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.

Yeah, I understand. We're only managing it because we can't eat processed food and don't have children. We don't buy a wide variety of foods either due to health issues. Most people would class our diet as very repetitive and boring and it wouldn't work for them. We don't buy alcohol or treats either apart from ground coffee.

Everything else comes from the usual supermarket though - no way we could afford to buy everything from smaller suppliers

We are buying more meat from our local farm and milkshakes from them.

Even get fresh shot rabbit, squirrel and venison.

All their cows, chickens and goats are butchered on site and they sell the other local farmers sheep for him as well as vegetables from other local farmers.

If you get really lucky you can even go bottle feed the babies that require it.

Yes, we're saving money by not regularly buying meat. We did a small game order before Christmas and there's still some left. Dh eats tinned fish. Stuff like processed foods are going up and up in price. I don't think there's as much of a price gap between healthy and processed now. I'm glad the fruit 'n' veg are helping your cholesterol levels.

We grow a lot of our own seasonal fruits and veggies and trade with our neighbours for their eggs.

Fair enough. I know the running around will add to the cost somewhat as well.

Abel & Cole don't deliver to my area unfortunately.

That's great, I love that. We end up with tons of apples. I can't even give them away 🤦🏼‍♀️ we don't have enough room to freeze them.

i don’t have the time or desire to go to multiple shops to do my grocery shopping as it would take hours, even though i live in a City.

i do try and buy some items locally when i can. i live in a multi cultural area with lots of independent world foods supermarkets and i buy my herbs and spices plus foods i cannot get from the main supermarkets. Some item are much better value than the supermarkets.

Do you have olio in your area? It’s a free app for sharing waste food among other things.

It’s where our extra rhubarb goes.

I'll take a look. I've not heard of that before.

Problem is those supermarkets and some market stall holders are just buying from the cash and carry still sadly.

We see our local cultural supermarket owner in our big named cash and carry buying all their herbs and spices and fresh produce when we pop in to get bits for work.

Definitely do.

They have what’s called food waste heroes as well who go to the local supermarkets each day and collect that days best before and use by items to save them from landfill and give them away again for free.

I don’t think I know anyone who buys bread, wraps or batons anymore as there is always tons of it on there.

The cost of shoplifting must be added to the price of goods because it isn’t affecting the supermarkets’ share prices -unless it is saved by having fewer staff which possibly leads to more shoplifting -but we mugs pay one way or the other.
i need to buy from other than supermarkets.

It's funny you say this because we have a fake farm shop near us. We visited once and it was full of ordinary commercial food (nothing like locally produced yoghurt, cheese, bakery etc.) We even spotted some cake that's sold in the B&M store for dead cheap and it was being passed off as posh. The 'farm' has no animals or crops nearby and looks suspiciously clean and non used. We strongly suspect their meat comes from the meat cash 'n' carry a few miles away.

Can I ask why you think palm oil affects your pancreas -I have a regular left side pain but doc can’t explain

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.

Where did you learn that?

If I want cheap stuff I go when the yellow stickers are available.

I feel nauseous after it and if I keep eating it the right sided pain (gallbladder area) comes on then, if I'm unlucky, I'll get a pancreatitis attack. I ate four Lindt balls over Easter, ended up with pain then up most of the night taking meds and stuff to fend off a pancreatitis attack. I can't even eat commercial bread. I had two brioche buns once and ended up in agony.

Pancreatitis pain is usually central and you feel as though someone is driving a hot poker into you. It's agonising. You can get a lower level of constant pain though. It's like a horrible gnawing pain and difficult to tell apart from stomach (as in the organ) pain. Pancreatitis pain goes right through to the back though. Similar to gallbladder pain, which is right sided, but they share the same plumbing so often have problems at the same time. You can get pain in your right shoulder area too.

The tail of the pancreas is towards the left side and I think you can get pain there if something is wrong with the tail. Keep a food diary if you think your diet is causing problems though. The upf now is awful and really harmful.

I’d like to, but honestly it’s so much more expensive than even the increasing supermarket prices that I don’t.

I buy honey from a local beekeeper because supermarket honey doesn’t taste anywhere near as nice. But it’s very very expensive in comparison to the supermarket! I couldn’t do all my food that way.

I think it was being discussed on Times Radio if I remember correctly.

Top tip as well for those suffering hayfever is to buy local honey.

Also if you willing cook or make tea with young nettles. My children enjoy mac and cheese with nettles.

I do try and support local shops where I can. I much prefer the spuds from the farmshop and buy some meat from the local butcher but its so much more expensive. I recently went to my local bakery and bought 2 pasties and two cream cakes which were about double the price of the high street bakery. I was flabbergasted and wouldn't say it was that much better quality.

People don't realise that much of what is stocked in a farmshop doesn't come from the farm itself. I used to work in one for years and most of it was bought from the wholesale market. There were some local farmers who'd supply the farmshop with seasonal produce but none of it was homegrown. It was a proper farm but he mainly grew wheat and rented the other fields out to other farmers.

That could still be down to overheads, as the poorer area may not charge anywhere near as much rent.

I genuinely do try, but shopping at some local businesses can be very frustrating, inconvenient, time-consuming & expensive.

Butchers, in particular, do everything they possibly can to exclude customers who work FT. Their mindset seems to be trapped in the last century when ‘the housewife’ would potter round the shops on weekday mornings. They close early on weekdays and, if you’re lucky, open for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning when you have got loads of life things to do. If you actually manage to get there 15 mins before the advertised closing time, everything has already been put away, the shop cleaned down and they are mopping the floor.

No. I live in Craptown and they stopped our farmers market almost twenty years ago. I still miss the watercress scones and goats cheese in oregano oil. Our current market sells battery eggs for tuppence, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

I have all the supermarkets in walking distance. It would be daft to get my car and drive out of town to a farm shop.