I buy my food in one of the main supermarkets, usually Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda or Aldi, supplemented by the odd trip to the triumvirate of butcher/greengrocer/baker by the Silica in the centre of Weston-super-Mare. Unpractised in the art of keeping tabs on food consumption by my family of two, I would estimate that our nutrition (if that’s the right word!) costs about £50 a week, easily our largest outgoing, after rent and utilities.
I’m not keen on supermarkets. In fact, I find any large store oppressive – the music, the crowds, the lights! If I ever feel ill, unhealthy or unattractive, a study of the other shoppers at Tesco (or Stressco, as Auntie Val calls it) in Weston will fix that immediately. Supermarkets are a necessary evil, I tell myself. But they might not have to be.
Inspired by the new WsM Food Buying Group that Holly has set up, some enjoyable home-baking over Christmas and lengthy conversations with friends on twitter, I have decided to take the Unsupermarket Challenge, that is to resist the supermarket catch-all pull and, instead, seek shopping alternatives. I’m doing this in the search of a healthier lifestyle for my young daughter and me and to support smaller, local businesses. I aim to buy fewer ready-made items, while cooking more. I’m not sure that I’m coming at it from a particularly green perspective – I drive. A volcano erupting will cause a hell of a lot more ecological upheaval than all my ancestors, descendants and I ever could. One transatlantic flight will use more fuel than a lifetime of driving around my neighbourhood. And anyway, I’m a little wary of ethics, being, as it is, ultra-subjective. Whose morality, exactly?
The Unsupermarket Challenge is quite an experiment because I pop into any one of the main stores or Tesco Express on the Boulevard at least 3 times a week. Can’t be bothered to cook; run in for a pizza. Nearly out of bread or milk; grab a loaf or a couple of pints.
Not anymore. From now on, I will endeavour to source our food from elsewhere. This is very easy to do right now as we are stocked up with most of what we need. But this change of lifestyle means that a few of questions will need to be answered:
* What constitutes a supermarket – are we just talking the 4 or 5 biggest here or do we include the less successful ones? Will I pop into M&S for their yummy biscuits once in a while? Sometimes, probably, yes.
* What about washing products, where will I get them? If I can find a cheaper way to do my washing and sanitising, then I will use it.
* Where to shop now? I’m starting with independent retailers, our WSM food buying group, maybe a veg box scheme and grow some of our own on the patio, bake my own bread, biscuits and cakes, perhaps use a milkman.
* Will it be more expensive? How much planning is involved? I’m hoping that meals will be more nutritious, better thought out and, therefore, cheaper. Meals from scratch.
* Will it work? I’ll try.
* Does this include petrol? Probably not, though I find myself using smaller stations often already, mostly because the whole experience is more pleasant.
Five years ago, my brother gave me his unwanted, little-used bread maker. This afternoon, I dusted it off and rummaged around in the cupboards for some out-of-date ingredients I bought a while back and I made a loaf of bread.
