I agree or a butchers,and a fruit and veg stall...Supermarkets work of the devil...data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
We buy about 95% of our Fruit and Veg from a nearby Market at Milton Keynes.
Why?
Because it's Fresher, Higher Quality, Cheaper, You can be Selective, the Range of Produce is Bigger.
The shopping experience has more "Buzz".
Our till roll receipt is Itemised too.
In fact we do tend to buy a bit too much when we shop there and are trying to cut back a bit.
Another benefit, is that if we do have two or three bags full of shopping, then they don't mind us leaving it there for an hour to look after for us. We have found a good spot to park quite nearbyand have struck up quite a friendly relationshipwirth the stall holder and his staff.
It is a massive stall and he wholesales surplus and also lesser quality stock to other smaller stall holders nearby. Sometimes we can get great bargains from these latter guys, who can sell a whole dish of, say Avocadoes, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Garlic, Squash, Onions, Bananas, Mangoes, etc, etc, for just £1.
The value is ridiculous and we both love the whole experience of it all.
Stuff the supermarkets. Shop at the markets. Try it sometime and amaze yourself.
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One other thing:
There's only the two of us now, which might explain why our bill at the stall has never seems to have exceeded £25, despite the fact that we buy tons of stuff.
I am seriously gob smacked at the value we seem to get.
I wouldn't usually have issue buying things from the supermarket.However the last couple of times out of three or four, fruit that has been bought from a well known chain has gone bad two days BEFORE the use by date.
As a result, I buy fruit in small but more often amounts and eat it on the day of or day after I buy it.
I have found the smaller Co-op stores often don't keep stuff cold enoguh which reduces how long food is good for.
For example, milk should be fine for a week in a good fridge, from the Co-op near me it is more like 3-4 days.
When I go shopping I have a rough plan of when I am going to consume the food. If the items have too short a date - then I will buy something else. I am fully aware that the dates are a guideline,but sometimes food only just lasts to the use by date.
So called fresh meat can be a good example. Many items I have thrown stuff away before the use by date as it was off. As mentioned before if it smells bad it probably is and should not be consumed - regardless what the label says.
Also consider fresh veg - it's not fresh, some of it has flown half way around the world and is then labelled by the supermarket with a suggested best before.How fresh do you think your green beans are that have been flown from Kenya ?
Local markets can be good value, and I have tried a few farm shops. Nice food but if I am honest though the farm shops ( at least those local to me ) are very very expensive.
Speaking of date. Went to have some fresh sausages for dinner bought from co-op. in date till 5th. Took them out the packet and they'd grown a thin layer of mould on!
You need to store things like this in a refrigeratore, not in the airing cucupboard. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7