Food Costs - OLIO is just brilliant

Raincoat

shykins said:

Glad others are finding it useful,  I really like that volunteering for Olio is helping with food waste as well as helping people 

Some of  my collectors are reluctant to ask for more than a couple of things but I tell them) I  ensure it’s shared fairly and will offer more than one if I have it .   We usually have a fair amount of bread but today I offered everything from Tortilla wraps to Spinach and grapes as well as some frozen lollies lol

Just to say a big thank you for volunteering  I was a FWH for a short while and its quite a fair bit of work (plus I agree, we ended up with so many unrequested white demi-baguettes and pastries each week).

Rosa_Damascena

Wednesday2000 said:

I joined Olio a few days ago after reading this and looked on the non-food section and there was a free TV with a stand on there locally to me. It had to picked up before 9pm that night but we don't drive. Somebody snagged it pretty quickly.

You tempted me to look...there is a slice of old school cake going begging near the Sealife Centre this evening. The estate its on makes me think there may be an added ingredient or two 

shykins

thankyou raincoat and yes it is a big commitment but i feel worth it.    where i live anything we have left over we take to a farm or animal rescue so nothing is wasted 

Rosa I saw that lol.   i live the other side of the river but it shows me that area too!    if you look at the right time there is LOTS available over there and they also offer from Macro 

Rosa_Damascena

shykins said:

thankyou raincoat and yes it is a big commitment but i feel worth it.    where i live anything we have left over we take to a farm or animal rescue so nothing is wasted 

Rosa I saw that lol.   i live the other side of the river but it shows me that area too!    if you look at the right time there is LOTS available over there and they also offer from Macro 

That's not in my immediate vicinity, but I can broaden the search radius detour past the Rayleigh branch on my way from work. Your location on the other side of the river suggests to me that its the Lakeside branch though, which is well out of my way.

Cake by the ocean is within walking distance though

shykins

no I am other side of River ie the Dengie but because the radius doesnt taken into account the river it insists Southend is only 6 miles from me lol

there is macro Rayleigh and also lots of people list from various Southend Tescos and even Iceland wickford .    the tesco are mainly evening collections so probably list around 9pm tho Makro is an afternoon collection

OrkneyStar

I found Olio of little use (items I didn't really need or want, plus a drive away) but if it works for you then great. We have food pantry places which give out food which is almost at it's date - there are three on the Orkney mainland now. TBH I went a couple of times at the start but whenever I walk past in the evening I see (the same) people queued up, and figure that if they are prepared to queue before it opens then they need it more than I do (it's not a large space inside so not sure how much would be left anyway). I often wonder why shops have so much waste to start with - maybe we need to get used to less options being there to start with, instead of always expecting so much choice and things then not being purchased at all!

YoungBlueEyes

This is gonna sound a bit perverse but that's what I liked about Lidl when it opened in our town about a decade ago. There was so little choice. Like they'd scoured the market and this is the best bread loaf so it's what we'll stock. I don't need a selection of companies offering the same thing. I just want a good bread loaf/some nice biscuits/soup/cereal/bacon/whatever. Too much choice fries my wee brain. 

I guess now we're seeing the other side of all this choice.....

tooldle

YoungBlueEyes said:

This is gonna sound a bit perverse but that's what I liked about Lidl when it opened in our town about a decade ago. There was so little choice. Like they'd scoured the market and this is the best bread loaf so it's what we'll stock. I don't need a selection of companies offering the same thing. I just want a good bread loaf/some nice biscuits/soup/cereal/bacon/whatever. Too much choice fries my wee brain. 

I guess now we're seeing the other side of all this choice.....

I agree. I avoid the large supermarkets for the amount of choice. I'm not overwhelmed with it, more not wanting to stand there for 5 mins whilst i scan the 40 different tins of sardines and decide which i want. In Lidl things are simpler. One or sometimes two products to choose between.
After a long day of work decisions, I want my shopping to be simple. 

pumpkin89

It's interesting how different people's views are on the optimal amount of choice!  I used to live easy walking distance from one of the largest Tesco stores in the country, and have really missed it since only having access to standard-sized supermarkets.

For whatever reason, my tastes seem to be different from the majority - my favourite flavour is nearly always the one that's only stocked in a few places    On the plus side, it does encourage more home cooking as I can't get what I want ready made.

YoungBlueEyes

Sod's Law that, pumpkin!

When I was working long shifts or finishing late in the evening, I didn't want to be working out details of a product. Which brand baked beans will I buy? Heinz is on offer.... oh they've shrunk the tin slightly. Branston then, gawd look at all the sugar in it! OK tesco own brand, but that tin's even smaller.... Cheapo brand then, slightly bigger and a lot cheaper.... but aren't they mostly juice.....?

It's 8.30 at night! I've been at work since 6am! I just want cheesy beans on toast goddammit!!