Buy Local? I'd love to....

[Westdene Seagull]

I do all my shopping is tesco and it would be a very rare week that I spent £20 on meat for the 2 of us, often less than £10. I know the fruit and veg stall at our market is cheaper than the supermarket but as I said I'm rarely around when its open. The local butchers I have tried were a lot more expensive for what I buy. I do cook most of my food from scratch but I'm not very adventurous so tend to be buying chicken, mince, bacon etc.

To be fair that £20 feeds five of us !!!!

The problem with supermarket chicken is it has water injected into it ( and sometimes other less savoury things ) to make it look more appealing. We've stopped having a whole roast chicken for Sunday lunch and now, for £3, we get five huge chicken legs with the thighs still attached from the butcher and roast them - stunning flavour and you don't realise the difference until you try it.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

You missed a trick there. I am sure if people would have known this at Christmas, we could have put our orders in.

It would be great if yo could mention this again near Christmas time and certainly we would be interested.

I will

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I will

Do you have a farm shop ? My uncle has a deer farm and he gets lots of pass by trade by just putting a sign out the front. I have nowhere to store a whole pig but I'd love to be able to buy chops, sausages and pork belly direct from a farm.

 

[The Large One]

To be fair that £20 feeds five of us !!!!

The problem with supermarket chicken is it has water injected into it ( and sometimes other less savoury things ) to make it look more appealing. We've stopped having a whole roast chicken for Sunday lunch and now, for £3, we get five huge chicken legs with the thighs still attached from the butcher and roast them - stunning flavour and you don't realise the difference until you try it.

Alternatively, the great thing about a whole roast chicken is that (and I'm sure you already know this), you can use the leftovers for sandwiches during the week.

You can also take the carcass and make your own chicken stock out of it (along with carrot, celery, onion and a little salt & pepper), and freeze it in rinsed-out plastic milk bottles.

Re-cycling and re-using. Little is wasted.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Alternatively, the great thing about a whole roast chicken is that (and I'm sure you already know this), you can use the leftovers for sandwiches during the week.

You can also take the carcass and make your own chicken stock out of it (along with carrot, celery, onion and a little salt & pepper), and freeze it in rinsed-out plastic milk bottles.

Re-cycling and re-using. Little is wasted.

Don't forget giblets for gravy. This is right up the top of my list as to why I don't buy whole chickens from the supermarket.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Do you have a farm shop ? My uncle has a deer farm and he gets lots of pass by trade by just putting a sign out the front. I have nowhere to store a whole pig but I'd love to be able to buy chops, sausages and pork belly direct from a farm.

Not at the moment. We are located down a very small road with little passing traffic. We are looking into selling up and buying a smallholding with better road frontage. We need more land so this summer looks like the time to expand.

The main problem we have is seasonality especially the lamb. The pigs are now on a full breeding program but this will take a further year to get fully operational. It's a hard balance to get right and an expensive one to get wrong!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Alternatively, the great thing about a whole roast chicken is that (and I'm sure you already know this), you can use the leftovers for sandwiches during the week.

You can also take the carcass and make your own chicken stock out of it (along with carrot, celery, onion and a little salt & pepper), and freeze it in rinsed-out plastic milk bottles.

Re-cycling and re-using. Little is wasted.

Indeed. That said I'm a fan of thighs rather than breasts !

 

[Muzzy]

As a sheep/pig farmer (small local producer) can I please ask you all to buy local. I can not begin to compete on the price of the crap you get from the supermarket but I promise my produce is of a far greater quality. If you come direct and buy bulk I'll beat most butchers etc but its hard to convince the normal housewife that good locally produced meat is so much better. I now am about to supply three local butchers but have had to drop my price to £130 per pig after feed, bedding, slaughter costs, inoculations and travel expenses I net £40. If I sell direct I can make £140. To only make £40 per head barely keeps the farm going and works out that I work for about 1.80p an hour. Nevertheless I love my work and take pride in what I do.

The best about buying local is that like many others I'm happy for people to visit my farm, see the conditions the animals are kept in and I'm happy to show the full process.

I would happily buy direct from you but it's hardly practical for your average family to buy in bulk is it? I couldn't get a whole pig in the fridge/freezer and I wouldn't want to spend my day off running around dropping stuff off to all and sundry that would form some sort of syndicate. Is there an option to come and shop at your farm for say a fortnights requirements? I would also be interested in any manure for my allotments?

 

[TheJasperCo]

I live in West Worthing, and there's a lovely greengrocers not far from me in Goring, called Pixies. I get all my fruit and veg in there, real good stuff.

I remember, me and my Dad would cycle there to get groceries, then pop next door to Alldays and get the Sunday papers. Good times...

 

[Jim D]

...... My local fishmonger has excellent fish fingers......

Sounds nasty, does he also have gills and an ability to breathe under water?

 

[CheeseRolls]

Sounds nasty, does he also have gills and an ability to breathe under water?

Fair cop, you can't be serious on here for too long

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I would happily buy direct from you but it's hardly practical for your average family to buy in bulk is it? I couldn't get a whole pig in the fridge/freezer and I wouldn't want to spend my day off running around dropping stuff off to all and sundry that would form some sort of syndicate. Is there an option to come and shop at your farm for say a fortnights requirements? I would also be interested in any manure for my allotments?

OK I'll keep in touch. All my current produce is accounted for. A decision that I had to make but but I alluded to earlier this doesn't help the cashflow.

 

[abc]

We tend to buy all of our food in supermarkets, our weekly fresh salads, fruit , fish, ready meals that sort of thing in M&S and weekly stuff like large veg, loo roll etc in sainsburys.

For all the snobbish stuff thrown at wait rose and m&s, when you take a lot of their offers in to account, especially eat in for a tenner, they are not that much more than bigger supermarkets. Last night on a deal we had a decent bottle of wine, steak, veg, jacket potato, crab starter and champagne strawberry desert for a tenner. It was a superb dinner and cracking value for money.

The only local stores around us are a forfars type shop which is expensive and we have two takeaways. The butcher closed a few years ago which was a shame as he sold decent cuts of meat but couldn't match supermarkets proces

So true and have you noticed how its Tesco, Aldi and Lidl and the like that are in the news for the horsemeat scandal but not the 'higher end' supermarkets like waitrose and M&S?

Tesco have screwed the farmers, screwed the processors, screwed the cornershops and now the only way they can maintain their vast profits is to screw the consumer by breaking the law. Tesco know exactly what they are doing. The only thing not in their plan was getting caught.

 

[KNC]

Alternatively, the great thing about a whole roast chicken is that (and I'm sure you already know this), you can use the leftovers for sandwiches during the week.

You can also take the carcass and make your own chicken stock out of it (along with carrot, celery, onion and a little salt & pepper), and freeze it in rinsed-out plastic milk bottles.

Re-cycling and re-using. Little is wasted.

Plastic milk bottles!!!
Great idea.

 

[Deleted member 18477]

I get all my fruit and veg and meat from small, local market stalls, far cheaper than any big supermarket, with better customer service, and next to no queuing. I've done this for months now. And, I can get just what I need, not multi-pack buys that can feed a small village with a best before date of tomorrow. Today, I got 6 days' worth of fruit, veg and meat for 6 quid. Can't complain, and I'd recommend the same to anyone else in two minds.

and what exactly did you get? do you only eat 1/3 of a chicken breast per day or something? £6? i'd be lucky to get 1-2 days worth of food for that.

 

[beorhthelm]

So true and have you noticed how its Tesco, Aldi and Lidl and the like that are in the news for the horsemeat scandal but not the 'higher end' supermarkets like waitrose and M&S?

i think this says more about the rprejudice against some supermarkets, with whats being reported and what people are picking up on. Waitrose has had bad tests, iirc it was on pork content in beef.

 

[brakespear]

There's a market every Wednesday in the centre of Worthing with a fruit and veg stall. Dirt cheap but good quality.

Thank you - I will check it next time I'm in town during the day on a Wednesday

 

[Nibble]

The OP has obviously never run a shop. He should try to sell produce that costs you more to buy than the supermarkets sell it for.

Probably one of the daftest, most pointless, irrelevant statements I have EVER read on here. And this is a forum that boasts Bushy and Buzzer as members.

 

[algie]

Where is it you live ?

Locally I have a great fishmonger, a quality wine merchant and a pretty good monthly farmers market. A few miles inland a brilliant butcher (most of the meat comes from Scotland), a top local smokery (Salmon from Scotland and Canada) and a really good farm shop. The local greengrocer has just shut, but I am contemplating trying a local delivery service.

I am currently using Ocado, topped up by visits to the likes of Aldi, Lidl and Wilkinsons, to pick up bargains and non-food stuff.

I like local stuff, but anyone who has been to a Farmers market will know there are plenty of stalls selling expensive rubbish. This month I mainly bought meat. A whole rabbit, a Chorizo and some wild boar sausages. I try to buy food that is in season, but over all I would probably fail the TLO test as well.

I've never been to a farmers market. When is the next one and exact location? Can you get homemade sauces like horseradish ?

 

[CheeseRolls]

I've never been to a farmers market. When is the next one and exact location? Can you get homemade sauces like horseradish ?

There is a list here, not sure how up to date it is, but it looks about right to me.

Farmers' Markets in Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxon, Surrey, K - Farmers' Markets in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Isle of Wight - What's on, things to do, places to see and days out in the South East

There are a few sellers who attend multiple sites and others who come and go, so no idea if you will find horseradish