I just arrived back home from shopping at Asdas in Merthyr, why when this country we produce the finest apples in the world do Asda have to fly in English variety apples from China so thats why I buy my apples locally, also I notice Garlic which I have just planted are now supplied at Asdas also flown from China. Haven't they heard of the Isle of Wight where the best garlic is grown thats why the French buy English Garlic. I'm nearly self sufficient when it comes to veggies but today has really got me going and in the Autumn i shall be starting my own little orchard. We may be little people but we can fight back
I ask myself the same questions powerspade. If we produce it and enough of it then we shouldn't be importing it. Most of what we eat is home grown or bought from our local farm shop, there are always some things that I have to get from the supermarket but I try to buy as little from them as possible because I'd much rather buy local and support a local farmer and farm shop.
Powerspade...don't get me started!!! It's part of the reason we got a lottie in the first place. Asda pees me off in a big way (Walmart grrrrr) and Tesco is just as bad.
I buy everything I can locally and because of that I have great relationship with local traders, girls get free bananas from grocer every morning on the way to school, and I get bags of stuff on it's way out free for sauce making etc, butcher sorts me out free sausies occasionally and it's just a nice friendly way to live. gives you a sense of community as well as keeping all these small independant shops open.
>:(
You know,that sense of community is a real treasure, I have swapped home made jams and pies for decorating etc and it makes one feel good.We used to be practically self sufficient but without the acreage the livestock had to go sadly and I can't afford ten acres here. About flying stuff in ,I agree it is awful and yet it is often the case.I feel so guilty about importing seeds but I guess it has to be better than importing the produce. Funny old world,I still can't get used to strawberries in December etc.XX Jeannine
I posted the same sort of thing a while ago after the wife bought apples from Morrisons in October.
They were from Israel... >:( >:( >:(
just got grapes from south africa..one of the few things I buy.. :-\
I'm keeping out of this or I might do myself a mischief!
Suffice to say that, when all the small & caring farmers are forced out, & we buy everything cheaply from abroad where humanity is unknown - & when our power stations are American, our railways are French, our water is German, & our allotments are bulldozed - Heaven prevent another war against this country.
I soooo agree, the supermarkets are out to take over the world. Apparently £1 in every £7 spent in this country is spent at Tescos. The way they treat their suppliers is appaling, I could go on & on [& frequently do!]
sainsbury's just started with a line of fairtrade clothing, looks comfy and not too dear..at least it's something, oh, yes the co op has 20% off all fairtrade goods ..
Well I was a Market Gardener up until the eighties working on a family farm, done all the hours God would send, but saying that I loved it winter as well as summer, lived on the dream that it would be mine one day and then, the supermarkets came along and we could no longer afford to grow crops of veg and make a profit, I do wish the same would happen to these supermarkets as ,as happen to most small farmers and shopkeepers and they go bust.
Richard that is such a shame,I do get a bit warm under the collar when I read about Tesco going green etc and at the same time I read about the Asian chain they own where they kill live tortoises right there in the shop in a very bad way. I forget the site name but anyone interested will find it under" tortoises tesco" I think.
Sometimes I too think about another war and wonder what we would all do.
Then I do get very upset about the seeds we cannot get as they are not on the approved EU list. I thought everything was crazy when I could not buy Hero of Lockinge melon seeds in England and had to send to Texas for them, and as they are an English bred Melon it seems daft... oh I better stop or I will fall off my box.
XX Jeannine
And my nice local independent plant nursery has just closed, squeezed to death horribly over the years by everyone from Homebase and B&Q to Tesco.
Grr, there's the T-word again. >:(
who on earth shops there, everyone I talk to hates the place ???
Tesco and the like are not the problem, the great British public won't pay for home grown produce and to be truthful they couldn't give a fig if small producers go bust as long as they get cheap food, electrical items, car insurance, petrol etc etc
Quote from: legendaryone on February 28, 2007, 22:49:06
Tesco and the like are not the problem, the great British public won't pay for home grown produce and to be truthful they couldn't give a fig if small producers go bust as long as they get cheap food, electrical items, car insurance, petrol etc etc
Not everybody is as lucky as you and i, it's not that the GB public won't pay! a lot connot afford too. >:( Don't forget thats why the first supermarket the CO-OP was formed . :)
So why is it that the Co Op is so expensive today as it is mostly people on low income that do not have means of transport that use them now and to me they seem to have rip off prices.
The Co-op management has forgotten (or has never known) what co-operative means. The Coop was founded originally to reduce the need for middlemen. After all it is the existence of middlemen and shareholders expecting profits from easy actions that lead to high prices - and that which Tim calls inhumanity. The 'shareholders' (for instance in the 1940s) were all the Coop's customers who then received their bonuses in the form of dividends. These dividends were earned by collecting points or stamps/tokens with each purchase and could be cashed in or used as purchase power in other Coop stores (Clothes/Household goods etc.)
At that time there were no managers with big houses, fast cars and expensive holiday homes in Florida, but just normal people who did their job properly and worked hard every day.
But, let's face it, it's not supermarkets who are destroying our culture and communities - it's those of us who buy things from them.
Quote from: Busby on March 01, 2007, 10:51:35
But, let's face it, it's not supermarkets who are destroying our culture and communities - it's those of us who buy things from them.
That's it in a nutshell really! :(
That's it in a nutshell really! :(
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It is true but the sad thing is we can not do much about it now as most of the small shops have gone now ans sadly, will never be back
But, let's face it, it's not supermarkets who are destroying our culture and communities - it's those of us who buy things from them.
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In a nutshell, Let's face it,some people don't have a choice!! they just cannot afford one!
P.S. Morrisons have got fruit tree for less than a fiver,Lidal have got half price seeds,and woolies have got cheap fruit bushes........... ::)
I don't find it much more expensive to shop the way I do. The difference is I think that I know how to cook. Knowing how to make a soup or a sauce has saved our butts so many times when we've been skint. Veg costs pennies really, it's the sweets and treats and readies that cost the dosh. It's not supermarkets per se that I have a problem with and cannot say i never use them, but I have realised that a lot of it is false economy and it's the shocking ignoring of local producers and growers. This would also not be so bad if you knew the growers abroad were getting a fair price for their crops. The only winners are tesco et al as they are the ones who announce huge profits year on year.