Selfsufficientish.com

greenorelse wrote:
There's something decidedly unsettling about having to buy from supermarkets.

its much like that here the local farm shop was really good until new owners realized the customers were 'richer' and could charge much more for the products. its still good but i cant afford to get everything from there these days. and the nearest one is a bus journey away and they sell local stuff much cheaper!

Actually, I manage to grow a fair proportion of my veggies myself and mostly bake my own bread. But I do have quite a number of nights when I can't really be bothered cooking... My experience with box schemes isn't hugely positive, I'm afraid - too much wilted salad, not enough actual food. Plus there's always the problem of needing to be in to take delivery.

They do vary* - I much prefer the one I get now to Abel and Cole which I used to get. I am a bit of a salad girl, though (not wilted salad ;-) ). I can tell mine to leave it somewhere i.e. round the back if I'm going to be out but that's not practical for everybody.

* veg boxes. In case you all thought I was just wittering on.

LOL - I know what you mean when you say 'actual food', gregorach.

We used a very good and reliable box scheme for a while, so decent ones do exist.

There was the very good option of having the goods delivered to either your house or to a sort-of communal location, which in our case was a school, so the 'being in' aspect could be got round.

There was always a surprising variety of veggies, as well as a customer feedback form, which we used twice, once to 'fine tune' and once to cancel the deliveries when they decided to start selling meat. Ho hum.

Most of the year I struggle to use all of my allotment produce (I live alone), so a veg box scheme really isn't that much use to me. I simply don't buy veg much at all - my actual shopping is almost all staples, meat and treats. (OK, and ready meals for when I'm too lazy to cook.)

We don't have any choice either for dry goods and dairy. It's the supermarket or just go without sugar/coffee/flour/yoghurt etc. We do have mini markets here in the smaller towns/villages but they are all part of the big supermarket chains!

There are still plenty of people making the effort to grow their own and supply organic veg and meat at markets but surely they must struggle to compete. Really there is no comparison as home grown vegetables are far better than the cold and tasteless Rubbish you find at the supermarket. I just wish it wasn't made so difficult for independent shops by having a supermarket on every street corner it isn't necessary .