Is it possible to live supermarket-free?

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Is it possible to live supermarket-free?
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marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 11 10:57 am Post subject:
Good luck - I'd say it's perfectly possible, but you are likely to spend more time shopping, at least to begin with, and you will have to adjust your thinking from "what do we want?" to "what is available?". Don't forget free food sources - check out the foraging articles https://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Finding_food/ .

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8939
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 11 11:45 am Post subject:
Another "welcome", Croeso from South East Wales. Sometimes you can't afford NOT to shop in supermarkets

frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 11 5:20 pm Post subject:
Welcome to the site and yes you can - I didn't set foot in a supermarket for two years, and I had two children under two and only one income for six of us at the time

Eigon

Joined: 25 Dec 2012
Posts: 11

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 12:13 pm Post subject:

Where I live, there's a lot of local discussion (to put it mildly) about the possibility of a new supermarket moving in.
Some locals did a shopping basket survey, and found that shopping in the local shops was over �7.00 cheaper than shopping in a supermarket - and there was no cost for petrol or bus fare (as there is now) because it can all be done on foot - and you actually get to meet your neighbours!
I do nearly all my shopping in the local shops - a local baker who also plays the accordian for the local morris dancing side, two excellent butchers, one completely organic, two greengrocers, who will also stock produce from local gardens sometimes. For canned goods, milk and so on, there's Londis and Spar - so there's no avoiding that, but I think I went to the Co-op five or six times last year, and Morrisons twice to buy bottled beer!

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 12:27 pm Post subject:

Welcome, Eigon.

We went down to Cullompton on Saturday - it had the look of a town dying on it's feet. There was a shiny new Tesco on the outskirts of the town and lots of 'for lease' boards up on the High Street. And the Spar was shut down. It was really depressing and both of us wondered aloud on the way home whether it was the advent of the supermarket that had done it - or at least, driven the nail in.

Mithril

Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 1755
Location: wessex

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 6:04 pm Post subject:

With severe peanut and nut allergies in the family it's very difficult to become supermarket free. We get a veg box, but meat, oils, cheeses etc could easily contain traces, so I really rely on allergy warnings onlabels. That said, the only supermarkets I trust are Waitrose and Sainsbury's (many others either don't differentiate between nuts and peanuts or worse still seem to have frequent product recalls

)

crofter

Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 2252

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 7:28 pm Post subject: Re: Is it possible to live supermarket-free?

npsmama wrote:

Do you think it's possible to live supermarket-free?

Yes.

The supermarkets in Shetland have recently had to fly in supplies after a few days of stormy weather and no goods arriving by sea. Oddly, the smaller local shops which maintain more than 1-2 days stock and do not rely on jit delivery did not see much panic buying...

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 8:40 pm Post subject:

Mithril wrote:

Meat & cheese containing nuts? Manufacturered products I can see but plain meat & dairy are usually produced in more highly hygienic dedicated facilities than veg...

Mithril

Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 1755
Location: wessex

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 8:56 pm Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

Mithril wrote:

Meat & cheese containing nuts? Manufacturered products I can see but plain meat & dairy are usually produced in more highly hygienic dedicated facilities than veg...

There seem to be a few speciality cheeses around, with say walnuts, and many butchers use stuffings which may contain nuts or traces of nuts (some sausages too). With such severe allergies, (even a trace can be a problem), I'm never sure how safe they are for allergy sufferers. The thing with the supermarkets is that they will state if the product is free from traces of nuts. Even then, if the nut free product is on the meat, cheese or deli counter with nut products I still daren't buy it, so I end up having to buy the packaged stuff.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 9:34 pm Post subject:

If a factory handles nuts they usually list non-nut products as possibly containing traces of nuts but I've not heard of nut-free labelling, as that leaves you open to litigation if some nut traces were found to be present at some point. We're advised to label if there is a chance, rather than if there isn't one.

Small scale producers of cheese & meat are less likely than supermarkets to contain traces as they're dealing with smaller batches and hence far less chance of cross contamination. Artisan cheesemakers, as opposed to large factories or cheesemongers, tend to only have a select few speciality cheeses that they produce and rarely blend fruit & nuts the way the big factories do. There are also fewer people involved that could accidentally introduce traces through personal contamination. The sheer scale of mass food production & distribution puts the chances of a foodstuff coming into contact with nuts far higher than buying direct, on a par with the veg box producers.

You're free to choose how and where to buy the safest products for yourself but I wouldn't like it to be put forward as an advantage of supermarkets, for the reasons stated above.

earthyvirgo

Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 9:38 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

What a shame - used to be quite a nice little place to visit when I was in Exeter back in the 80's.

EV

Mithril

Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 1755
Location: wessex

Posted: Wed Dec 26, 12 10:08 pm Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

Certainly food for thought, thanks.

Currently, if I know the food producer labels for traces then I'm fine with buying something that just does not list nuts as a potential allergen (unless I spot too many recalls on Allergy UK etc). As for nut free labelling, Waitrose produce a free from nut and peanut list (and also lists for some other allergens). I'm not aware of any others who do this, other than a few chocolate makers, e.g. Kinnerton.

arvo

Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Posts: 3321
Location: Somerset

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 12 8:00 am Post subject:
One thing I have been enjoying though is a a Christmas largely provided by the farmers market. It's one of the huge benefits of selling stuff there. Goose, sausages, cheese, beer, smoked fish, ham, veg. We've had a lovely tasting Christmas . The market does contain nuts though.

toggle

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 12 8:20 am Post subject:

arvo wrote:

The market does contain nuts though.

erm............

we know, we saw the pictures

Pilgrim1975

Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 149
Location: Here And There

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 12 8:42 am Post subject:

toggle wrote:

we know, we saw the pictures

People post pictures of their nuts..?

Is that only in the Naughty Corner, then?

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