Well...long time since posting

I've been a bit crap really.  Fallen into the (in)convenience trap. But I've not forgotten - just been lazy!

However there is a small continental "supermarket" (one single independent store) that I have been patronising - great for Tofu - £1.79 for a massive brick, fresh and sat in water - as opposed to the tiny chunks of Caulron tofu for a small fortune in the big stores.

The latest progress is a little more exciting

2 weeks ago:



Now:

All set for veggie-growing

Got to be better than buying - and though not the largest patch, it will give me a taste for it.  Given that it takes 2 years or more to get an allotment in my preferred location, I've applied for one.  If I decide that growing isn't my thing, I'll cancel the application - if I get into it than at least I know I'll be on the waiting list.  After all, every little helps, as they say!

I can definitely recommend ditching the supermarkets!

Best move I made I reckon.  As far as shopping goes.

Getting out of the rut of buying the bland fayre, I decided to be a little more adventurous and try the continental supermarket that's on my way home from work on London Road.  It's an independant, single-branch store so it doesn't count as one of the "supermarkets" that I am ditching.

For the second night running  I have had a decidedly mediterranean tea, and very tasty it was too.  Lot of faffing?  Inconvenient?  Time consuming?  Not at all, only cooking is making some pilav rice, and having that with green beans in tomato sauce and stuffed cabbage leaves - both prepared by the simplicity of opening a tin

Some olives, a bit of pickled garlic, and a slice of freshly baked bread to mop up the sauces at the end (giving it the English touch!!)

Cost - about £6 for last night's tea and tonight's tea

The olives came in twice a big a jar for the same price as Tesco charge

In contrast to mediterranean climates however, it's all washed down with Warka Strong and Specjal Jasny Pelny - two very tasty and very potent Polish brews.  Again, far better than the gnat's pee that passes for lagers in Tesco Express

On Polish things from the same store, I've yet to try the "Instant Borscht" that looks more like a packet of super noodles.  And whilst I'm sure it's not haute cuisine out of a packet, it's exciting to try something new - and perhaps I shall have a try at making mushroom uszka to have with it - something I'd never heard of before

I'm pleased.  The "no supermarkets" project is no longer a chore - it's an adventure!

Organisation is the key it seems

Well, I "fell off the wagon" a couple of days.  First was just one of those things...I misjudged the time that Pops was open until, and busy building a custom fitted wardrobe to fit in the sloping-ceilinged attic, I deserved a beer I thought.  And the cats needed food - that's my get out of jail free card - can't starve the cats now can I?

So Sainsburys Local was the port of call for Tuesday

Wednesday I ran to work and back so didn't have time for shopping between getting home. out of fruit, juice and soya milk for work....no local grocery shops on the way, so it had to be Tesco

Not happy about it but lesson learned - and I guess this is where they get you...when you need something "on the hop"

Back to local shopping tonight - though I deliberately went to Sainsbury's - but only to claim my £10 lottery from last Saturday - figured I'd rather go in and take money than go in and spend it (don't try this without a winning lottery ticket, doing that tends to get you arrested)

Nice fresh salad with some very gently fried onions, mushrooms and garlic, with a locally made vegan lentil, carrot & coriander pie.  Pie a bit of a pricey luxury but a mile better than any mass-produced Ross Foods type frozen food

Sheff's Specials - mmmmm tasty

The "Novelty Honeymoon"

5 days in and I'm enjoying this.

Okay, I admit it, I went to T**co yesterday - but only to fetch milk for the work tea club (I'd already fetched my own soya milk from 'Pops') and yes, I did pick up some V8 vegetable juice that I'd forgotten.

The "bits I forgot" are going to be the hardest thing, but if I use supermarkets for those then I guess that's fine - so long as I can keep it to things I genunely forgot and not the lazy "I'll pick it up later"

"Pops" is my saviour for this project and this is one of the reasons why I want to keep it up.  A plentiful supply of fruit and veg, plenty of English and Asian foods, spices, sauce mixes and so on.  The store has been there for years, it was a wonder when I moved to Sheffield some 16½ years ago, and since I've only lived out of this neighbourhood for one of those years, it's a shame that i forgot about it for so long.

It's not expensive either....but I have been combining this shopping habit alteration with a rediscovery of cooking.  I've just finished a wonderful bowl of creamy home-made soup made with fresh potatoes, swede, leek, spring onion and carrot - made super-creamy with Soya milk and Soya margarine, with some "Cheezly" dairy-free cheese sprinkled on the top to garnish - all the fancy dairy-free things are available locally from "Zed on the Edge" literally just around the corner from Pops - so perhaps it's time to cut the Holland and Barret habit too - why shop at a chain when I can shop local?  H & B are FAR from cheap too, so it's a no-brainer really.

The question is what do I do on those days when I either am genuinely too busy to cook fresh?  Lunches too for taking to work - the one thing that IS convenient albeit expensive is the pre-packed salads to make my spinach & pasta green pesto salad.  And the easy-cook flavoured cous-cous that I do so like from Aldi.

I admit I may have to pop to Aldi now and then whilst I investigate other sources.  It feels like cheating but at least it's not one of the "Big 4" - still, I do intend to keep it to a minimum with the indent of cutting it out eventually.

Pops Supermarket photo by Paul Denton Cocker 

Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic licence

A couple of days to go

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions normally - though I did choose New Year 2008 to give up smoking and 3 years later haven't touched a cigarette since, so perhaps it's time for a new challenge.

I'm slowly getting fed up with the way my life is invaded by one behemoth in particular.  But I've gone along with it.  Even after signing a petition against one of the mini "convenience stores" - it's there and so close to my home I found myself following the flock and going there anyway.  Despite the fact that a long-standing local independant is only a couple of minutes further to walk.

It's not like the supermarkets are offering anything that wonderful either - only appealing to laziness.  I'll stop there if I've been out walking and driving back from the Peak District in the car, because there's a car park.  Laziness on my part, pure and simple.  I could take a 2 minute detour and then park not far from the independant - if I'm capable of a 23 mile slog over waterlogged peat around Bleaklow then another few hundred yards to pick up a well deserved beer and something tasty for tea as a reward, well , it's not going to kill me is it?

There's Sainsburys too, that took over the small Jacksons chain.  Yes, I used to use the Jacksons store - now JS have taken it over the shelves are shinier, the lights are brighter - and they've never got anything in stock that I want!  They offer less choice than before, and only the more "premium" produce.  Cat food - no normal price tinned food, only the pricey pouches - but it's okay because it's "convenient"

Except it's not really "convenient" - having less choice and having to change plans for tea because of poor stocking is quite the opposite.

So, as of 2011 I'm going to attempt to ditch supermarkets as much as possible.  There may be times when I need to go to one and if I do I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  But I'm going to try to ask myself "do I NEED to go to the supermarket?" before I do.

Then I shall report on this experiment in re-shaping my shopping habits, on this blog.