Breaking the Tesco habit. Day 7...

[BrummieOnTheRun]

Two things kicked off this experiment:

1. A growing discomfort at donating almost our entire household budget (and some) to a retailer I feel more and more dubious about. A documentary on their food quality was the nail in that particular coffin.

2. An urgent need to cut the household budget!

But can I boycott Tescos - one of the cheapest retailers - AND reduce our spending? Hmmm.

Day 1: go to Neville's shop. Asked why veg box hasn't arrived as ordered. Neville tells me he's been burgled by kids and they've cleaned out a lot of stock and the money he had on the premises. Neville's nearly 70. He looks like he's been floored. Wonder what would happen if we all just channelled a proportion of our spending to people like Neville. He gives me a free real nappy to try and we have a nice chat!

Next day, run out of washing up liquid. Go to local corner shop. And buy...washing up liquid. NOTHING ELSE!! That's a first.

Over the week have shopped at about 7 different stores and stalls for things I'd have bought exclusively from Tescos. 2 were a complete rip off, with food that went off immediately. But found a couple of stars.

There's no way I could do this if I was working full time. Wish more small shops would do home delivery.

Gave in and went to Tescos on B/Holiday. Bad planning.

But at the end of the week:

• Our bins, for the first time EVER, are not overflowing on collection day.

• We seem to be almost completely vegetarian, which is difficult because we don't eat pasta/bread much. good meat is far too expensive, and not sure i trust local butcher.

• I've used cash almost exclusively. That wasn't the plan but I now think me and DH should start setting a weekly budget in cash and stop using debit cards.

• I don't know yet if we've spent less money, but we've definitely wasted less.

But now I have to load 2 kids + baby into the car to go and find nappies. They would normally have arrived on the back of their own lorry with guilt-ridden regularity.

And next week will be a challenge. The big stuff - washing powder, dishwasher powder, shampoos, etc - are running out. Tesco very cheap for this stuff. Do I give in and give them my money, or spend more money somewhere else? Hmmmm....

I'll let you know on that one, colditz!

Right, off to load the kids into the car to trudge around shops in the rain. Have my list. This is when I miss having everything under one roof. hey ho.

tks so much for all the suggestions.

clasps hands behind back, looks at floor and twists foot on floor "aw! shucks your welcome."

Glad you found it useful.

Right, well, inspired by this thread I've just ordered a £100 shop from a local food co. instead of Tesco.

Right, well, inspired by this thread I've just ordered a £100 shop from a local food co. instead of Tesco.

oops

Wilkinsons are the best for shampoo, cleaning stuff etc. They are so cheap, Tesco are expensive anyway, if you really need to use the supermarket then try Asda, it's way cheaper and better.

I've no time to read this thread now but I will this evening as I'm very interested in the "experiment". My trouble is for me that Tesco is the only sizeable supermarket in the town. Morrisons or Asda may be cheaper or better, but they're 15 miles away. The local LIDL I'll admit I haven't tried, but would only consider for non-perishables. Sainsbury's is small and incredibly crap - they never ever have what I'm looking for. I work full time and find it very difficult to get to the butchers or green grocers (and the green grocers has just the same imported cold-storage stuff as Tesco anyway).

I have just signed up for a veg box as step one. Step 2 We are going to attempt to go to farmers markets for our meat, like we used to before we moved - we'll afford much less of it but hopefully enjoy it more.

I like the idea about having a weekly cash budget. I think debit cards are pretty dangerous for spending more that you can really afford.

Right I'll stop rambling and get back to my desk.

i do like to shop at a number of different places because that way you get variety. with only shopping in supermarkets you get less of a variety and end up buying the same stuff week in week out.

To find your local Wilkinson's store check here

www.viamichelin.com/b2b2c/gbr/dyn/controller/dlhomepage?&productId=50700

I notice that they do mystery shoping as well and you can buy bigger items online.

Have had a chance to look at the threads JackieNo provided on vinegar-based cleaners. Why wouldn't you make your own?! Must cost pence. And I can feel a little bit smug . Cheers, JN!

Good on you for doing this....my DH works for a samll food producer who make salads etc for one of the more upmarket retailers, but he formerly worked as a sub-contractor for one of the big boys. I'm horrified at some of his stories about how the food producers are treated by the supermarkets......ie the food producer has to chip in with the free product in BOGOF deals or 4 for 3 deals. If the supermarket wants to change the packaging, the producer has to pay for the changes, and they can reject fruit and veg just like that and its all at the cost of the producer.

Wish I had the courage of your convictions!

actually it was a complete pain in the ass today, Daisy!

Left house with all 3 kids loaded onto buggy and DD1 whining. Got a suitably inconvenient distance from the house and DD1 needed to pee. Then it started raining. Me cursing.

BUT...then had nice chat with the woman in greengrocers. The guy in the speciality food shop decided his instant coffee was too expensive (it was) and knocked a quid off the bill.

The guy in the off-license offered advice on which wine was lower alcohol. And I tried a new little shop around the corner who don't deliver boxes normally, but he's just dropped one off for me to try.

Dinner for kids was veg pasta sauce I'd cooked in a large batch yesterday, so they were in bed nice and early and I am now enjoying my wine... so all in all, it was worth the hassle i guess.

I see from the news that cow farts are causing global warming, so reluctant vegetarian status is apparently good for planet too!!

found bulk purchase + home delivery of washing powder, etc, on ecotopia.co.uk, so may try that...

It sounds like an interesting experiment/lifestyle change anyway, and more people should take a leaf out of your book. We try to buy locally when we can, ie greengorcers and butchers but the truth of the matter is that JS is just too damned convenient, especially where the gluten free breads and cereals I need are concerned. Although I am looking at bulk buying those over the internet at the moment.

Daisy,

re: your post on small producers.

I happended to watch "The Lie of the Land" documentary last night. It opened up a whole load of new questions and I'm confused.

As a massive meat eater, I've been completely complicit in driving UK businesses out of business. We're on a strict budget; I needed my fix of cheap supermarket meat. I'm sure the same is true of other products.

But:

• Am I prepared to pay for expensive UK meat? During this experiment, I'm not buying any meat because good local meat is too expensive, but that's not supporting UK food production either, is it?

So strategy change.

I think I need to be more aggressive in reducing household costs in other areas (e.g. natural cleaning products, buying other toiletries in bulk, cash weekly budgeting, batch cooking, reducing over-shopping and food waste, etc)... BUT be willing to spend more, with local food producers and retailers, on the food I do purchase. Less but better quality.

I think it's called household management and I've been a bit slow to catch on.

So you're absolutely right. What started as a bit of a protest, but also an attempt to save some money at the till, has forced me to fundamentally change our lifestyle. Is that possible for most people though?

With mortgages/rent, taxes and childcare through the roof can you afford to spend more on food? No.

If you're working full-time, it would be extremely difficult to reduce costs in other areas because it takes TIME.

So unfortunately, with such high costs of living and long working hours, do we need to resign ourselves to cheap imported food, probably bought from 1 of 5 major suppliers?

Depressing.

I think there are things we can all do - this thread has given me a bit of a kick too! My "strategy" (if you can call it that!) is to get a fortnightly delivery from Ocado and buy fresh fruit and veg weekly from the market. This is definitely saving money. Would be better if I got meat from the butcher but am getting it on the delivery and freezing it.

Any "top ups" are from M and S who while plainly not cheap, are good quality and (I believe) more ethical than the major supermarkets, as are Ocado.

Not sure what my cleaner would think about the vinegar things...

I work three days a week, BTW. And DSs no longer in nappies.

Now, what shall I do next?

I am finding this thread very inspiring.

I have a confession. I got a Sainsburys delivery today - cost £118 as I have it about every 3 weeks - and I sat down and had a look at what products we could have got easily from other local shops and about £40 was accounted for by that, without even having to switch brand or go to places we don't go anywhere.

Eg I had fair-trade coffee on my Sainsbury's order but I could have bought exactly the same from a fair-trade shop attached to a teashop where we go anyway; I could have got the veg and fruit from the greengrocer, several other things from our cornershop.

Some things I do want to get from Sains because it's more practical/cheaper/too heavy to carry/dh's preferred brand and he is a bit picky, but it wasn't just those things.

Then further to our discussion on buying stuff you already have (was it Brummie who said this is not a very good savings plan? ) I now have 7 tins of tomatoes, 5 boxes of tissues, 2 unopened packs of tea, etc etc.

It's just so easy when you're shopping online to add an extra one or two of things.

So I really need to get back on the straight and narrow.

So that's just over 30% of your supermarket shop that could be spent locally?

Right. Tesco have sales of (get this!) £35.6bn /yr at the moment, just in the UK.

Sainsbury's are about £18.5bn. Sainsbury's are trying to increase their sales BY £2.5bn by next year. Well bugger me.

Couldn't get Asda figures. Appears Wal-mart don't publish them.

Oh, more importantly 2 more new finds today!

• High street shop 'Savers': got some great bargains today on washing powder, etc. looks like a toiletries chain, but has lots of household goods

• www.ecotopia.co.uk: appears they do home delivery of BULK washing up liquid, washing powder, shower gel and hand soap, (plus the soap nuts someone mentioned earlier). Refillable containers to the ready!

And I bought my Borax today. I AM Anthea

I like that Ecotopia site - thanks for that, BrummieOnTheRun.

(and yes, you really do seem to be Anthea)

why do you want to boycott tesco?

i mean that out of complete interest, i have only just started using tesco for my weekly shop and find i am saving about £30-£40 compared to my usual shopping bill.

is there something about tesco that i am not aware of?

mornin', lovemybed! sorry, this will be a little long, so bear with me!

you know, there are whole books written about Tesco, but I must admit I haven't read any of them yet (I haven't got further than page 6 of any book since 2004. bleedin' kids!)

Personally, this was triggered by a documentary about fresh food standards at Tesco (and Sainsbury's) a couple of weeks ago. We buy everything through Tesco's: what doesn't arrive in the delivery van gets picked up at Tesco's Express on the way home.

Having watched the documentary (jaw on floor) I realised I had no right to be suprised: if supermarkets put financial targets ahead of food quality (which is what we effectively ask them to do to maintain low prices) then you're going to get food past its sell by date, poor hygiene, doctored food safety records, etc.

If you don't train your staff, pay them a pittance and make it clear to them that waste reduction is more important than food quality, that's exactly what you get. Ditto, their suppliers. Went on subsequently to learn a little about their treatment of farmers, and the decision is clear. If we carry on buying all our produce via the supermarkets, UK producers and small retailers are going to be squeezed out of business, with our backing. These are often people who really CARE about what they're doing.

On the money side, I know I overspend at Tescos because everything's geared up to make you overspend...and I am WEAK

So I decided I wanted to spend more money with nice local people instead. If my £70 a week went to a local guy, that would make a big difference to his/her business.

That's all really!

Have you seen the Tescopoly site (every little hurts)?

Tescopoly

thanks for the link, chonky. I'd like to be better informed about this.

DH just made a good point (while making me coffee ). He said what's happening with the major supermarkets, Tesco's in particular, is a 'redistribution of profit'. The profit from the entire supplier chain is now going to the supermarket...

i had never really thought about any of that before, my local corner shop only closed down yesterday but they had to compete with a large tesco and morrisons within throwing distance and a large asda 5 mins away.