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Friday 3 December 2010

Buying local – buying from the high street

It is very busy in the land of Shpangle at the moment with the Christmas rush that, to save my sanity, I am now turning away any more pre-Christmas orders. So when I awoke at 3 o’clock this morning with my mind buzzing with jewellery related buzzes, I just needed to write about something totally un-related to jewellery making.

Although I am always preaching about buying handmade and buying local, I must admit that we as a family have always bought our weekly shopping from a supermarket (which kind of goes against all my principles). I suppose it is the ease of parking and then having everything under one roof, and it has become quite a routine, knowing where everything is and then being confused once in a while when they decide to change the shop layout.

Supermarket Trolleys
The Supermarket experience - Trolleys

But over the years, I have become more and more despondent over the tricks these big supermarkets play on us, what with their pricing wars, buy one, get ten free offers, the way they are squeezing our farmers and the general lack of quality food. So four weeks ago we decided to boycott supermarkets altogether and get all of our weekly shopping from the local high-street shops.

And it has been fantastic and I will never go back to buying from a supermarket. OK, it has been taking us longer to complete our shopping (but that is getting easier and quicker every week) we also make it more of an event, having a stop off at the local cafe for a bite to eat. The quality of food is far better and fresh fruit and vegetables seem to be lasting longer. We have also been eating a lot healthier; where before we may have bought a ‘ready-made’ pie, we are now baking our own and actually filling them with proper meat.
Local Market
Buying Local - The Market

Best of all, we are supporting the local high-street shops, many of which are sadly suffering from the un-caring, un-sharing hands of those money hungry supermarket giants. I would highly recommend giving it a try to anyone like us who regularly shops at supermarkets...

OK, back to the jewellery making, I hope everyone is well and looking forward to the Christmas break!

Mick

5 comments:

  1. We always source as much as we can locally and buy from Farmers markets and Farm Shops, it is often it is less expensive than the supermarkets.

    £8 out of every £12 spent on local produce, stays in the local community.

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  2. Hi! Our next step is to find a good farm shop near to Hinckley...if you know of any could you let me know!

    Many thanks
    Mick

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  3. You are very good to put in the extra effort to shop locally. I am incredibly lazy and can't stand shopping but perhaps I might try popping into our local fruit/veg shop instead of Asda as it may be more enjoyable a visit xxx

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  4. Great post Mick, glad you are busy.
    Something I have often thought of too, but just dont have the time, I buy everything for the week from under the one roof, and I detest everything about it. Maybe the new year resoloution should be to re-organise my time and do things properly.
    I do visit the farm shop, as they stock my items but confess to only going about once a month, but I then buy all my veg and cheese there.

    Lynda

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  5. That is so true Carrie, I can't stand shopping but would much prefer to shop at a local shop than Asda.

    Thank you Lynda, a new year resolution sounds good! That is really good that you use a farm shop, which is something I really need to look into.

    Mick

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