Locally produced food

[mrsflibble]

Sort of off the back of the veg box post.

courtesy of this place I found this "delightful" (MUCH SARCASM) map of my local area.

ok, Wickford takes me 2 hours to get to on public transport on average so those two bakeries are out. One of the mentioned bakeries is actually an industrial baking plant. They wont sell to the public; they will sell to my FIL because he does some of their machinery maintenance and made one of their conveyor belts, but they put all kinds of crap in their food. my local bakery gets their bread from the industrial one in wickford
the butcher appears to be in an industrial estate so I don't know if it's a butcher or a meat processing plant. either way, I can't get there on public transport. We do have a butcher in basildon now, but they can't tell me where the meat actually comes from.
Barleylands is ok, I find the farmer's market quite intimidating though as it's no more reasonably priced than the local shops, I have to pay bus fare to get there, and it's full of the snoby residents of a village close by who all drive the 1/2 mile to the farm in their chelsea taxis. The barleylands farm produce stall is way out of town between crays hill and wickford. I can't get there on a fricking bus.
We have market stalls, and although reasonably priced they can not tell me where their fruit and veg are produced.
THIS IS WHY I SHOP AT ASDA. I can walk there and at least they have the goodness to tell me where the food came from!

[Ratty]

Ok, I was the one who suggested the site BUT it isn't good in all areas because Big Barn has "local food campaigners" and clearly there isn't one for your area. It can be used pretty well to find Farmers Markets which are a very good way to find local food, contacts and IMHO are worth travelling to. I don't use Asd@ because they have a very limited vegan range and a rubbish organic range. Oh and they are owned by Walm@rt who have some unsavoury practices. I'm currently only using local Co-Op, Out of this World (organic supermarket), my once fortnightly veg box and home grown to eat. We make our own bread using locally milled flour. We like to use S@insburys but I find that I just spend too much money there - "ooh look, braised tofu!"

[ina]

Mrs F - I hope you've sent this rant (quite justified, btw) to the site as well? And tell the folk who aren't able to say where the food they sell comes from that you (and a lot of other potential customers) want to and have a right to know where it comes from!

[Russian Doll]

awwww hugs hunny at least if ya come to grays you know where are butchers meat comes from

[mrsflibble]

Ina, yeah I spoke to the man form the market and he says he's doing his best. I was fobbed off royally with that one hahaha! the butcher's manager wasn't avaiable for comment. As tea says, if i want local meat and to know where it comes from, Grays it is.

Tea; the veg stall near QD and the charity shop in grays that does all the sewing stuff, is that any good?!