A food rant

[mazza]

I have just got back from the jolly old supermarket.

Bought ten satsumas and 6 conference pears.

When I got home, I had a little look at the receipt.... those two items alone cost £6.00 :bigeyes: .

I could have bought 6 tubes of Pringles, 80 (8x packs of 10) packets of Doritos/monstermunch/ french fries (currently buy one, get one free) for the same amount of money...no wonder people eat junk all the time, it's a lot cheaper :frown: .

[Eeyore]

Flippin heck :blink: that's phenomenal, and extortionate :(

I always buy fresh fruit and veg, but have noticed how much cheaper the frozen or tinned stuff is - why should it be? :( I paid £1.99 for a small bag of new potatoes, could have had 6 tins for that. ;)

I got annoyed the other day, saw the price of butter said 98p, normally I pay 78p - got to the checkout and the till said 78p ;)

One of my fave places to buy is a local butchers/fresh produce shop, they're very cheap, their fruit and veg is excellent value, cheap and very tasty, the bakery is to die for (and 10 wholemeal rolls for 60p is great), all fresh stuff, only thing is it's opening hours aren't brill if you work, it;s about 13 miles from us and on Saturdays it's heaving :(

[StoneHenge]

That's why I always buy from the greengrocers or off the market. Loads cheaper for fresh fruit and veg. We buy a weeks worth for about £7!

Includes:

Apples
Bananas
Potatoes
Carrots
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Cabbage

[Annabel]

I agree with you that is very expensive! :badmood:

I think the thing is to buy in season. and also if possible buy British. I cant tell you how irate I get when I cant get english apples or I see strawberries out of season flown in from morocco or spain, beans from kenya, melons in January...etc etc.

I dont bother buying most of the time, as I feel so strongly about it. :angry:

I try to get stuff from the market but I find it needs to get eaten quickly as it hasnt been kept in cold storage like supermarket stuff, but my main weapon against the cost of fruit and veg is my allotment, i rented one last autumn from the council and I am determined to get onto it and start growing my own!

[sesentayuno]

Most supermarkets do 2 packs of satsumas/clementines for £2, so the conference pear must have cost a bomb!!

Ses

[marieuk]

Hi all

Ses we must shop at the same place as mine do that offer too :)



B i do all regular fruit and veg shopping at lidl or netto or aldi if i want somethig more specific e.g.passion fruit or papaya (normally for smoothies) i will try regular supermarket,


Love Muk xxx

[mazza]

I really would get fruit from a local grocer, but we don't have any any more - there used to be one and I would always get my satsumas there - I love satsumas!!!

I know they are usully in season over Xmas, but I notice that South Africa has them in season at the mo and they are very nice if you buy them loose. I find the ones in nets are sour and horrible.

I have only recently discovered Lidl, funnily anough, and it is quite a trek for me, but it is very true that their stuff is really great. Some of it is so weird and whacky, but very interesting! :D

Aldi does have some decent produce too, but it is not always available. Their oranges have been brilliant this year though B) .

It's true about the potatoes too. I am sure it was only a couple of years ago that the price of tatties was pennies, but the supermarkets were still flogging their smallest bags for 99p and more... :rolleyes: .

So yes, in some respects you can't beat the supermarkets on price, but when it comes to fresh produce, it is not good enough!!! :nono:

I just think that if you are choosing to eat helathily, it really costs a heck of a lot more than buying rubbish food or even ready meals and it's no wonder that our country is the chubbiest in Europe with the worst health record!

[phantos02]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(banana @ 11th May 2006 - 4:38 PM) 165570</div> Hi everyone,

have you tried shopping at Lidl? Our local one has fantastic fruit and veg at very reasonable prices as well as really good meat and dairy and most staples. Their chocolate and choccy biscuits are amazing.

Since we started shopping there - (we're practising for when we move to Greece) I would never go back to any other supermarket. Not because of price but because of quality and there are things you can get at Lidl you can't get anywhere else.

I used to regularly throw fresh stuff away because it turned out to be off when I unpacked it when I shopped in Tesco and Asda and in 6 months I haven't had any trouble with Lidl. We also spend less on takeaways because their 'convenience' food is so nice we eat that instead.

I know I sound like an advert for Lidl but I have been so surprised that we can do a whole shop there these days and not need to go anywhere else for stuff.

As for fresh stuff being more expensive than tinned and frozen - that is because fresh stuff goes off, and so if they had 100 tons of fresh potatoes and something went wrong with the storage, or people didn't buy them in time, then they might only sell a fraction of them and have to throw away all the rest. If they tin 100 tons of potatoes or freeze them, they have a much much longer time to sell them and so the likelihood of any waste is tiny. So each potato that is tinned can be charged out at less, because they will all get sold. When you buy a fesh potato you are also paying for the ones that don't get bought and get thrown away.

banana [/b]

I have to disagree about Lidl. When I go to my local Lidl the fruit and veg are usually already on the turn! I do go in there once in a blue moon - they do do unusual stuff in there which is sometimes worth a try.

Perhaps my local one is badly managed?