Enough. We're walking away from supermarkets

katholicos

It can cetainly be done. It was done for many, many years before supermarkets came to be. It is still done now, especially by those who live rurally, to whom home deliveries are not possible/travelling distances, not economical.

If you meal plan, (and maybe) batch cook/build up a full 'pantry' of basic store-cupboard ingredients, there is no reason why you should not be able to make this work for your family.

Good luck!

teampugh

Hiya

We started our supermarket free life on 5th nov 2012! We have a strict £50 per week budget and...... we are saving money, eating better and have a better sense of community! Since we started we have saved £140! Oh and our bin is virtually empty as packaging is limited when market shopping and.... we waste zero food! You can follow our journey:

a year without supermarkets . com


Team Pugh

gailey_2

teampugh wrote: »

Hiya

We started our supermarket free life on 5th nov 2012! We have a strict £50 per week budget and...... we are saving money, eating better and have a better sense of community! Since we started we have saved £140! Oh and our bin is virtually empty as packaging is limited when market shopping and.... we waste zero food! You can follow our journey:

a year without supermarkets . com


Team Pugh

I really enjoyed reading your blog.
we have 3slightly bigger kids here 21months, 3 and nearly 7 they ever demanding and fussy when comes to food.

where do you do bulk of shopping?

green grocers and butchers?

do you shop entirely local? ie corner shops?
do you do any online shopping with non supermarket for food items?

I know you said buy nappies from boots do you buy other toilitries from them?

I cant see us giving up them all as do wel in Aldis and lidls.

Hopefully stuff will grow in small plot of garden.
Havent got the room for chucks.

we going to try cut back and shop more independants.

Come pay day we avoiding sainsburys/tescos and morrisions.

but need to find good place to buy fresh fish.

sams247

My start on the journey was to research, research, and more research, plan, meal charts, recipes, work out budgets, assess food cupboards

My OH start on the journey was to come home from work with an armful of goodies from Wai***ose simply because they were a bargain

sigh

But we continue. It may well be that we dont last a month, but at the very least I shall have tried. And I am certain we will never again just blindly buy food without thinking if we want it, need it, have some idea what it contains.

I may well start to record what I do on my blog as well, who knows it might actually make me write the darn thing as it seems to sit and gather weeds far too often

sams247

gailey - lots of info thank you

gailey_2

No worries sam good luck with it.

Think will encourage all to go local and support small businesses is good thing.

Which region are you sam?

im southwest and spotted few diffrent places now on my to try list.

I miss the markets that wales had newport/cardiff had great indorr markets.

kittycatface

Hi I'm lucky in that my local high street is just a 5 min walk, and has a couple of good shops one that's like poundland but independent where i get all my toiletries and cleaning products, the other that's a greengrocers. They sell upmarket organic stuff for those who can afford but also have a lot of seasonal veg offers. They do local milk for 20p cheaper than T's semi skim and 6 local free range eggs for 1.30. Butchers also do eggs.

Only thing we really need supermarket for is quorn and tinned stuff, although we also have a fultons foods on the same road and take advantage of their cheap offers

There is also a hardware store that's been a godsend when we need rock salt brooms and mousetraps!
I've found if you keep your eyes open and have a wander on your local high street of a morning it actually takes less time and petrol, shorter queues and the staff are always more pleased to see you.
Prices are really competitive.
I would say invest in a shopping trolley then all the hassle is taken out of shopping locally, much easier than humping bags in and out of car, only one to unload, and get in a routine, like doing most of it on a Saturday morning and topping up when you need, if you have long hours it wont feel like you spend your life dashing in and out of shops!

sophlowe45

I am thinking of using food co ops, they seem to do fruit, veg and dried food such as rice etc.

http://www.sustainweb.org/foodcoops/finder/

I shop online at Waitrose and instore. Sometimes i will pop into a different supermarket such as Sainsburys local and Tesco Express. Tesco Express stores are everywhere and open until 11pm.

My local shops are also open until 11pm, and there is no packaging wastage. They are also a lot cheaper for fruit and veg than supermarkets.

I don't have a Lidl or Aldi close by, but if i am somewhere and i see a Lidl, i pop in but only get a handful of items as too heavy to carry around for the rest of the day.

sams247

kittycatface wrote: »

Hi I'm lucky in that my local high street is just a 5 min walk, and has a couple of good shops one that's like poundland but independent where i get all my toiletries and cleaning products, the other that's a greengrocers. They sell upmarket organic stuff for those who can afford but also have a lot of seasonal veg offers. They do local milk for 20p cheaper than T's semi skim and 6 local free range eggs for 1.30. Butchers also do eggs.

Only thing we really need supermarket for is quorn and tinned stuff, although we also have a fultons foods on the same road and take advantage of their cheap offers

Ooh Quorn, I hadnt thought about that. Must research. You are right, it is nice to get to actually talk to local retailers, and get to know small traders. I think we're lucky if we have these things within close range.

Today I am making a start, even though its not payday yet. I am popping out in my lunch hour to visit the weekly market, I have my bags at the ready and plan to get my fruit and possibly veg there instead of from Wait**se. I'll ask about organic but doubt if they do that, but I will also ask where the veg comes from, if its local.

I have found a food co op that runs in and around Reading, so on Friday I am hoping to visit them and see what they sell. The website suggests household goods as well as fruit, bread, veg, etc so all looks hopeful

And at the weekend (snow permitting) I am going to go to Beaconsfield Farmers Market. Its not the closest to me but its fairly close to my sibling, so a good excuse to pop in for (a free) lunch!

So by the end of this week we should be knee deep in veg!

tdf010604

I would love to join in this challenge, I know immediately that with a little effort from me all of my groceries and household goods could be purchased locally, with the exception of......yoghurts?
As we get through around 4-6 a day they would be quite important to my growing lads!
Would an Aldi visit just for yoghurts be cheating?