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

kscour

dameon1024
http://www.calonwen.co.uk/
they are in whitland and do veg boxes - I haven't had to resort to them though but I imagine they are quite good.
Will keep looking for you

kscour

Llwynhelyg Farm Shop
Sarnau
Llandysul
Ceredigion
Tel 01239 811079
Wide range of home-grown vegetables, herbs and salad leaves and unusual plants, baked goods and prepared dishes. Over 30 types of Welsh cheese, meat and poultry, smoked trout and salmon.

Have won quite a few awards.

Psykicpup

angelatgraceland wrote:

I notice some people are going to Makro. Well I do have a card for them, also for Bookers but I don't find them very good value when you add on the V>A>T and you have to buy so many of everything. I would class them as a supermarket-I know they arent but its not like using your local shops-its in the "super" size category after all. Its a place Ive vowed to stay away from as I ended up buyin all the things I normally would not. I want to find a local petfood supplier now though as I can't get what I want on the High St. I usually buy big bags of Wagg but ven Mr Ts is always out of stock. Thought of the stuff for working dogs but no idea where to begin! I'm just outskirts of Bristol-near to Weston Super Mare.

My dog (Shadow) loves Wagg too - typed pet food delivered into Google & found a few places but also the Wagg site! that you can order direct from & as they are a family run business......look out for the 'working dog' bags 20kg for £12.49 incc delivery!
http://www.waggfoods.co.uk/

kscour

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

also adding to what the optimist is saying..... do you feel calmer....or some sort of contentment when you come home from shopping.. lest stressed......like a satisfied feeling..... or is that only me.....

It's a strange combination for me....
When I drive past Tescos now it seems so enormous and scary looking. I just don't want to go in it - it looks like it's full of amazing wonders but I'm scared I'll get lost (or more like put loads of stuff I don't need in the trolley!)
and then I see all the people parked in there and part of me thinks oh I'm so glad I don't have to do that and the other part wants to wind down the window and scream "suckers!" at them:o
and shopping is an adventure now! Saturday was a bit depressing seeing the town so empty and remembering all the shops and the people who ran them but in the shops that were still there people smiled at me!
Saturday I went to one town got fruit & veg, went to other town and found there was next to nothing left, went to lidls to stock up on what I couldn't get in town and got home to find it had taken less time than my old trips to tescos and back!
But visiting places and finding shops & meeting people who really care about you and appreciate your business is an amazing experience:j Even non shopping DD's have booked the next town for shopping on Saturday because they want to see what we can find. And to be honest I thought I'd never say this about food shopping but I can't wait!!!:D

I did find in the beginning I had a few days when I was panicking we were going to run out of food and starve - even though the cupboards were full! I think it was some kind of withdrawl, a Tescos cold turkey:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: , but that's passed now and I feel more in control than ever, I know whats in the fridge/freezer/cupboard I know we could manage for a week if needed and I also know I have a more or less local shop that can supply me with enough to get by.
And yes I feel almost serene! a wonderful combination of calm & smug:D

JoeyG

I have been doing this successfully for 2 weeks now

Luckily I live on my own, so just shopping for 1 does make it easier... I get most things I need from the greengrocer, then for anything I cant get I pop into the co-op.

I'm a bit disappointed though... I found the greenrgrocer does not stock local produce, and I dont know anywhere that does... its a bit difficult because I only have saturday to do my main shopping, and after thats all done I have no time to discover new places... it would be great if there were discussions on a local level, and I could find out where others shop in Cheltenham.

I have also had trouble with tinned fish... John West sardines are about 50p a tin in the co-op (Tescos own are about half that)... I popped in the health stores, and a tin of 'sustainable' sardines was £1.99 :eek:... I have fish everyday so I cant afford that sort of money!

I know theres a farmers market in town on friday... I'm gonna go along and have a look, is it worth asking them which local shops sell their produce?... or is all that handled by distribution companies?

Anyway.... thanks everyone, this is the best thread i've read in a long time

JoeyG

Thanks competitionscafe

I recognise that listing so I must have done a search on there before... Robert Young is the greengrocer I use at the moment, alot of the other places are out of town, so not very local for me.

I have looked into getting a box delivery from one of the organic companies, but the smallest is £5 and I'm not sure I would use it all up on my own to be honest.

competitionscafe

From https://www.whyorganic.org March newsletter:

New bill before parliament offers solution to Britain’s unsustainable food systems

Local shops closing, supermarkets dominating, food miles soaring, local growers and producers suffering. Sounds like an all too familiar story? Yet this is the reality of our food systems in Britain.

It is unsustainable - especially with peak oil looming on the horizon - and government must act now to stop this, but they won’t unless we force them. That’s why over 80 national organisations, including the Soil Association, have joined the coalition campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. The Bill will enable local communities to drive government policy from the bottom up. This is based on the philosophy that local communities are the experts on their local problems, as well as the solutions to them – not civil servants in Whitehall.

Under this Bill, communities could force the government to promote local and organic food by supporting local producers and local distribution networks, as well as other measures to make communities sustainable. It will help level the playing field against supermarkets - existing stores could be forced to have more local produce on their shelves and communities would finally have the power to say no to proposed superstores via processes such as local referenda.
A crucial time for the campaign

The Bill has already entered Parliament. On 19 January it passed through its second reading unopposed and could be law as early as June this year. It has massive cross-party support from over 400 MPs, as well as 20,000 individuals, 80 national organisations and over 1,000 local & parish councils.

Despite this, the government is still not convinced about the need for this Bill and could block it when it goes before Parliament again, which is likely to be on 20 April. This is crunch time for the Bill. To make sure it becomes law we need to keep up the pressure on the government.
YOUR HELP CAN MAKE THIS BILL LAW

Please sign up to the campaign to ensure this Bill becomes law.

For more information and to sign up, contact:
Local Works, 94 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF
Website: https://www.localworks.org


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competitionscafe

Read an article in our local paper about a farm near Edinburgh - when they were supplying supermarkets (they now sell direct and via Farmers markets) their lambs were sent from Scotland to Devon to be slaughtered, all the way back up to Scotland (Aberdeen) to be butchered and then all over the UK to the supermarkets! No idea why they could not use a local abbatoir, local butcher and then go out to the supermarkets. I heard a similar story of Scottish scampi being sent to Thailand for cooking and shelling and then being sent all the way back to the UK to be sold here - madness!


"Before we went organic and did our own direct marketing, our lambs were going to Devon to be killed, Aberdeen to be butchered and then to supermarkets."
"Now instead of all these hundreds of miles, they go about 65 - from here to the abattoir, back here and then to Edinburgh."
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=314352007

Some other stuff:

In January 2004, Anti-Apathy invited 10 people to do without supermarkets for the whole month. The results were interesting and mixed.
http://www.antiapathy.org/?q=node/7

The local shop [feature article about another one month without supermarket challenge - with nice pictures]
http://www.vegsoc.org/vegmag/local.pdf

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kimnhol

Keeping up with the thread daily, just wanted to let you know im still 110% in support and loving every minute of it :T

lil_me

My goodness direct order is due today, if I get those will be happy, but wouldn't know what to do with pumpkin or avacados, and my friend can have the celery as I can't stand that stuff! I can't even stand the smell of it! Will have to wait and see what arrives. Ordered a large amount of meats aswell to try those. Just no idea what time it'll arrive. Got the few household things I needed from the little DIY shop down the high street, files and nail scissors, freezer bags and erm some other things I can't remember. My usualy F&V lady will also call tonight, so hoping delivery arrives before then so I know what extras I need.