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

dianeclaire

hi,

Posted a couple of times but mainly lurking, however, have managed to avoid most of supermarkets and DH looking into Makro and Costco card at work.

Loving this thread, now have:

Milk delivered from local farm
Pet Food delivered
All Meat and most veg/herbs from farm shop.......herb things will improve, we have always grown our own on window sill but now bought plastic greenhouse thingys for more and tomatoes

Eeeking out washing powder till Makro card comes but have been buying kitchen paper and toilet roll from local shop and thinking it will work out later in year

Making own bread(3 months now) Made marmlade and planning piccalilli and pickle next, and jam in summer

Would like rebel number now please 16 or 17 either would be good as my birthday is the 6th of the 7th

pollys

Hi

For the past 12 months we have cut down our supermarket spending and I must say we eat much better now. I'm not sure if we save money but there is no way that we would go back to how things used to be. Milk is now delivered in glass bottles, I buy tinned goods, laundry, juice, flour etc from Suma a workers cooperative, although we have a breadmaker I do buy some bread and pasties from a local bakers, fish from the fishmongers, meat, eggs, fruit and veg, cheese, cooked meat, pickles, yoghurt and cream from the farm shop. Today we went to an organic farm just 5 miles away that sells produce from it's own fields plus produce from further afield, all organic, they deliver too, free of charge, it's certaintly not cheap but we had potato, leeks and sprouting broccoili this evening and they were delicious.

Shopping locally cuts down packaging, my dustbin is never full now and there are six of us, but what I like best of all is that the shopkeepers become friends, the fishmonger chatted away to the children about different fish and the children were not put off eating the fish they saw him gut. The lady at the organic farm chatted about the farm and the children helped her weigh out and put the veg into our bag. It is much more pleasurable, it does take time but it isn't a chore I actually enjoy going.

I know that not everyone has access to farmshops and local independant traders but if you have please treasure them. If you have local shops and markets it can take a while until you find ones you are happy with and sell the produce you want and like.

The children found it a bit difficult in the beginning weaning them off the leading brand of cornflakes for an organic version from the health food shop for eg, but now they love trying different things.

Sorry I'm rambling on now, all I wanted to say was it can be difficult but stick to it it's worth it, well done rebels:T

dianeclaire

Hi everyone,

Have a question, having £70 of rewards with Sainsburys, is it ok to go and stock up on the washing powder etc as it is free and we have spent the money to get this already, also DH uses Sainsburys for diesel as it is cheapest although I have told him that a main brand seems best for MPG as myself and workmates tested this out when we left the company car scheme, my worry is that he uses the one which gives necta points althoug he is being very receptive to not lining the BIG GUN's pockets

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.....dianeclaire.......you are rebel no 16..... welcome aboard:T .....

i am really glad you are joining in.... no need to lurk here....
i have gone to makro ..they are not the cheapest place... but watch out for the offers....it might be worth you checking out some shops.... in your local area.... and compare....

pollys....thank you:T :T :T .....and no you were not rambling.. you were talking from the heart...... and i totally agree with every word you said.....

with me i think ...we will save money by shopping this way.....as i have said before... i just cant stick to a list..... as soon as i walked into a supermarket...... thats it ... i am hooked with the offers etc..... and end up buying more than what i wanted........ even though i have only been doing this a few weeks..... i have def... noticed.. we eat better... we snack less...for one thing there is hardly anything to snack on expt fruit..... and my youngest has def.. calmed down........plus i have noticed... i have got less rubbish going out into the bin......

COOLTRIKERCHICK

dianeclaire wrote:

Hi everyone,

Have a question, having £70 of rewards with Sainsburys, is it ok to go and stock up on the washing powder etc as it is free and we have spent the money to get this already, also DH uses Sainsburys for diesel as it is cheapest although I have told him that a main brand seems best for MPG as myself and workmates tested this out when we left the company car scheme, my worry is that he uses the one which gives necta points althoug he is being very receptive to not lining the BIG GUN's pockets

hi..dianeclaire..... yes use them...... with trying to shop locally independantly isnt going to be done overnight.. unless you have a brilliant high street in your town or village...... i have tescos clubcard points due.... which i will be converting to mfi vouchers.... so i think its the same principle..... you have allready spend your money.... and the £70 is the reward..... so it would be silly not to use them.......might be worth buying things that you think might be harder to find locally......

rach

dianeclaire, like ctc says, its small steps. if you want to go and stock up then do! i bought a couple of things in sainsburys yesterday so that i could have time to find a supplier.

the other thing that nectar points are good for are cds/dvds etc, you can find out on the nectar site, but i enjpyed using mine somewhere but sainsburys!

funnily enough, i thought about petrol today, usually use mr T or Asda, but remembered an esso garage which is almost as cheap, so will be using that one. Texaco is owned by somerfield so i'll try and avois that if i can!

dianeclaire

Thank You CTC

Glad to be aboard, have been shopipng in farm shops wherever possible for a couple of years now but because of this thread have a determination unknown before to give up Mr T and others for all other things, had e-mail from Makro today re offers and it is so much cheaper than supermarkets. Hope we get the card

Bought toothpaste today from chemist as passing and would have spent GOD KNOWS how much if had gone to supermarket

competitionscafe

rach wrote:

most newsagents sell milk, if you only want a pint a week that may be possible? from where i am i can walk to independant 4 shops selling milk (one is the post office) in about 3 minutes!

Same here, 4 places: newsagent, corner shop, butcher and grocer - all sell milk and 2 of them sell organic milk (grocer and corner shop). If you want organic milk always worth asking your corner shop to stock it on a trial basis - mine did and she says it is now very popular - she still sells a lot more non-organic but sells enough organic to make it worthwhile and now sells organic bread from a local baker too.

dianeclaire

Thank You All,

Will keep going, actually after reading this last week, I looked up all the farm shops on my "route" and found one - although I do have lots locally - just for the interest, came home Friday night and gave DH the choice, he chose the one that I had been to that day, possibly because I told him tha they bred Dexter Beef - same as Hugh FW......I have to say it was the BEST EVER and we are used to farm shops.

Butcher told me that this was "pre" christmas and that he had some last week which was out of this world, he was't kidding

This was the most exceptional farm shop i've ever been to, have loads locally ()very lucky) and loads more to try, but if anyone is in the area then try Dairy Barn in Stockbridge near Southhampton, I'm lucky can get there once a month

Fab Beef, Pork, I nearly died for the rib in the counter but guessed the freezr would not do it justice, THEY SELL MUTTON - The Best, the rump steak was the best I've ever tasted.

D

Psykicpup

Can I have a number too please?
actually could someone edit post 1 to show all takers & their numbers - I'm sure it will boost everyones moral!