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.

Nope. Where I live at least the price of anything from the farmer’s market or an independent shop is staggeringly high compared to even the posh supermarkets. I bought a normal sized head of broccoli once at the farmer’s market, it would cost about 75p at M&S. It came to over £4 and tasted like any other broccoli.

When DS home from uni we are a 3 person household. Generally, I rarely do an online or large supermarket shop. Walking distances are 8 mins from a Coop, 10 mins from large Sainsbury, 20 from Asda, Lidl , M and S and 30 from Aldi, Tesco and city centre market stalls, butcher, fishmonger.

It's always worked to shop on way home from office once a week and do a bit of this and that shopping at the weekend.

It could be the nettles helping with the hayfever

Would you be happy if your data was breached in a hacking attack though? This has recently happened with the Coop and M&S. Do you really trust them with your personal details?

Unfortunately we are on min wage so cannot afford to go gallivanting all day around aesthetically pleasing rip-off farm shops and deciding which ‘Item That Is The Same As The Cheap Version But Is 5x The Price’ to buy.

Ocado’s prices are eye watering. I only ever go to M&S for their bakery and snacky bits (very rarely though as there isn’t even one near me). Iceland, Heron Foods, Asda etc are where we shop.

Ocado’s prices are eye watering

You do know they price match against Tesco? Every so often Ocado emails me a voucher for 47p or 63p or whatever, because my shopping came to more than the Tesco equivalent.

Being carless I never see a farm shop. And city ‘farmers markets’ always seem to be in the most polluted spot they can possibly find, so not really worth the time.

The food landscape has changed … Thirty or forty years ago my local covered market used to be a cook’s heaven (whether you were omnivore, or vegan or anything in between) full of pigs’ heads and beef carcasses, rabbit and black pudding. Endless fruit and veg stalls Alongside Norwegian jumpers and silver jewellery. Now it’s all terrifyingly expensive cafes and restaurants and take away pasties.

Hmm, a bit. I get a local veg box delivery instead of getting it all from Tesco. But without driving miles to farm shops or butchers and taking out a second mortgage to do the same there aren't really convenient local alternatives.

We moved house last year and are now within a v short walk of a community greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger, coffee roaster, deli etc. it’s great and we buy a lot locally now rather than going to Tesco but my god, the prices! We can afford it, especially now that it’s just the two of us at home but I can see why a lower income household just wouldn’t be able to suck it up. It also makes me realise how farmers/producers are getting rooked by the supermarkets in order to be able to offer the prices they do.

I go to the butcher because it’s good but I live in London so it’s going to be the same cabbage I get from the shop or the supermarket.

New Spitalfields market is down the road which is where everyone from the posh greengrocer to the off license goes so I’m under no illusion that unless you get it from the farmer it’s all part of the same supply chain so you might as well go to Lidl.

This could happen with Riverford Organic too and any online retailer. Any website can get hacked

Absolutely this. People say how much cheaper it is to buy from local shops and it baffles me. Ours are 3 times more expensive than supermarkets and although I’m in not doubt they’d be better quality, I can’t afford to spend £2000 a month on groceries!

I don’t shop at Tesco either because that’s also an expensive shop.

Well you know that's part of the risk when registering and there's no way round it because I need them to deliver to my house, but the supermarkets are forcing those who refuse to sign up, to pay higher prices. Sticks in the craw somewhat.

The woman in pets at home told me I had to sign up otherwise I would have to pay more. I don't go there anymore.

Can't do that locally, town has one awful butchers and no greengrocers, fishmongers etc. There are farm shops around but they are expensive. I just save money by shopping around and taking advantage of offers where I can.

Tesco and Sainsbury's price match loads of products to Aldi prices. Where do you shop?

Nope, our local shops are shit unless you want angel delight or stale biscuits. Or you want to live out of the petrol station.

But I do grow a lot of my own food - pork, eggs, veg (including some winter veg) and we have fruit trees, which may one day make enough fruit to feed us for a week once the dc move away.

We’re lucky to have a weekly farmers market in the nearest town, so we try to get as much fruit & veg there as we can. I also look out for honesty boxes where we can get eggs and, if at all possible, we try to buy meat in farm shops, too.

We’re in Edinburgh quite a lot so have started going to Mellis, a traditional cheesemonger. It’s absolutely great.

We started doing this after becoming concerned about the quality of some supermarket foods, as well as the value for money. And worries about the trade deals we seem so desperate for since Brexit, and what that might bring. I also like to support local farmers and producers. I’d love to see many more people get behind UK farming & food production.

I remember Edinburgh being fantastic for food - majestic old shops and always new places to discover. It was the last place I lived before giving up meat - and some of my happiest ever hours were spent queuing outside the butchers for game in the run up to Christmas.

Stun guns often fail and in any case how is being shot through the head kind? You are deluded. If you are going to eat animals at least admit to yourself your pleasure is worth more to you than their pain. If your dog or cat was shot I don't think you would be pondering on whether it was "kinder" than having their their throat cut before being stunned. Pigs play like dogs. Hens curl up on laps for a nap like cats but some are precious and others you serve with gravy. Eat meat but at least admit you don't give a crap about whether they feel pain or fear.
I'm done with the BS. So 👋

No can do here. No butchers, and the fruit/veg places have cheap but very poor quality produce.
I am happy with what I get in the supermarkets.

Well I'm not giving up the venison, although the wood pigeon was a bit tough.

Same here. I can never forsee a time when I will be able to even consider the likes of Riverford or Abel & Cole either. Supermarkets all the way.

Do you really eat squirrel? 🐿️ I couldn’t. My DF has a friend who goes beating? And get free pheasants and wild rabbits.
I’m horrified by how many birds are shot and discarded.

No, HTH
supermarket is convenient, local shops less so
in terms of opening hours, location and parking.
online not always cheaper and run the risk of it being left on the doorstep and ruined.
also like to check BB4 dates and quality of fresh produce

My DF only eats the breast on wood pigeons.