So, here we are. At the beginning of a new phase, maybe even a short lived phase, but we shall give it a try. We are walking away from the ease of online deliveries, ready meals, packaged goods, plastic wrapped food and goodness-knows-the-quality edibles. We are saying No to the supermarkets. So Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Asda, Co op, we are walking away. (I know I could include Morrisons, but I cant as I have never shopped there, so they wont notice I've gone!)
Reasons many and varied, but in all things there comes a breaking point. The idea started as a seedling on our many holidays to Wales, we loved shopping locally, we loved going to the local butcher, bakers and fishmongers, something I did as a child. And yet when we got back home we never kept up the life. Life at home was too busy, we became lazy in our food, we ordered supermarkets to deliver food to our door, we pushed trolleys around shelves laden with out of season produce, we demanded cheap food that tasted good. We got neither in actuality. And the food scares came and went. So, in the week they discovered horse and pig DNA in beefburgers we decided enough was enough.
We already care where our eggs come from, and we like organic, and we have started to research into better food, and rediscover recipes. But we do not have a smallholding, we do not keep chickens, we have no garden to seed with veg. We are urban, and busy, and mostly broke. So its going to be a challenge!
The rules are these
1. We will try to shop local, failing that we will aim to shop well - so if we travel further to get good food we must stock up to make the best of the mileage
2. We will not be silly, if we run out of milk on a snow storm night and the local small shop is shut, we will go to the supermarket. Failing that we will do all that we possibly can to only shop from small shops, independent food producers, farm shops, farmers markets and suchlike
3. We will aim to relearn how to cook properly, make the most of all we buy and waste as little as possible
4. In the interest of not throwing away money in the search for better we will succumb to the benefit offered by work to buy our laundry products at Costco and shall not feel guilt for doing so
5. We will never forget we are so fortunate to live in a part of the world where we have a choice
I love this Sara! So great you are taking action against the war on poor food. Especially in a country so rich, in monetary terms as well as in range of choice. It'd be interesting to see the challenge of not even buying emergency milk at the supermarkets - do you think you could hold out? :) Perhaps Gorgeously Green could inform you on how to make your own laundry products - cheap, easy, quick and non-toxic? :)
ReplyDeleteDo you know The Sweet Mart in Bristol? It's a wonderful independent food shop where they can source any ingredient from around the world. They have a website and do delivery to save you the mileage. Plus it's not extortionately priced in the least! Quite glorious :) Keep up the great work, I will happily follow your adventure. Katie. X