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| Do you use a supermarket? |
| Regularly for most things I can't produce myself |
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20% |
[ 14 ] |
| Regularly for some things but not everything |
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60% |
[ 42 ] |
| For topups only and the odd thing I can't get anywhere else |
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15% |
[ 11 ] |
| Never ever ever ever for anything - evil places they are |
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2% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 69 |
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nats
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2374
Location: Swindon but not a Swindonian
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 Posted: Sun Jan 25, 09 8:27 pm Post subject: Where should I get ******** if not in the supermarket?? |
 
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OK So the idea is this. Some of us want to stop using supermarkets, but feel we have no choice for time and price reasons. Assuming we all know that we can grow our own veg or get a box scheme, we need ideas for where to source other things that will be easy and won't break the bank. For me it is:
Tinned tomatoes (please don't ask me to grow them..... long story!) - we use LOADS of these all during the year, and organic ones from wholefood shops are about 4 times the price of not-the-bottom-end ones at the supermarket!
Flour - assuming where you live has an impact, but somewhere good on line would be really good. Again, I've only found expensive places though I haven't looked recently
Specialist flours like Rye, mixed grain etc.
Dried fruit nuts and seeds (some times I get to the outlet centre and get them at Julian Graves but other than that or order from Goodness direct but don't know if that's the best value)
Cereals - weetabix, bran flakes etc rather than oats as the children don't like porridge or muesli, and I like a change occasionally
Sugar - pref fair trade - at least Sainsbu**ers own brand is now!
Coffee and tea - def fair trade
Spices, curry pastes, etc - is the local Indian place really the best??
Oils - again I go to the local Indian place, but I don't often get in to town and parking there is a nightmare
Loo roll, kitchen towel, bin bags, etc
I'm sure I'll think of others, but with the economy like it is at the moment I can't splash out but I'd REALLY like to cut down my reliance on Sainsbury's.
I've got this feeling I'm not the only one with this dilema, and that others are ahead of me in solving it....
Local options welcome though I suspect that local deliveries will be most useful - both of us work full time. |
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nats
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2374
Location: Swindon but not a Swindonian
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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jema
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon
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nats
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2374
Location: Swindon but not a Swindonian
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jema
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon
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nats
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 2374
Location: Swindon but not a Swindonian
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Bugs
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 09 8:55 pm Post subject: Re: Where should I get ******** if not in the supermarket?? |
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Leaving aside the "supermarkets are the source of all evil and thou shalt beat yourself with sustainably harvested hazel twigs dipped in home made vinegar every time you so much as think "hmmm that Jamie Oliver recipe doesn't look too bad"...
I want to shop as efficiently as possible partly because I hate shopping in general really, which is one of several reasons we use Suma for all of the things you list above. There are a few articles and threads on here somewhere about prices and practicalities of using a wholesaler,perhaps someone who knows their way about will dig them up. I work full time too. and either arrange to coincide a delivery with a day off, arrange with "our" driver (his number is in my mobile  ) to stop by on his way back at about 6am, or have it delivered to my work, sharing an order with a colleague, who then wedges my 25kg sack of flour, vats of oil and apocalypse-beating quantities of coffee and chocolate among his beer, nappies and washing liquid and gives me a lift home.
The other main change we have had to make is to storage, like keeping some of the dry goods in our bedroom.
| Quote: |
| Tinned tomatoes (please don't ask me to grow them..... long story!) - we use LOADS of these all during the year, and organic ones from wholefood shops are about 4 times the price of not-the-bottom-end ones at the supermarket! |
Something I worked out specifically was that buying 6x 2.5kg tins of very good tinned toms (organic I think, but the "juice" was thick like passata and not the light pink water which many value and even premium types swim in) worked out at the equivalent, I think, of 50p a tin - and we could use every bit of it without having to reduce it on the stove. Tesco's online price check suggested this compared quite well with their own and a medium-premium brand too.
| Quote: |
| Flour - assuming where you live has an impact, but somewhere good on line would be really good. Again, I've only found expensive places though I haven't looked recently...Specialist flours like Rye, mixed grain etc. |
I don't use them any more because of delivery problems but Wessex Mills (or Clarkes - Google them or search the forum here) are extremely reasonable, deliver for free over a certain quantity, and have a very wide range, you can buy eg several x 1.5kg of speciality flours and then perhaps top up with 10kg of strong white.
Edited to specify that the delivery problems with Wessex Mill/Clarkes were due to delivery problems in the area and not the company themselves, who I have always found excellent, both in product quality and customer service. |
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jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
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Location: Devon
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dpack
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frewen
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nats
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
Joined: 02 Nov 2004
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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gil
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