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

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Spendless wrote:

That was me Your thread, you make the rules .

makes me feel important lol.......

we can all suggest and make rules.....as do just not go to bigger supermarkets the big power guns like tescos who are trying to take over the world...... or do we go to cash and carry for our bulk basics etc.....

throw your suggestions into the pot....... and come up with some ideas....

even if we cant totally live without the big guns after this month... at least we would have given a lot of our trade to some local independants.......

at least i know the pet supplier has gained another customer.....in the future....

chardonnay_2

interesting thread - i wish it was possible for us but i think we would miss the reduced bargains in the supermarkets too much.

for those of you doing this, you could only get deliveries of the items you cannot source locally from the supermarket and therefore would still be doing the bulk of your shopping locally.

carolbee

Are you going to shop just locally or order other things on line, I get my pet food from an online supplier and go through a cash back site, they often do special offers, freebies, discounts etc, PM me if you want details.

Good luck, there seem to be lots of people out there who would like to do it, was just thinking its how my Mum used to shop! just one generation away eh?

broomstick27

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

or do we go to cash and carry for our bulk basics etc.....

:rolleyes: Wouldn't it be great if ... everyone in the street could bulk buy and all share the savings :rolleyes:

broomstick27

hmmm scrap that, i've just had visions of big brother style shopping with a giant blackboard and loads of shouting!

Spendless

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

we can all suggest and make rules.....as do just not go to bigger supermarkets the big power guns like tescos who are trying to take over the world...... or do we go to cash and carry for our bulk basics etc.....

throw your suggestions into the pot....... and come up with some ideas....

even if we cant totally live without the big guns after this month... at least we would have given a lot of our trade to some local independants.......

Ok, so how about we have an order of where we shop, for me I have no cash and carry near me, but plenty of market stalls. So in order of priority I would shop

1) markets/small independants (eg sole shop)

2) local chains of shops (eg owning several shops across area/county)

3) franchises (eg Spar/Londis)

4) small(er) national chains (eg wilkos)

and failing all else

6)supermarkets

You can do a list to suit you, based on what is available in your area.

Now for my first dilemma, where do I buy 6 x 2litre bottles of fizzy water for DH from, without resorting to paying a fortune at Spar or having to go to supermarket for it

Cazzdevil

Sounds a good priority list to me Spendless. I've sourced a local shop which sells locally grown fruit/veg/meats so I'm going to go on Saturday to check out the prices.
There's a cash & carry within a few miles of me too, so I'll get other household items there (loo roll/dishwasher tabs/Stardrops etc..).
There's a pet food shop at the top of my street so that's the cats sorted.
In the village there's a great oriental food store so herbs & spices etc will come from there.

The struggle for me will be tins of stuff, but I'm trying to think of ways to avoid having to buy tins in the first place, like making my own mushy peas, or using fresh tomatoes instead of tinned, failing that there's a little freezer shop on the industrial estate in my village which sells tins and what-not so I'll have a look in there.

I'm still thinking of ideas though so I'll report back...
Just got in from mountain biking though so I'm a bit knackered & my brain can only think of food and sleep!

the_optimist

Just a thought, but shouldn't the toiletry items be bought at a local chemist, (not Boots) instead of Wilkinsons?

I think it's a great idea and I will cut down on supermarket shopping - but won't go 'cold turkey' yet, can't afford to, sorry.

looby-loo_2

Just a note of caution when buying from some of the larger farm shops. If cutting down on food miles is important to you then be sure to ask where the produce comes from, they don't all grow it all themseves. They couldn't provide the range they do if they relied on just their own produce.

A large one by me was selling iceburg lettuce from Israel. To me that's no different to buying from a big supermarket.

I appreciate there are other reasons for not using supermarkets

lil_me

Chemists are also sometimes part of a chain, many are now, I get yelled at from an uncle who owns a pharmacy if I even mention the B word!

Agree with farm shops, see many at the cash and carry, and some places who claim to be organic buying non organic produce, always check, I know the one who owns the one I use and his values! He does buy in, from other local farmers with same attitude and his choices available are still limited.

Another thing to watch for is seasonal, if they have something which is out of season, be suspicious and ask where it came from!