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

rosh12

I followed this thread with admiration (at the time of original postings I was 8-9 months pregnant and so traipsing round a number of shops was, on the whole, not a good idea!)!

However I have now moved house and thought ah ha I can shop local! But no-- because our local town centre has a big asda and that's about it! Well, there's a boots, a Greggs, a post office and a crd shop too but not much more. It is over a mile to walk to a local butcher, and I haven't found a local fruit and veg place (though I have today discovered a veg box scheme operating from 4 miles away which is great!)

Hey ho. I shall keep trying though.

Hope some other people read this, get inspired and have more success with taking action!

Maddie

aimeelister wrote: »

Everything else i am probably going to source from the co-op which i know is a supermarket BUT does support local projects with profits.

I was going to ask if the Co-op is allowed. We often have to go to our local late shop to stock up on milk and bread. I feel better about it as I know they have ethical policies, but they annoy me as they have lcd screens everywhere :mad: (i've complained about this which makes me feel a bit better ut doubt it'll do any good).

Appart from the co-op i haven't been in a supermarket since 5th August (per my cc statement) :cool:

Frugal_Fox

Gosh - and they say great minds think alike!! Driving home today after droping my ironing off (they pay me to do their ironing!) I was thinking about if I could shop without using the supermarkets. There really isn't that much in my larder that I couldn't buy elsewhere. Petfood I can source from the local pet shop, I already buy my meat from the butcher, toiletries I can source from Wilko's and the like.... so there I am tonight looking for like minded folk... and there you all are!! At the moment I've shopped in Waitrose, who I still feel are the best out of all the supermarkets and I currently manage about £55 per week for all of us (2 adults & 2 children), including pet food and milk money for the milkman.

Things I think I will struggle with are:
Cereal
Fruit & Veg - we do have an organic box scheme - but you can't alter the contents... and you don't know what you are getting until it arrives...
Tinned Goods - I buy organic and my local butcher does not sell these. We don't have any independant local shops I could frequent. We do have a Co-op so this may be my next best thing. There is a wholefood cooperative in Northampton, which I probably could get to once a month...

We'll see !!

looby-loo_2

I've not been here much this summer. Pleased to see this thread is still here.
I've not been to any supermarket this year.
I've grown all my fruit and veg (except for the odd bag of oranges) and the hens lay eggs. Milkman delivers the milk which works out cheaper than shop because if we run out it's a trip in the car which is petrol cost. We've had several days where our main meal has been nearly free.

chevalier

I did not see this thread the first time around, so have been reading it with interest.

I am sort of half way in this. I get all my meat from a local butcher. Have occasionally got something from a super market. Bleugh! Tasteless yuck. And after reading the article about the date swapping even more ewwwww!

As for veggies, I am a bit here and there on that, sometime the market sometimes not. I think I will try a bit harder once I have recovered from some serious course work!

The other thing is that I have been saving tesco stamps for xmas spends. Does anyone know if you can just get the cash back, as I may not be going there by then....?
chev

fairynuff27

Hello all, I'm new and have signed up especially to join in with this thread!

I think it's a great idea, and one I half follow already. I buy our fish and vegetables from the market, and other groceries from various independent grocers. My biggest weakness is the Co-op food hal next door to our flat - I've heard horror stories about the meat in the market so buy my mince and chicken from them. However, I shall try to find a better butcher from which to buy this month.

My tips are useless to anyone who doesn't live in a large-ish multi-cultural city, but are as follows:

Buy oils, soy sauce, fish sauce, etc from chinese supermarkets - a litre bottle of sesame oil or soy sauce will often set you back around £1 and last for ages.

Similarly, our chinese supermarkets offer far larger bunches of herbs such as coriander, fresh ginger, shallots, galangal and lemon grass for next to nothing.

We have an independent shop in the city centre which stocks near-end or end-of-line items from top supermarkets at tiny prices. Boxes of cook-your-own popodoms are 3 for 50p, nan and sauces from well know brands are 2 for £1, dried herbs and spices are 3 for £1, etc. It's a great place to stock up, though you have to be willing to take what they have - there's no guarantee something will be in stock the next week.

This shop also sells polish food - not great if you can't read polish, only they write the English name on the shelf labels for you! My cartons of seived passatta set me back 15p each here. Tinned goods come in around the 10p mark, and beans and pulses (my beloved chick peas and big bags of lentils) are usually on 3 large tins for £1.

Anyone have any advice on how to find a good butcher?

Icemaiden

Hi fairy, welcome to MSE:wave:

With regards to finding a butcher, it did take me a few attempts before I found one I was happy with so its sort of trial & error I think. The one I use now I found on the BigBarn website (sorry can't do the link thingy) where you punch in your post code and it comes up with a list for your area. Don't give up you will find one.
Hope that helps you,

Ice
x

competitionscafe

Icemaiden wrote: »

The one I use now I found on the BigBarn website (sorry can't do the link thingy) where you punch in your post code and it comes up with a list for your area.

http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/

Doom_and_Gloom

I would really like to not buy at any of the supermarkets ever again as I like the idea of supporting local trade.

I've recently got a veg box delivered that I like and will continue from now on.
I go to my local health food store for dried fruit, toothpaste, pulses, seeds, soya beans (to make soya milk), soya mince, rice cakes etc.

Although I do not eat meat, cheese or eggs I did talk my boyfriend into buying these items at the local butcher. He loves it as it tastes lovely (ie of something) and more often than not is the same price or less than basic for the quality of taste the difference or be good to yourself!! This means he gets to buy more of the items he likes for the same price as before = one VERY happy boyfriend. I only actually wanted to talk him into it in the first place as if he's going to eat it I would rather him eat the good stuff than sh!te, hehe, but whatever floats his boat that kind of floats mine is good :rotfl: .

I do personally buy everything organic as I have to look after my health (I have a re-occuring viral infection and eating organic keeps it to a minimal) and due to this I find it hard to buy only localy and organic on my budget (usually £40/month but is £45 this month due to Halloween).

I find it difficult to buy orange, apple and tomato juice at a reasonable price anywhere but at my local sainsbury's (made even cheaper by my boyfriends discount card!) and also the top up of fruit I need to do between my veg box deliveries as the fruit and veg market only comes once a month so I could top up then (I have never been though so I have no idea of the quality) but not again and I need to twice a month really!

I may do a bulk shop on goodnessdirect for juices and other things I usually go to supermarkets for like tinned tomatoes and the like but not sure how that would work. I think if I do this I'll work out how much I would need for X amount of months and then divide the amount by the months then deduct the amound from each months spend . Although I have to say I haven't any idea where I would store it all. By the way am I allowed to use goodnessdirect in this challenge?

PaleScene

Thank you CTC and co for this thought-provoking thread - I do currently use supermarkets but might try the avoiding temptation tactic if I can work up some meal plans.

I've noticed several people have said they struggle with sourcing dry goods such as pasta/rice/cereals without using the supermarket and thought I'd mention Fairtraders. You may have individuals who do this in the local area, or check out church offices, Traidcraft and Oxfam shops and online retailers such as ethical superstore .com. However this does mean a bit more exposure both to food miles and some processed treats such as snack bars and biscuits!

I love our Farmer's Market for all the reasons others have promoted theirs - quality of food, quality of service, some competitive pricing - but find myself quite sad that over the couple of years I've been attending lots of beloved stalls have faded away. It makes me more tempted to make a day out of other slightly less local FM's in the hope of seeing some of them again.