Prepping for Brexit thread

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
As much as I’d love to buy locally our local fruit and veg shop costs twice the supermarket prices and I just can’t afford that. I try to shop locally as much as possible to keep the town alive but quite frankly the shops are slowly becoming shops to experience, charity shops, gift shops and cafes rather than shops that you need to live. Perhaps this is the new way, towns as entertainment, to browse, eat and enjoy and online and supermarkets for everything else.

-taff

Each to his own really isn't it? Some people shop in SMs, some at markets, some at independents. There's room for everyone selling otherwise they wouldn't be selling would they? So no need really to rubbish anyone's methods or madness. I will pay out something radical for something I think sounds worthy of trying even though I can cook and make my own bead and jam. Of course, once I have, I can reverse engineer the ingredients if I like it enough. That's what I did with a couple of M&S things I really like. I go online, I find their ingredients, i make my own. The bonus is that it tastes nicer and I have satisfied my craving for whatever it was. I will shop anywhere I like the look of something, and if it's quality produce, I will happily pay more. I will also shop the YS stickers at any SM.

annieb64

Our town is the same, cuddlymarm.We still have a couple of good butchers but the nice bakers has gone so now we have a choice of sourdough from the wholefood  shop-which is very nice but expensive-or supermarket type bread .
Even this year we seem to have had several gift shops open plus a couple of new takeaways. The town is rapidly filling up with takeaways, cafes, nail bars and vape shops.

3secondmemory

-taff said:

Each to his own really isn't it? Some people shop in SMs, some at markets, some at independents. There's room for everyone selling otherwise they wouldn't be selling would they? So no need really to rubbish anyone's methods or madness. I will pay out something radical for something I think sounds worthy of trying even though I can cook and make my own bead and jam. Of course, once I have, I can reverse engineer the ingredients if I like it enough. That's what I did with a couple of M&S things I really like. I go online, I find their ingredients, i make my own. The bonus is that it tastes nicer and I have satisfied my craving for whatever it was. I will shop anywhere I like the look of something, and if it's quality produce, I will happily pay more. I will also shop the YS stickers at any SM.

The first time I walked into a greengrocers after months of lock in was amazing. I’ve spoken about quality of life before but I also believe in quality of food. Internet shopping and frozen males killed my appetite. I’ve learnt that I can’t force food into my stomach for the sake of eating. Seeing and smelling all the fresh produce woke my appetite temporarily. 

For the sake of our immune systems we should be concentrating on optimal nutrition and a stress free life style. If eating better means cutting corners then so be it.  

I love stealing meal ideas from M&S too 😃

maryb

Frozen males would kill anyone's appetite

Gotta love serendipitous predictive text!

greenbee

3secondmemory said:

-taff said:

Each to his own really isn't it? Some people shop in SMs, some at markets, some at independents. There's room for everyone selling otherwise they wouldn't be selling would they? So no need really to rubbish anyone's methods or madness. I will pay out something radical for something I think sounds worthy of trying even though I can cook and make my own bead and jam. Of course, once I have, I can reverse engineer the ingredients if I like it enough. That's what I did with a couple of M&S things I really like. I go online, I find their ingredients, i make my own. The bonus is that it tastes nicer and I have satisfied my craving for whatever it was. I will shop anywhere I like the look of something, and if it's quality produce, I will happily pay more. I will also shop the YS stickers at any SM.

The first time I walked into a greengrocers after months of lock in was amazing. I’ve spoken about quality of life before but I also believe in quality of food. Internet shopping and frozen males killed my appetite. I’ve learnt that I can’t force food into my stomach for the sake of eating. Seeing and smelling all the fresh produce woke my appetite temporarily. 

For the sake of our immune systems we should be concentrating on optimal nutrition and a stress free life style. If eating better means cutting corners then so be it.  

I love stealing meal ideas from M&S too 😃

I'm feeling too lazy to look it up, but I think in general people in the UK spend a much lower proportion of their income on food than most Europeans. We see it as somewhere to cut back rather than a source of both health and pleasure. Ironically online shopping is what has stopped me having frozen/ready meals as they were always impulse buys. Herbs from the garden (or from the windowsill in winter) are used liberally. And I can get veg that is generally better than the supermarket via the milkman or veg box scheme. Sadly, like @cuddlymarm the local towns and villages seems to be full of coffee shops, clothes shops and 'lifestyle' stores. The 'farm shop' is now 90% cafe and upmarket ready meals, and the greengrocer seems to have an awful lot of half-dead stuff in it. Luckily there are still 'real shops' in the other direction - or at least, there were last time I went there - in February, before my last work trip.

I have chard and fennel in the garden. There's some kohl rabi too, but I think I'm only going to get leaves from it, not roots as they don't seem to have bothered to fatten up. 

RAS

We've got a surprising selection of local shops; butchers  bakers, veg, cheese and fish. And three supermarkets within walking distance. The SMs want to sell me pre-packed products by the kilo, washed and ready to rot unless I get them out of their plastic, when they desiccate. Ditto packs of 6 chicken thighs. I want one or two, a couple of carrots and a small head of broccoli to mix with the allotment produce, so even if the price per kilo is more, it often costs fewer pennies and I waste less if I buy at the local specialists.

In practice, the price per kilo for the veg shop (or offer per £1) is often barely more than the price in the budget SM and things like cauliflower are so much bigger and fresher that they easily provide meals for a week or more without smelling sulphurous, for an extra 10-15p (and they come with leaves). I can also pick tomatoes with a range of ripeness so they keep longer, for the same price or 5p more than the SM pack. It's the soft fruit that's expensive, but I grow that. 


Not that it stops me going YS in the SM or raiding their special offers it's stuff I want to eat or buying basics there. And mixing some pre-packed SM options with a smaller amount of specialist stuff makes life more interesting.  I'm lucky enough to be able to afford those choices now, It hasn't always been the situation.

MingVase

I'm paying £2 for half a doz farm eggs - but they are big and very tasty. Awful price though.

maryb

Hoads Farm Free range £3.30 a dozen large on the market stall in suburban London

3secondmemory

maryb said:

Frozen males would kill anyone's appetite

Gotta love serendipitous predictive text!

😂😂😂 I can’t get the balance right with audio dictate and I think I’m becoming quite lazy in my speech but that was quite funny