Supermarket Secrets revealed?

gritts

It would have been unlikely the moth would have survived the washing process because the leaves are washed in chlorine at levels '20 times higher than in the average swimming pool' - source 'Not on the Label - what really goes into the food on your plate' by Felicity Lawrence.

Also 'Shopped - the shocking power of British Supermarkets' by Joanna Blythman.

2 books that will probably be name checked in this programme.

competitionscafe

jw1096 wrote:

If I was a millionaire, I would start up a not for profit supermarket and source good UK suppliers that got paid fairly for good quality that was not intensively reared or grown, that the public could buy for just a little more than cost price to pay for staff and stuff, and there would be no excess packaging or fancy lights and displays, more ye olde farm shoppe than sainsburys. All produce would be as local as possible to minimise transport and delays, and would obviously in season.

Sounds fantastic - hope you win the lottery so it can happen. Actually maybe somebody from the Times was reading your post (or your mind?) See article in todays issue:

'The future belongs to a big and caring supermarket' :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-156-1709406-156,00.html

competitionscafe

calleyw wrote:

No but if you work all week 9-5 how do you get to butchers. That means racing around town on a saturday.

Yes, that's one area where local shops cannot compete, although my local butcher stays open until 6pm and some of my local shops (greengrocers, etc) stay open until 6:30 /7pm - so most people can pop in on the way home from work. No chance with the fishmonger though, they close at about 4:30. This is in a big city (Edinburgh) so we are lucky, I am sure other areas and smaller towns will have less options.

The only other option might be an online butcher? (and get the parcel delivered to work if they have a fridge, although they pack stuff in ice packs so should be okay without)

eg:

AG Millers [free delivery on orders over £75]
http://www.agmillers.co.uk/press/compare.htm

Organic Farmers Market [free delivery on orders over £30]
http://www.theorganicfarmersmarket.co.uk

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Debt_Free_Chick

And here's organic meat delivered directly from the farm. Butchered, vacuum packed and ready to go in the freezer. I use these guys as well as my butcher and they're fab

www.wellhungmeat.com

N9eav

Loadsabob wrote:

Which supermarkets does he supply? I always buy Cornish when they have it in our Tesco (which is rare, so I more often have to buy at the local shops), but I know very often they take it half way around the country to be washed and packed before bringing it back to the county...not so good for food miles. Still, I'd love to think I was buying something that supports someone who's related to one of us!



It's good that they take the whole crop, but I dread to think of the waste
when they chuck out the imperfect veg. :mad:

I'm a big grouch with supermarkets.

Lately he has supplied Tesco with New potatoes. You are all probably right. They are a variety unique to tesco. They are grown with fairly strict times scales and size. Some fertilizer will be used and a spray to control blight which will kill off an entire crop if not done. But they are Cornish and will usually have Cornish wrappings in the display boxes.
These potatoes are for TESCO only and won't be sold anywhere else. ( except I have the odd sack free)

Earlier this year he would have grown 700 tons of new potatoes for the wholesale market. These would appear in greengrocers and markets all over the country. Grown by a Cornishman and packed by a Lituanian. ( No locals one want to work on farms anymore)

Trow

We have little option but to use the supermarket.

I am pretty much veggie, so a butchers isn't an issue - although we do have good local (well - 18 miles away, same as the supermarket) butcher. There are no local greengrocers, and the local shops that supply fruit and veg generally have fairly poor quality - unless they are stocking the local produce which only appears in September (potatos) and June and August (strawberries). That it pretty much it for local 'buyable' produce, I'm afraid.

Loadsabob

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

I only go to the supermarket once every three months - simply to stock up on dry goods (e.g. flour), tinned goods (e.g. tinned toms) and household stuff (cleaning, bin bags etc).

I then buy meat at the local butcher, which is open at 7.30 am on Saturday and veg at the farm shop, which is open from 8.00 am. I'm done by 9.00 am and the whole weekend is my own. I also don't have to "pop to the supermarket" during the week.

We can all justify shopping in the supermarket - I did it for years before I "woke up" to what I really wanted

Sounds as though you have a good system working for you. I'm veggie, so I don't use the butcher, and our greengrocer opens at 9, along with the healthfood shop, where I also buy tinned goods, cleaning things, eggs, some veg, flour, etc etc...

At the moment I shop weekly because I don't have a car, and lugging bags and bags of the stuff up the hill really kills me ebven when it's just for one week! However, I think there would be some wisdom in getting a taxi, and doing it every 2-3 weeks, perhaps. One Saturday out of three I could feel I wasn't wasting it by food shopping.

I agree that there are ways around supermarkets, but it remains very difficult when the shops you want to use are only open during your working hours. The main problem here is with public transport being so bad. Not having a car, if we want to go somewhere for the day, we have to leave very early in order to have enough time there before the last bus / train back. So shopping from 9am on a Saturday really cancels out going anywhere further afield on that particular day. It's an either/or situation, and I wish I worked in town again...

It still surprises me that small retailers don't change their hours slightly, opening for a few hours later one evening a week, or a bit later each day. I know the fruit and veg shop would probably do good trade in people on their way home from work.

Badgergal

Just finished Not On The Label and I really wanted an organic box but what can you do when you work all day and live in a block of flats where there's nowhere to leave a box when you're out (neighbours not an option)? As most of them deliver when you are out at work.

I looked into several box companies that cover London but seems it isn't possible for me It seems rather ridiculous considering that this is a city full of people who work long hours and can't always be at home waiting for their box...I know certain areas are delivered on Saturdays but what if you're not one of them? Don't suppose anyone can suggest how else I might get my paws on an organic box?!

squeaky

Do any of them have an option where you could go and collect your box?

Loadsabob

Badgergal wrote:

I looked into several box companies that cover London but seems it isn't possible for me It seems rather ridiculous considering that this is a city full of people who work long hours and can't always be at home waiting for their box...I know certain areas are delivered on Saturdays but what if you're not one of them? Don't suppose anyone can suggest how else I might get my paws on an organic box?!

Would you be able to take delivery at work? I know this can't be done by everyone, employers vary! But I used to have miune delivered to the office, simply because there was no option, I wasn't at home during the day, and they had to collect payment from me on delivery.