Are supermarkets controlling what we eat?

You are very fortunate to have lived near such markets MOnica. I did once upon a time, and it was so good.
Unfortunately I don’t know anywhere within a 30 minute bus ride with a market or independent shops where I live now. There’s nowhere on foot that I can buy a carrot or an apple. There’s a small mini market in the newsagents with a fridge and processed cheese and a few pre packed cold meats or pies. No veg. Not even the odd onion.
Standard busses are infrequent to the bigger town - around three a day- one at 8.30, one 12.30 and one 4.30. Definitely not practical if you have children. Bus fare is expensive too, adding to the cost of the food. But … there is a free bus from near the local school gate at 9.10 twice a week to the big supermarket, returning about two hours later! Where do you think families get their shopping around here?

From the age of nine, because my mother worked full time, I came home from school almost every day, to find a list and money for the shopping. I went to the local butcher , baker and Co-op, where I queued at both counters. Some days it would also be the fish shop and draper, if necessary, and at least once a week, the chip shop. I also went to a shop to get the gallon tin filled with paraffin for our heater. The same happened on Saturdays. Luckily, for me, most of these were closed on Sundays! My mother didn’t have to worry about finding time to shop, or take me with her. As another poster said, I probably learned a lot. I actually sometimes decided what to buy. I didn’t cook, but did prepare the potatoes. That was in the late fifties- early sixties. This would certainly have been the era when, for some families, healthy food/ home cooked meals began to wane due to women being at work full time. Not for all, needless to say, but in my personal experience.

No markets in the city in Scotland where I live. There is a cheese shop, a few artisan bakers and a fish shop, but these are not in the city’s main streets. The rates would be too high there.

Dizzyribs I never suggested that anything I said applied to everybody. Nothing does in any field. But there are many people who could shop more widely than they do, but don't. It is also possible to shop online. Not just supermarkets, but smaller independent suppliers. A number of local suppliers in my area will deliver to homes within a 15 mile radius.

Our large village has a small co-op and that is all. It is a goldmine for the Co-op, it is on a main road and it seems to have cornered the white van and lorry trade. Despite a high turnover, prices are very high. £1.69 for a tin of tomatoes, I remember - and this was several years ago. I avoid shopping there.

My nearest supermarket is in one of the three towns, each about 5 miles away and accessible by car/bus/taxi. Bus travel will limit you to shopping in town centre stores, Waitrose or Sainsburies. Forget about Lidl, Aldi or Tesco, they are not on the bus route. None of the supermarkets have bus services to the door.

I never buy something labelled 'roll back'. You can bet it's only a day away from going off. BOGOFs never happen on healthy food only junk food.

All this chat because you’re all assuming everyone has a car!! I don’t …my two best friends don’t…. I , and one friend have awful arthritis . Shopping around and walking from my supermarket to the nearest butcher is 1.5 miles …then the walk back ! And as for a ‘local’ greengrocer ….forget it! Oh then there’s the ‘market’ ….:well we get one of those every fortnight….how fresh is that veg going to be !? Having milk delivered would cost me double what I pay in supermarket , but yes , that is one price I would pay to keep dairy farmers working and making a decent living. But what you think supermarkets have stolen from you …ie choice ! I and many like me don’t have because of circumstance . How very middle class!

A chef I know used to run a pub with food . he had a lot of local clientele as he used their meat, fruit and veg products An order from his head office decreed he had to buy centrally via head office. A, it was more expensive. B lower quality and less choice. The local farmers resented that he no longer supported the local growers so they took their business elsewhere. Result? the pub closed. QED.

grannybuy
I did the same from when I was about 9.
My mother used to put an order in with the Co-op; there was a separate Co-op butcher. I'd have to take in the order book,, bring home some of the goods and ensure the butcher didn't give us fatty meat! I'd have to go to the bakers and a couple of other shops.
The order was delivered.
Dad brought fresh fruit, some vegetables and oh joy! mushrooms! home from the market after work on Saturday mornings, the bags hung off the handlebars.

Milk, Corona pop, beer, bread, etc were all delivered.

I get what you’re saying Saggi. Without a car I would be completely reliant on my weekly supermarket delivery. Fortunately the butcher and the fishmonger are happy to deliver for free, and I place monthly orders and freeze so as to keep in their good books and not take the p*ss, but if one relied on for instance online deliveries of fruit and veg there would be a delivery charge and possibly more than you wanted or you would be reliant on what they sent. With an online supermarket order you can choose just what, and how much, you want. We’re not all in the lucky position being able to go shopping whenever and wherever we like.

Saggi All this chat because you’re all assuming everyone has a car!! I don’t …my two best friends don’t…. I, and one friend have awful arthritis.

Shopping around and walking from my supermarket to the nearest butcher is 1.5 miles … then the walk back...

How very middle class!

Indeed. Or as I like to say - smug.

Saggi what you say is not accurate. A number of people have made it clear the problems facing those who do not have a car and 2 posts above yours. I discuss supermarket access by car and public transport and the limitations it places on people living in my village.

Class doesn't come into it. i do not even know what it means. people of every income and none, for various reasons do not drive or own cars. My DDiL does not drive and goes almost everywhere by public transport, even though her husband does. He needs his car for work and may be away overnight, or several nights in it. She must shop and get around as best she can. likewise my DGC.

I think a lot of people have mental filters when subjects like this come up and if they do not agree with someone's premise, do not read their posts properly.

I dont agree about class and car driving I am afraid. In London it's a different story, but elsewhere of course class or money comes into it.

MOnica, what is one to do if there is no shop within walking distance and no public transport? That is my situation and I’m by no means unique. Yes, I have a car, but there are elderly people in my village who don’t, and they are by nobody’s standards well off. They are reliant on supermarket deliveries and the help of family, friends and neighbours.

Tizliz

Good point Seadragon. Tesco butter looks like Kerrygold, there are lots of other examples and I also think they push their own brands in the choice you get on internet shopping. I think a lot of people don’t realise how little choice there is when you have your groceries delivered.

We've shopped for groceries online during lockdowns and about once a month since and there is far more choice online than in the local supermarket because deliveries come from a much larger store miles away.

Germanshepherdsmum

*MOnica*, what is one to do if there is no shop within walking distance and no public transport? That is my situation and I’m by no means unique. Yes, I have a car, but there are elderly people in my village who don’t, and they are by nobody’s standards well off. They are reliant on supermarket deliveries and the help of family, friends and neighbours.

Same as it is here. Not everyone lives in the home counties. Many live in under populated, under served, rural countryside areas.

I'm wondering how many of you who don't care to visit a number of shopsobjected to the 15 minute city?

Not everyone would choose to live in a city, or even a town. Me for one. I’m not complaining, just explaining the realities for many who live in the countryside and don’t have the luxury of choice.

Look GSM right from the start I have made it clear that not everybody can do everything that is possible to do to reduce their dependence on supermarkets. I must have made this point in every post I have made on this thread, but for some reason nobody bothers to read that bit. They feel far more comfortable taking a high moral tone over something I did say but they did not bother to read properly.

if that makes people feel better well I render it to you, and the others as a free public service.

But do do me the courtesy of reading what I actually say. All of us have constraints of some kind over what we can do, and that dictates our action and obviously if you live on a mountainside with no tarmac road, no internet and the nearest village shop 20 miles away and you suffer from RA, MS, osteoporosis and every other disability known, you are not going to be going to markets, farm shops or even supermarkets. but there are many people who do not have these constraints and with a bit of organisation they can do more to make themselves less dependent on supermarkets - and frequently save themselves money at the same time.

I have read your posts MOnica. I just wish you could understand that it’s not all about organisation. You obviously live in a very different area to mine. I don’t live up a mountainside with no tarmac road but there is no village shop here, no shop within walking distance and no public transport. So what is the most able and organised person to do if they don’t have a car and can’t afford to pay delivery charges to numerous independent suppliers for small deliveries? I pay for a month’s worth of meat and fish at a time - by no means everyone living in this rural idyll is so fortunate.

Part of the reason I moved where I am and intend to stay forever. A short walk to village shops, on bus routes to a town 5 miles away and a city 7 miles away, future planning was always paramount.

Look GSM right from the start I have made it clear that not everybody can do everything that is possible to do to reduce their dependence on supermarkets. I must have made this point in every post I have made on this thread, but for some reason nobody bothers to read that bit. They feel far more comfortable taking a high moral tone over something I did say but they did not bother to read properly.

For heavens sake GSM I did the extreme post because I have already said time without number that I appreciate not everyone can shop to the optimum, merely that more people could than do now, but nobody seems to read that sentence in any of my posts, which is why I have recopied the first para of my previous post at the top of this post. Please read it and do not start reading posts half way down.

Don’t you think that saying ‘obviously if you live on a mountainside with no tarmac road, no internet and the nearest village shop 20 miles away and you suffer from RA, MS, osteoporosis and every other disability known you are not going to be going to markets, farm shops or even supermarkets’ is indicative of not understanding the very real problems which lie in the way of people not being able to shop diversely, which can’t be remedied with a bit of organisation? Over dramatising their very real difficulties to the point of ridicule doesn’t demonstrate understanding to me. And kindly don’t accuse me of not reading your posts properly.

We have no shops and a local request bus once a week.
I rely on my weekly supermarket delivery and did until recently get the local farmers cooperative meat as a monthly order they have stopped this preferring to sell to London restaurants where they get much higher prices.
One farmer's market is a 20-mile round trip and the other a 12 to villages with little or no parking.
Our nearest supermarket is a 12-mile round trip so is used once a month for prescriptions. It has ample parking and a three-hour time slot time to go into the little town and independent butchers. I cook from scratch.
Living in the country does not always mean Farm fresh products.

Jaxjacky

Part of the reason I moved where I am and intend to stay forever. A short walk to village shops, on bus routes to a town 5 miles away and a city 7 miles away, future planning was always paramount.

I'll probably be doing the same Jaxjacky in the near future. We have enjoyed our time in this village but are fully aware of the drawbacks and the next move will be made with those in mind.
What you choose to do in your late 50s doesn't always suit you for the rest of your life and you have to acknowledge as you have when the time is right to make that move. We are already looking at possible villages.
Or a move to be nearer family, burdening them with ageing parents isn't really one of our priorities, though we have been invited and encouraged by both.
Good for you.

GSM that was later in the post and there were all the statements I had made in previous posts when people, like you were castigating me, erroniously, for not understanding that not everybody could do what I suggested whenI had actually already made the point.

In the end, rather like jumping up and down and waving my knickers in the air i tried to make as extreme a point as possible - and of course, once agan, people have gone to great lengths to misinterprete it.