Mill are, to the best of my knowledge, smaller producers, and I reckon that it comes by post and must be a bit more environmentally friendly coming to me on a delivery van that's already coming my way than me in my parpparp old car schlepping off to one of those nasty big supermarkets ;o) x

rach

just watching dispatches about tesco. i love shopping there, but am going to stop, at least for lent!! in fact i think i will go the whole hog and not shop in supermarkets at all for lent.

how do other people do it? do you count aldi/lidl as a supermarket? the things i am not sure where to get are:
*low fat sausages
*oven bottom muffins (we love these for bacon sandwiches)
*UHT skimmed milk (i buy about 12 a month for yoghurt & porridge)

am i allowed to go to the coop down the road? we do have some fab little corner shops, from asia food world to polish supermarkets.

i am getting cold sweats thinking about this - i love supermarkets!!!

help and advice appreciated. i am about to order my rolser trolley which should help with local shopping.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi....rach.....welocme aboard..... you can be rebel no5.. just add it to your sig......

what you need to do... is take a look at your local shops.....

farm shops.. markets.... butchers..... bakers ...independant chemists etc......you will be suprised at what you find.... also internet.... outlets that have been mentioned in previous posts......

i use the co-op as a last resort..... which up until today i have only bought milk and high juice from them.....

if you want to use lidle as a safety net fine....... you might find with the low fat sausages..... that ..there is still more fat than the butchers own made sausages........the sausages i get from my butchers.. hardly any fat comes out of them.... compared to the ones i used to buy in the supermarket.......

you might find that some things are more expensive compared to mr t. but on the other hand i have also found that there are a lot of items which are cheaper..... so as long as the ptice evens out overall on my weekly shop its fine by me.... as its taking business away from tescos and giving it to local independant traders.......
also why just for lent ? ..i was just going to try it for a month...... but i am now going to permantly change my shopping habbits......

the_optimist

Phew, that programme's really opened my eyes and I won't be using Tesco anymore! If I HAVE to go to a supermarket, it will be Lidl or Morrisons (well, they are DS's employer)
The programme also reminded me of the following website http://www.tescopoly.org/ - well worth a look.

lil_me

£54 million in dodged taxes, are they knickers getting my money if I can help it!

I knew the bits about taking over, how much you need to spend to get the incentives etc, but that just takes the P*SS!

kscour

Hi Rach
Gosh 5 Rebels already!
Well I used Lidls for what I couldn't get on high street but I am hoping that as I get more of the hang of this and get better organised that one day I'll be totally supermarket free. For our area I feel that Lidl's is at least giving a choice and it has to be better than Tescos.
But everyone is going to be facing different problems (and I now have the problem that DD's love Lidls Edam & lemonade!)
I'm definately spending less than before and the fridge & cupboards are full!
CTC is right about proper butchers sausages once eaten you'll never return to any others and there is so little fat that comes out of them it's unbelievable. Also our butchers mince is £1 a pound and it goes twice as far as the supermarkets mince and tastes much nicer!

Couldn't believe I missed the program:mad: hoping it'll be repeated. But anyone who can give me a brief outline?