Saturday 24 March 2018

Life without supermarkets - update


Well here we are approaching Holy Week and I promised I would let you know how I got on with the challenge of giving up supermarkets for Lent.  This has been a harder challenge than I imagined it would be and has made me realise just how much we rely on supermarkets in this society. 

Here are some of the things I have discovered:
  • ·        We have a great butchers in Ivybridge (Gribbles) and I ordered a meat pack from them during the first week which has given us practically all our meat for Lent.  I found that you can order the meat online and just tell them when you want to collect it so that made my life a bit easier as I thought I would have to be popping in every week.  I have decided that even after Lent, I will continue to buy my meat from them as it is good quality, locally sourced and by eating a bit less of it, good value for money.  I also realise that unless people use the local butcher he is likely to go out of business and then we will have no choice but to go to a supermarket for meat that is not locally produced or the same quality.


  • ·      I have been ordering some vegetables and fruit from Riverford Farm to be delivered here free of charge on a Thursday.  It is all organically produced and very good quality.  More expensive than I would usually pay for fruit and veg but we have been eating less of it to compensate.  I have also found that by buying less, it is making me use up every last thing from the fridge instead of continually buying more and this has significantly reduced our wastage and made me more imaginative in what I cook.



  • ·         I have also been visiting our local farm shop next to Endsleigh Garden Centre to buy some extra things I couldn’t find elsewhere especially milk.


  • ·       Nature’s Larder in Ivybridge is a great source of dried and store cupboard ingredients such as dried fruit, flour, rice and pulses.  They also sell environmentally friendly cleaning products but I haven’t needed to buy any of those as I had stocked up before Lent (maybe cheating a bit but I knew how busy I was going to be so had to make some allowances!)
  • ·      Another great place locally to buy fresh food is Ben’s Farm Shop at Yealmpton but again it is quite expensive so you need to buy less!  I have discovered they also sell things like cereal, washing powder etc loose so you can take your own container and fill it up which is great for cutting down packaging waste.
  • ·        People have asked me if I have spent more money over these weeks but I have found I am actually spending less as there is not so much choice of things to buy and I am just buying basic ingredients.  However, I have a growing shopping list of things I need once Lent is finished so I will be needing to do a big shop next weekend so it may even out!
  • ·       I was wondering whether I would be able to find wine!  I have managed to get some at a farm shop but it is probably more expensive than I would usually pay for wine so again I have been drinking it less!  Probably not a bad thing!
  • ·   It is not as convenient to buy things in different places and I have struggled a bit particularly in busy weeks to get the things I need.  I have had to be a lot more organised and plan ahead more carefully and also have had to manage without more often and think of a contingency plan. 
  • ·       I’ve lost 4lbs in weight – could be coincidence but maybe not as we have been eating less and much more healthily.  That is a big personal bonus!
  • ·      The two things I have found hardest to find are yoghurts and orange juice and I have missed those.  We did find some at Darts Farm but they don’t keep so you can’t stock up on them!
  • ·         Confession time – there have been a few times that we have in desperation bought one or two items at our local Co-op such as cat litter and milk.  I checked the Ethical Consumer website and in a score table of supermarkets based on ethical issues, the Co-op came out top of the league so I felt that wasn’t too bad a slip!

I read about some facts concerning supermarkets and it doesn’t make comfortable reading.  

For example, did you know…
  • ·         Almost 50% of supermarket fruit and veg contains pesticide residues?
  • ·       UK supermarkets make 40p in every £1 on bananas and plantation workers only receive 1p of every £1?
  • ·        Every time a supermarket opens the local community loses on average 276 jobs?
  • ·         In the 1970s, British supermarkets had only 10% of the UK’s grocery spend.  Now they swallow up 80%, influencing how we shop, what we eat, how we spend our leisure time, how much rubbish we generate.

(Shopped – The Shocking Power of Britain’s Supermarkets – Joanna Blythman)

So this experiment has made me really think about the food we buy, the welfare of animals and food producers, the miles food travels, how much waste it generates and the chemicals often used.  It has made me more aware of how the power of the big supermarkets has a tight grip on us and how we live, by virtue of their convenience and low prices.  It has made me want to break free from that grip and become less dependent on them - for the sake of my own health and wellbeing, the taste of my daily food, the welfare of the animals and food producers and the effect on the environment.  I will be using supermarkets again because I have to, but I will certainly be using them less and being more thoughtful about how I shop for our food. 








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