Bits and pieces

[tinyjo]

I've finally decided to have a go with an old fashioned way of living, after wondering about it for a while. Tescos is easy, even more so for me, as it's at the end of the road, but I don't think that you always get the best by going to the supermarket, so I've decided that I'm going to try going to get fresh produce. I work in the city centre so it's easy for me to go to the covered market or indeed, as I did this lunchtime, the Wednesday market and buy fruit and veg, bread, and there's the organic butchers there too, so I'll be happy that all of my meat is at least relatively ethically sound.

Of course, there are still some things that I'll need to get from Tesco but because I cook almost all our meals from fresh ingredients, I should be able to do quite a good proportion of my shopping in town, spreading my cash around. There are also a few things that I have to think about, the one that springs to mind being cheese. Currently I buy Tesco half fat cheddar, because I'm on a diet. There are cheese stalls in the markets, but none of these do low fat cheeses. Instead, they do proper full flavoured interesting cheeses (like cheddar with chilli in it). So do I go on buying cheese from Tesco, or do I try and alter my diet so that I can fit in a few portions of fatty but exciting cheese instead?

Initially, I plan to try to do this for about a month and then we'll sit down and have a look at how it compares, both monetarily, and taste wise. Should be interesting at the very least and after wandering around the market this lunchtime I find myself hoping it goes well.

Comments

[shepline.livejournal.com]

Why not think about a Veg Box from an organic farm? You pay x amount each week and they deliver a box of veg (staples plus some seasonal variety). I have a friend you uses one out near Farringdon way but there are loads all round the country.

Try the Soil Association (http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/librarytitles/briefing_sheets27072001) for details (you need to register (free) to see the Organic Directory)

I was going to do this a year ago, but for one it wasn't very practical for me. I intend to do it eventually though ^_^

Well done and good luck!

[applez.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're going to adopt my old Oxford lifestyle. ;-)

Oh, and also, I tend to do the full-fat exciting fewer portion cheese option.*

Mind you - once you start working an allotment, then we'll know you've gone full-Green. :-)

*It's really too bad that there isn't a Trader Joe's-styled supermarket in the UK...they have some quite-tasty/tastey low-fat and soy-milk cheeses...and none too expensive either.

Low-fat - spawn of the devil!

[t--m--i.livejournal.com]

I believe it was Derek Cooper who expressed the opinion that anyone who found themselves eating low-fat spread would be far better off just spreading their butter less thickly.

Of course *really* old-fashioned eating would involve a fairly restricted subset (no garlic, peppers, avocado, kiwi fruit, broccoli, raddiccio etc) of what's in season, covered in mud, riddled with pests, not to mention Fray Bentos tinned meat pies, cotton-wool sliced white loaves, and orange juice that's three pounds a pint. If you wanted courgettes you'd have to get an allotment and grow them yourself and eat a pound a day of the bloody things during the summer....boiled. No frozen food unless it's peas. No pasta except in puddings and macaroni cheese. No curry. No rice (apart from puddings, of course). I could go on but to be honest celestialweasel had a worse time of it.

[elleblue.livejournal.com]

I had a go using the Wednesday market to get fruit and veg last week, thinking along pretty similar lines. I got some exceptionally good cherry tomatoes, and two kinds of nuts from the dried-fruit-and-nut guy, but none of the green veg I could see was very inspiring at all, so in the end I took myself off Sainsbury's for broccoli and the likes. I do a fair bit of shopping in Uhuru or Holland & Barret, so I've often contemplated cutting out supermarkets, but things like frozen spinach, canned artichoke hearts and and the inevitable bottles of pepsi max still pull me back, even if I could source my fresh veg from elsewhere.

I skipped past the cheese comment, sorry...

[shepline.livejournal.com]

Definitely start shopping at the Oxford Cheese Company - right down the back of the covered market - they do the best cheeses, try the goat and ewe, soft and hard. You like France and French cooking, so you'll love this place! ^__^

Always ask, not that you usually need to, to try the cheese first, and I usually end up with two or three varieties.

Also, just round the corner from there, Feller & Son & Daughter, the organic butchers is the best place to go for meat. They're proper butchers with blood and sawdust all over the floor *grins*

[blufive.livejournal.com]

I can heartily recommend the whole principle of farmer's markets, at least as far as meat goes - we get a large proportion of our meat from the one in manchester, and it's damn tasty stuff. Makes most of what's available in Tescos look pretty pathetic, especially for things like bacon and sausages.

[white_hart]

I've been moving towards this since I started working in town. We decided recently that although we'll still get a lot of staple stuff from Waitrose, and food for the weekends, it'd be good to move towards getting more food from the sort of suppliers we wholeheartedly approve of.

I didn't realise there was a Wednesday market - is that in Gloucester Green? Must give it a try...and don't forget the farmers' market, first Thursday of the month.

As for the cheese, I agree with everyone else - buy the good stuff and have half as much. You need much less of a well-flavoured cheese anyway.

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Not a bad idea but I'll see how things go with this step to begin with.

Re: I skipped past the cheese comment, sorry...

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Fellers is already my butcher of choice - they're good for game style stuff, too.

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Yeah - theres a few fruit and veg stalls and lots of misc stuff like fabrics, bric-a-brac and £3 DVDs.