Supporting your local shops

[Davy stephenson]

Removed by author

[Rosendula]

We started working on reducing our visits to stupormarkets about 18 months ago, but the less I go, the more seriously I try to reduce how often I go, IYSWIM. I'm trying to only go to stupormarket once a fortnight for things I can't get anywhere else round here - sugar, flower, butter, etc.

When we started reducing our stupormarket visits, we drove around all the places that aren't too far away, to try to find a butcher, green grocer and a wet fish shop all within walking distance of each other. We did, tried the butcher, and didn't like the service, the meat or the prices. Same with the fruit shop round there. So we are stuck with 'local' shops that are nowhere near each other, all in different directions from our house.

Anyway, the nearest butcher is a very good one, but since 'discovering' him, we have found out that OH's friend's father is a butcher, so we get the meat from him. It's either delivered to our door, or I pick it up from the pub when I drop OH off to play darts on a Friday night.

I have a green grocer at the end of the street, about 1/2 mile walk away. That's where I buy 'free-range' eggs, produced fairly locally. I also buy bits and bobs of fruit and veg if I'm desperate. I don't really like the bloke who owns and works in the shop, he's a bit of a tit and I don't trust him.

I occasionally go to a farm shop, so 4 or 5 miles away, where I buy potatoes and carrots by the sack-load during those awful months that I don't have any home-grown. Hoping to reduce that massively this year.

I don't use a baker - I make things myself

I don't get milk delivered, unfortunately, because I just can't afford it. I do, however, buy milk from my local paper shop (that was recently taken over by a bloke with good business sense and turned it into a corner shop-style establishment ), and that's where I buy cartons of fruit juice too.

Erm, I use the local fish and chip shop now and again, and occasionally the local pizza shop.

Big things like furniture, if you want to get into that, were purchased a few years ago when I was too busy working for money (to buy the stuff) to think about these things.

[Davy stephenson]

Removed by author

[Rosendula]

Wonderful stories, Davy. I'll pass them on to OH to read when he gets home from work - he's a postman!

[Rosendula]

I just couldn't go back to supermarket bread now - it bears no resemblance to home made and I'm lucky enough to have the time to do it.

I hurt my hand the other day and could hardly use it for hours. OH said if it still hurt tomorrow we'd just buy some food in Of course, I looked in horror and said "Bread!!??", and he said "Oh no! You'll just have to tell me what to do and I'll make it. I couldn't eat bread from shop now."

My 15YO daughter had a mock cookery exam last week. One of the questions was, "What is good about sliced bread?" She couldn't think of anything Off topic, but to show you what these exams are like these days, another question was, "How do you spell margarine?". This was a written test. I flipping well hope she got it right.

[Shutsumon]

I use Lathams - the local greengrocer in Silverdale - a lot. As a former market trader I also like to go to the markets in Hanley and Newcastle.

In Silverdale we also have a local shop that sells - um - useful stuff. I hesitate to call it a hardware store but it does sell stuff like that, and cleaning stuffs etc among other things. I think it's called "Silverdale Household Supplies" or some such.

We have no local butcher - I have to go to Newcastle (a ten minute bus ride, so not horrible) to find an independent butcher but once there there's not one but two (and whole shedloads on Hanley indoor market). There's also an independent fishmonger in Newcastle unless it's shut since I was last in there.

The nearest we have to local grocers are Thoroughgoods (which is both a chain and mostly an offy/newagents so doesn't really count). We also have a small Co-op and a Spar, but again both chains so not counting. (I do use all three however).

There is also a fish and chip shop and 2 chinese takeways.

More oddly we have a local card and gift shop (I love this place), a charity shop, a fishing supplies shop, a printers, a shop that sells clothes and wool and such like (which I patronise occassionally), a washing machine/white goods shop (I rent my washer from there), a place to buy a new kitchen from and a flowershop. A suntanning salon and three or four hairdressers.

Becky

[Rosendula]

Hope your hand is better! although on the positive side bread is something men can do really well, the more you bash it the better it is! at least you don't need a gentle touch. I despaired when my kids (now late 20's) did 'home economics', my son was asked to take a packet of bread mix, some pre grated cheese and a jar of salsa to make pizza!! I was so disgusted I made sure all three of mine could cook properly, and I'm proud to say they still do. Sorry gone at bit off piste there!

My hand's a lot better now. It only hurts when I press hard on it, so I guess the answer is not to press hard on it.

One of the things I learned to 'cook' at school was what the teacher called "Belgian Pie", and I apologize if this causes offense to anyone from Belgium. The recipe called for a packet of cheese sauce mix, which when made we mixed with a tin of mixed veg and some grated cheese. This mixture was spooned onto mashed potato and baked in the oven. The only thing we really 'cooked' there was the mashed potato. I've complained lots of times on this forum about the criticisms of my parents whenever I tried something, so mix that with poor schooling, and no wonder I relied on the supermarkets for so long.

I only really started learning to cook at the beginning of my Ishyness, about 18 months ago. I decided to forget everything I had been taught at school and everything my parents had said to me, and learn for myself from scratch. Only since then have I ever been successful at bread making, cooking tasty Sunday dinners, yoghurt making and the like.

I do believe that one way to wean people off supermarkets is through education. I don't mean show them just how bad the places are. I mean show them how they can do things for themselves, because once you start doing one good thing successfully, it becomes addictive and you want to try something else. Having a forum like this where we can share ideas, 'show off' our successes and get help with our difficulties is a fantastic step in the right direction. We just need the rest of the population to join us.

Also, if we could get through to people how much extra they spend by going to the supermarket. People just can't see that.

[Green Aura]

I use our local Spar for loo roll etc., as they do a sterling job in Wales, going where no-one else dares!

That's all we have too I'm afraid I still have to frequent the dreaded t*sco at the moment. The Spar is excellent but very expensive - especially during tourist season when everything seems to go up - or do I just imagine that .

This month however we had a bit of a breakthrough, after chatting to a neighbour we'd not spent much time with before (we gave him a lift to a funeral - 2.5 hour drive each way so we had to chat ) we discovered some of the butchers and fishmongers in Inverness - so the big T won't be getting that part of our business at least.

We also buy flour, yeast and pulses etc in bulk from a wholefood co-operative that deliver to us. So slowly but surely we're breaking the ties - although when Spamburys opens in Nairn I'll be taking a trip there for old times sake. I can't work out why (apart from the obvious political Dame S P stuff) I find T*sco so much more offensive than any other supermarket. I really do begrudge giving them every penny!

[Millymollymandy]

Also, if we could get through to people how much extra they spend by going to the supermarket. People just can't see that.

How? I shop in supermarkets as there is no other choice in this part of France but I actively SAVE money because the supermarkets are about 1/3rd cheaper than the once a week markets which is the only other option for buying fruit/veg/fish/cheese - and the village butchers has very little choice and is mega expensive (with nothing organic or free range). There's nowhere that I could buy dry goods from other than supermarkets. Be grateful that you have ANY corner shops/high street at all!

[eccentric_emma]

We have a couple of local butchers and bakers, which we use regularly although the OH is going to cut down on meat so we won't be frequenting the butchers that often (I'm vegan so I won't be using them). Our bakery is easier than going to the supermarket so no worries there. We have a couple of good greengrocers and they are a lot cheaper than the supermarket for veg so I'll always use them!

Dry goods is a little more difficult because I try to go to Canterbury and do a bulk shop from the wholefoods shop as its cheaper and much more of a selection, however I just got back from travelling and haven't had a chance to do anything other than unpack and deal with family bits and bobs so last night after work I nipped into ASDA and found myself wandering around with an empty basket until my dad phoned and asked me to pick up some marmalade. Just couldn't find anything I wanted and couldn't find many of what I would consider my 'basics' in large amounts e.g. sunflower seeds, quinoa etc. Ended up coming out with some nice looking cereal, some peanuts and agave syrup (yum) but am now finding myself stuck for meal options.

[Rosendula]

Also, if we could get through to people how much extra they spend by going to the supermarket. People just can't see that.

How? I shop in supermarkets as there is no other choice in this part of France but I actively SAVE money because the supermarkets are about 1/3rd cheaper than the once a week markets which is the only other option for buying fruit/veg/fish/cheese - and the village butchers has very little choice and is mega expensive (with nothing organic or free range). There's nowhere that I could buy dry goods from other than supermarkets. Be grateful that you have ANY corner shops/high street at all!

Obviously I can only go by my own experience, and I've never been in a supermarket or any other type of shop in France.

For me, it seems that on the surface the supermarkets here are cheaper. But buy a chicken breast (just as an example) from one of our supermarkets and they will be pumped up with water to make them look bigger and weigh more. Our butcher doesn't do that, so what we pay for is all meat. The butcher's meat is therefore more filling, and since we've switched to butchers, home-made bread, and other things that are more nutritious than the convenience foods we used to buy, we find we don't eat nearly as much in between meals. Less snacks means less money spent, and the less we need to buy, the less often we need to go to shops, saving on petrol, impulse spending, those BOGOFs that end up going mouldy before they get used, etc.

Of course, we can't just shut down all the supermarkets and tell everyone to shop locally. Like you point out from your situation, some people don't have any choice. But for those of us who do still have that choice, we should make it wisely. I'm not in a position to preach considering I'm such a recent convert, but if I can encourage other people to cut down on their supermarket visits, I will.

[Millymollymandy]

Ok but not everyone buys convenience food from supermarkets do they? I bet the Ishers who use supermarkets don't! I know what you mean about British meat being pumped with water - well as far as bacon is concerned anyway (don't know about anything else). Our bacon here in France is cut so finely and only streaky is available and it cooks in about 1 minute each side before it is rock hard and crisp. However as a treat I bought some back bacon from an English shop and loads of revolting liquid came oozing out which I had to pour out of the frying pan then add oil to it. After that it didn't taste nice and the French skinny bacon is much nicer and has natural fat that comes out, good for fried bread!

At supermarkets I go once every 10 days to save on petrol as the nearest is 16km away, only buy what's on my list and on the rare occasion we have a BOGOHP (buy one get one half price) for say free range chickens they go in the freezer, never impulse buy and never buy convenience food. Partly because there's very little choice in convenience food and what there is is revolting! I very rarely eat between meals either. Two meals a day does me fine!

However put me in Tescos or any other supermarket in England and I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop. I spent about 2 hours in there going up and down every single aisle squealing with excitement about the lovely interesting and wonderful things that I can't buy in France - and the things that I can get here, but they cost double or even quadruple the price in France! So I still save money in supermarkets!

[Broad Bean]

Get most of my food from farm shops and / or a local delivery service called Northern Harvest who deliver from many local shops and businesses. It costs a bit more but is good quality and saves me getting very annoyed at having to use the dreaded supermarkets. Get milk delivered every day, it was a revelation when we started as I thought it'd be a pain but acutally much easier as we don't have to store several days worth in the fridge and if I want an extra pinta I just leave a note to the nice man who comes round when I'm still asleep.

[Green Aura]

Oh... we used to use Northern Harvest. They were great - shame they don't deliver up here!

[Annpan]

We get milk delivered too. It is in glass bottles but it comes from a processing dairy thingy (local) where they homogenise and bottle in plastic for the local shops. I guess that is just how things are done these days.

I know it is illegal to sell un-pasturised milk and I bet it is all just part of the same processing system these days.