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.

Oh right. I naively thought that these costs would just be dealt with by corporate money. Sort of in a central pot type thing.

That depends on the brand, I'd imagine. If managers have control of pricing to an extent, and they're able to meet their targets, then I could see why prices may be cheaper.

Maybe ask Lidl, as it's quite interesting.

Nope, supermarkets are one of the best inventions of the modern age. I also am skeptical of an awful lot of “local” butchers and the like that set themselves up as your friendly local supplier of meat that was farmed down the road, when in reality they are selling at best the same meat as supermarkets or at worst whatever is coming from Eastern Europe. UK supermarkets have extensive chains of custody and the supplier chains are well established. I also think that UK supermarkets are strong businesses and frankly they deserve my support by providing things I want at a time and a place that works for me.

I do pay extra for a milkman for convenience- we never run out of milk so I don’t have to pop to the shops.

I used to live in a small village that had a butcher, bakery and veg shop, and I always tried to shop in there where possible. It got to the point where the prices were so much higher than the supermarket that I just couldn't do it. I've now moved into a town where there's not the option of doing this anyway.

I've always said if my financial situation changed, I'd want to move back to the village and shop locally. It was great as you got to know people, could get exactly what you need. But sadly circumstances changed for me.

I agree that venison is cheaper than beef and can get that locally but all the rest of the farm shop stuff is just too expensive,much as I would love to buy it.

That’s why if you can you need to go to the actual farm shop.

I can watch mine breed his cows, feed them up, name them and then we eat them.

Evidence shows honey (local or otherwise) does not help hayfever unfortunately.

Well it maybe it’s a placebo effect but it seems to work in our house for those who normally
suffer terribly but it has to be properly local.

deaf yes, I trust the sainsburys and waitrose supply chain far more than the local butcher who doesn't even sell organic meat or eggs.

We buy our meat from either our local butcher or directly from our nearest farm, the quality of the meat is fantastic. It’s probably more expensive than supermarket meat but happy to pay for quality.
veg, fruit and the rest comes predominantly from the ocado shop.
I did get an odd box for a while but then realised some of the stuff was still being flown halfway across the world and stopped getting it so don’t bother with that now. Might look into Riverford again.

Most English and Irish beef sold in UK supermarkets will come from farms like this.

Nope, as a single person I can’t afford to buy locally I have to buy whatever is the cheapest otherwise I don’t have enough money to pay the bills.

Yes I buy most food from a shop that sources all the food directly from producers nearly all of it only produced in the country I live in (continental Europe). The prices are comparable to supermarkets on many goods as they go direct and what they lose on volume they gain on going directly.

I have read about how supermarkets contribute to quite a lot of issues by using their leverage in volume to force producers to reduce pricing, which creates issues of ghettoes of underpaid migrant workers and other issues.

Please show a source. Thanks

Living in a village I try use the village shops as much as possible. I use the butchers (where all meat is locally sourced) and the greengrocers. Our nearest supermarket is 4 miles away so I use Ocado for everything else.

We get a weekly fruit and veg box which has basically trained us to plan our meals around vegetables rather than meet. We are lucky to have a good high street near us with a bring your own bag shop so get all dry goods, nuts, cleaning products from there. As others have said the cost of supermarket goods has risen such that locally-sourced doesn’t feel so expensive. Fish and meat is expensive but we don’t eat much of it and it feels better for my health to eat like that. We eat a lot of beans and lentils now and use a pressure cooker. It’s not for everyone as requires cooking from scratch.

Fears supermarkets could introduce ‘dynamic pricing’ in high demand | The Independent https://share.google/BLqsUar6NWJXiKHGW

Bank of England has warned about it.

Ok thanks, that’s a lot of “could’s” and “may’s” rather than concrete proof of a supermarket currently using this dynamic pricing scheme. If it becomes a thing, I suspect there will be pushback and the current top four will have a huge change in their consumer and supplier behaviour.

Given the only food shop closer than 2 supermarkets usually bakery, what would my environmental footprint be if i drive in 3 different directions to get to 4 shops (butcher, bakery, green grocery, fishmonger), rather than 3 miles to the supermarket - which id have to go to anyway to get petrol and cleaning stuff (plus other essentials like wine!). Frankly, I can think of better uses to my Saturday morning.

I sometimes forget that other people drive to shops!

I live in a city where driving is screamingly frustrating - so don’t own a car. Week to week I walk to the bakery and to the coffee roasters (fortuitously each has two nearby venues, one about 15 minutes walk away, the other in the city centre which is either 25 minutes’ walk or ten minutes on the bus.) Everything else is ordered online and delivered to me.

My sibling, in another city, used to insist that she needed to see and feel produce (packaged grapes and loo roll?🫤) before buying - but come Covid she happily joined the Ocado throng. Now she makes avid use of the Farms to Feed Us database I linked above, and can talk for hours on the relative merits of various online butchers and local bakeries.

That is not what the news said. The news was covering a Bank of England report which stated that digital shelf edge labels make changing price as shelf edge more dynamic and at less
cost to the retailer raising the possibility of dynamic pricing. At no point did they say any retailer was doing this.

There was then a statement from the British Retail Consortium-Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC, said: “Supermarkets do not use, and have no plan to use, dynamic or surge pricing in their stores.

🙄

I find being unable to comprehend that others live differently a deeply parochial attitude.

I mean, I cycle everywhere but I recognise that my life is set up to allow me to cycle as much as possible. Part of that is choice, part of it is necessity, and I'm fully aware that others will make different choices or have them imposed on them by circumstance over which they have limited control. And the majority of people do not have or want to spend 30mins walking to coffee roasters or bespoke bakeries. Supermarkets (and increasingly online providers) exist for a very, very good reason.

What on earth makes you think I’m unable to comprehend others’ lives? I’ve lived many lives over the past six decades. 😂 Some of them involving car ownership and commuting and the Big Supermarket Shop; some involving endlessly circling the Tube, or cycling to Tesco. Really not sure where you saw any negative judgement in my posts - or quite where you’ve read about ‘bespoke’ bakeries - as I haven’t mentioned such a thing.

How on earth would you know whether I pick up bread on my way to work or volunteering or some other legitimate occupation? Or amble through a university meadow to a coffee roasters to ensure I get enough sunlight and exercise in the middle of a difficult year?

You’re far too quick to show completely illogical resentment towards an internet stranger who is not the least interested in making you feel bad, @DeafLeppard. There’s no need for it.

I didn't see the follow up statement. I only follow the news first thing on a morning.

Loyalty cards do not disadvantage those paying with cash unless it’s tied to a credit card. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl etc the card is separate to how you pay.
I shop from Tesco mainly online. I love the discounts and loyalty points - couldn’t care less how the info is used, and enjoy the air miles I automatically have the points traded for. If you use a credit card your purchases can be tracked that way too.
My son buys local though has recently given up on his veg shop as he finds the food goes off within a day. He’s very loyal to his butchers! I just do not have the will to traipse around to individual suppliers - his are all on the same high street but I live in London and it would takes hours to go from one to the other, and the farmers markets are more expensive by far.
By the way there is no variable pricing currently but the technology is being developed to do so in future (though discounting items close to expiry may be considered variable pricing).