Anyone trying to rely less on supermarkets and buy locally?

[smallglassbottle]

Does anyone try to source local food, buy online etc. as opposed to shopping at supermarkets? I've learned this week that the supermarkets are going down the variable pricing route with price increases during popular times and for popular items. I think Waitrose are the first place to start this. Supermarkets already have two tier pricing with loyalty card holders paying RRP and non card holders paying an inflated price. I choose not to have any loyalty cards because I don't want my details shared with third parties which earns money for the supermarket and it also disadvantages people who pay in cash. Details can also be hacked, like with the coop and M&S last year I think it was. I find supermarket food is poor quality now and I can't eat processed food anyway due to illness, so I'm mostly on fruit, vegetables, nuts, lentils and dairy.

We get a veggie box online, which also includes eggs, cheese and yoghurts. I'd like to support local farmers and eat seasonally. There's a dairy near me which sells milk and you provide your own bottle. With the prices in the supermarkets going up so much, these options aren't that much different in terms of price. Some of the farm shops are too expensive, but we have a monthly farmers market which we plan on going to. We also order game meat online. Venison is cheaper than beef now and there's no factory farming/slaughter processes involved.

I've ordered kitchen roll and toilet rolls, tea, toothpaste, shampoo bar, pet food and litter, nuts/seeds, lentils, spreads, washing up liquid etc. online. I don't have children at home, so meal planning is easier. Dh makes bread and fruit bread in the bread maker. I can't eat commercial bakery products due to them containing palm oil which sets my pancreas off. I plan on buying as much as possible locally or online from small retailers. It's not working out much more expensive, but some things are more expensive so we don't buy those.

I fully understand that many people are really busy with working and kids and what not and supermarkets are convenient. I was just wondering if anyone else is trying to move away from them and source alternatives.

There just isn't the option where I live. I used to get some fruit and veg from a greengrocer but that closed down a couple of years ago. I won't buy it from a market since seeing a stall holder smoking right next to the produce.
I buy toilet and kitchen roll and tissues from an ethical company in bulk and eat at local independent restaurants but that's where my options start and end.

I wish I could but the village butcher, bakery and greengrocer prices are eyewatering and I cant afford to feed my family if I dont buy the cheap things from the supermarkets.

I only buy from the farm 2 miles down the road. My freezer is full of top quality meat. Anything else I get from Amazon on subscribe and save

As for your venison statement. If you eat meat it involves the horror of slaughter. There's no way you can ethically kill a sentient being unless you are talking about euthanasia. Eat meat. Don't eat meat but there's no kind way to be held down and have your throat cut.

I've learned this week that the supermarkets are going down the variable pricing route with price increases during popular times and for popular items. I think Waitrose are the first place to start this.

they’re not.

Hmm … Does Ocado count as a supermarket? From around 2010 until lockdown they were my primary grocery source.

During lockdown I started relying more on Riverford for fresh food.

Now and for the last few years … Bread, cheese from a brilliant local bakery. Coffee beans from a local roastery. Wholefoods (dried beans, peas, lentils, flours, seeds) from Hodmedods. Fruit, vegetables, muesli from Riverford. Wine from various online merchants. Tinned fish from The Tinned Fish Market. Anything else from Ocado. No meat.

I’m not keen on loyalty cards either! It’s not something I spend much time thinking about, I’d just rather not. Certainly can’t say I completely avoid UPFs, but I am naturally inclined towards ‘clean’ eating, and cook from scratch at home. Takeaways are very rare.

None of this makes me feel superior - I’ve just learned through experience how best to eat for my own health.

It's been on the news that they are going to do this though.

Waitrose have said they’re not in the news, every major grocery trade magazine has agreed that’s clearly not what’s happening, the sun and various other tabloids have spun a hysterical narrative that is not based on anything apart from omg theyre installing digital labels.
Waitrose (and other retailers) have confirmed they’re not doing this. They’re not the first to start dynamic pricing, no supermarket is doing that.

Yeah, I understand, I just considered that being caught off guard and shot is preferable to waiting in line with your comrades waiting to be killed by someone who doesn't stun you prior to slaughter. I know there's not much difference, it's just a bit closer to how humans have always hunted prey.

We're using Riverford too. If you have any particular recommendations let me know. I'm trying to find affordable nuts 'n' seeds as the Lidl ones are particularly good, so I'm up against it by trying to substitute these.

So you don't believe dynamic pricing will ever be introduced? I'm not particularly confident. Will just have to wait and see I guess.

it’s not being introduced now or in the immediate future as per your op. Who knows what life will be like ten, twenty years down the line, but shopping independently or online (even more so online) wouldn’t stop that either if it became common place. As independent shops could do it and prices online are easy to adjust.

Are you familiar with the Farms to Feed Us database? It’s actually life changing. (Link below, ignore donations request and go straight to database. View in landscape on something larger than your phone screen.

https://farmstofeedus.org/

I've just found out that Lidl have variable pricing depending upon location. Lidl is where we usually shop.

What do you mean when you say loyalty cards disadvantage those who pay in cash? I don't see how.

I prefer the convenience of doing an online shop and getting it delivered every week. We have greengrocers and butchers near us but it would take up a morning to go around different shops to buy things, and I'd have to wait in line then carry everything home myself (no car, so realistically it would have to be spread across several trips). The overall cost would probably be more as there would be fewer promotions and I wouldn't be able to keep track of them as easily.

That's not the same as demand-based pricing. That's based on location overheads, and isn't really that surprising, when you think about it.

We've just started to get our milk delivered by a local dairy. It's dearer, but I don't mind paying given the lack of food miles. We also buy semi-regularly from Abel & Cole, and also our local saltmarsh beef farmer whose cows graze on our local coast. We can't afford to go fully local / organic, but we're trying to do as much as we can.

Sorry, I meant to say it disadvantages those who don't have one.

Honestly no. Like a huge proportion of people in this country the cost of living crisis is making it already difficult to stretch money to pay for everything without adding a premium onto the weekly food shop by buying from local farms, dairies and veg boxes from online companies such as Riverford.

It's within the same geographical area though.

So you have some Lidl branches a few miles apart charging different prices?

Yes. The one in the poorer area near us has some cheaper prices. Dh noticed it last time we went there. The newer one in the better area is different. Local store managers have discretion regarding prices as well.

Lidl website doesn't have its prices online next to each product either. Dh googled and it's due to store variability.

That's not what happens to deer. They get shot.

We have just discovered I have very high cholesterol and a temporary 3 months low saturated fat diet with largely vegetables and v little meat did help a little.

Cutting out meat means we are saving a load of money and we’ve decided to buy vegetables produced by British farmers - Abel and Cole have a vegetable box that is purely from British farmers and then we supplement that with tinned beans etc.

Doing this we still spend a lot less than we did when we were buying meat and every now and then we buy some meat (and still spend a load less).