Supermarket Cartels Treating Customers With Contempt

Our house was in Manche, Normandy. Our main markets were Coutances and St Lo, which are much smaller and less varied than 30 years ago.

Another small town has turned its market square into an event space with a small performance area and car park. The smaller town where our house was situated has seen its market shrink to about 6 stalls at most.

escaped

I'm surprised you say that about markets in your area of France, M0nica. In my "End of the earth" French area, markets thrive, from the moment I drive off the ferry to my house there are dozens to choose from, and not at all touristy.
They operate all year round . They sell mainly vegetables, fruit, dairy products, fish, tableware, linens and household goods. Plus roast chicken and galettes. We have nothing like this in my equivalent area in Devon.

Same here in my part of France. The Department has
encouraged more Bio/Organic growers and as a result
the open air markets are well supplied with small
veg traders. I haven't seen any local markets disappear,
quite the opposite they are well attended especially
the large Sunday one which is a treat to go to.

I leant to cook through eating. I always enjoyed my food and was curious about what the different ingredients tasted like, so when I had to cater for myself, I asked my mother for the recipes for my favourite dishes, then an aunt, purely by change gave a little cookbook issued by She magazine. It was called She Quickie Cookbook. 60 recipes for 2 that could be cooked from scratch in 15 minutes. It was obviously aimed at bedsit/flat dwellers like me. So I worked my way through the whole book - and some recipes are still fsmily staples, - andby then I was up and flying -

Yesterday I made butter and costed it out.

600ml of double cream cost me £2.38.
This yields 15 1/2 oz or 440 grams of butter.

250gm of butter is between £2 and £3.50.

So the saving is significant, I often buy cream on offer which makes an even bigger saving.

A lot of manufacturers now sell in 200gm packs and charge nearly the same as a 250gm pack.

Well I wasn’t taught to cook at all (unless my -at the time brand newly built comprehensive schools efforts counted -these home economics classes consisted of someone being shouted at by a shrill voiced woman for such crimes as putting a milk bottle on the table when learning how to set a table🙄. My mum got rather animated about similar culinary themed crimes..
I learned to cook partly by watching my mum, who was it has to be said rather good( born 1919 and one of nine children) and partly because I am greedy and was privileged to have good meals at all my state schools followed by gorgeous puddings.
In other words I appreciated and recognised good and sometimes expensive food.
You have to want to eat better quality food to be bothered to home cook nowdays.
If it is just feeding your face and you haven’t the equipment, facilities or time and energy literally you are not going to bother. This is the modern quandary.🤗

I was taught to cook by my Grandmother in the 50’s she fed a family of 6 on good basic healthy food. I pride myself on following her example. That is when good quality basic ingredients are there to be had. Sadly it’s not always the case these days as other insightful ladies have mentioned in this thread. As for supermarkets not being a charity of course not or they wouldn’t make the profits they do for the shareholders!
As for farmers they have often been treated unfairly over the years by supermarkets as they themselves have often pointed out, they are obliged to sell to the big supermarkets who all offer very similar deals. Smacks of collusion to me!
As for making one’s own butter, if during Winter milk yields are down prompting price increases, where o’where does that leave cream? It certainly isn’t more economical as some would suggest. If the big supermarkets have not being treating us with contempt all these years why this past year or so are they now putting printed signs on their shelves throughout their stores ‘ Price Matched With Aldi’ or Lidl. I do agree with the comment about schools bringing back real cookery lessons and including basic household/financial management it is sorely needed to prevent debt and a healthy diet. Good nourishing meals can be produced quickly when taught how and I do mean boys as well as girls. Maybe the we won’t need the rows and rows of what I call ‘Chicken Ding’ ultra processed microwave ready meals.

I use a small neughbourhood ASDA, when toppig up the shopping for a friend I shop for.

I do not really have any strong reaction. Its stock reflects the requirements of the neighbourhood it is placed in and it is always quite busy but I am usually their and school throing out time and it is next to a big secondary school.

It actually reminds me of Tesco. perhaps its problem is a lack of differentiation.

Asda here is so dark, the shelves go up way above my head and cut off any light. I rarely shop there even though it is the most convenient.

I have not been to an Asda store for a long time. The one nearest to us is just enormous and like walking round a small town, it is quite bewildering.

When you did find what you wanted and got to the till with a full trolley, it was all self-service and there were queues as customers struggling to put their goods through were far slower than the experienced till operators. The poor till operators were standing at the end of each till, constantly coming forward to help customers.
They were needed there until they were made redundant.

If this was in the name of progress and efficiency, Asda can keep it.

I'm surprised you say that about markets in your area of France, M0nica. In my "End of the earth" French area, markets thrive, from the moment I drive off the ferry to my house there are dozens to choose from, and not at all touristy.
They operate all year round . They sell mainly vegetables, fruit, dairy products, fish, tableware, linens and household goods. Plus roast chicken and galettes. We have nothing like this in my equivalent area in Devon.

Spiv brothers have sold it off.

mum2three

If you try the small corner shops, there is plenty of butter, cream and yogurt. There is competition between supermarkets but not between corner shops.

There may well be one supermarket chain less by this time next year: ASDA is reported to have had a disaster of a Christmas while the other big names did fairly well.
It's being run by the Spiv Brothers these days and everything about my local branch screams "Failing!"

he UK used to have lots of markets, but many have closed down because people stopped going to them preferring to buy everything in the supermarket.

The same thing is happening in France. When we bought our house in Normandy in 1991, there were thriving large markets in all the local towns. Not only large vegetable and fruit stalls, bakers etc , but an area set aside for local small holders, normally retirees, selling the surplus from their vegetable gardens, a chair, a small table and 3 bunches of rhubarb, 2 bunches of flowers, a few lettuces, and madam would be there knitting baby clothes - also for sale.

By the time we sold our house last year, these markets had shrunk dramatically, the ladies with their bits and bobs are long gone as are most of the local vegetablea nd food stalls. The markets were much smaller and mainly selling cheap clothing and tourist tat.

Tourists love markets, but they are there a couple of markets one year and are never seen again. The locals find it easier to do all their food shopping in Leclerc.

Totally agree our supermarkets are far too powerful:
The way they treat farmers
The rubbish they import
We have the worst quality produce in Europe
We should have more farmers/ normal markets as in continental Europe giving us local produce

Yesterday was a different country 😁

Wasn't this done yesterday?

Foxyferret

Going off piste a bit on this but why is it when you get clubcard price offers, after the offer is finished, it never goes back to the original price, it’s always more eg. Cheddars normal price £1.20, clubcard offer £1.10, offer now finished, cheddars now £1.50. It makes me stock up when things are on offer as you know when they come back they will be more expensive.

Do you remember when there used to be a lot of shortages, some deliberate I think?
One was toilet rolls and the price went up considerably when they became widely available again.

knspol

Allira

knspol

I did notice the lack of unsalted butter but there seemed to be plenty of salted around.
Did not know butter was so easy to make shame I sent my food mixer to the charity shop recently!

There was some unsalted butter here but no salted.

We should have swapped!

Yes

Met halfway for coffee and mince pies 😁
(Unless you're in John O'Groats!)

Going off piste a bit on this but why is it when you get clubcard price offers, after the offer is finished, it never goes back to the original price, it’s always more eg. Cheddars normal price £1.20, clubcard offer £1.10, offer now finished, cheddars now £1.50. It makes me stock up when things are on offer as you know when they come back they will be more expensive.

Allira

knspol

I did notice the lack of unsalted butter but there seemed to be plenty of salted around.
Did not know butter was so easy to make shame I sent my food mixer to the charity shop recently!

There was some unsalted butter here but no salted.

We should have swapped!

karmalady

The price hike was necessary. Supermarkets are not charities and farmers need to be paid as do the butter makers

Make your own

Indeed.

Sago

Allira

A question:

Why does butter keep longer than cream? Presumably because it has a higher fat content, but if you used cream which was just on its use by date, would that keep for a while or not?

Yes, up to date cream lasts longer as butter.

Thank you.

If you try the small corner shops, there is plenty of butter, cream and yogurt. There is competition between supermarkets but not between corner shops.

I have cream in my fridge with a “use by” date of 19 December. It’s perfectly fine.

I have made butter with some of it - which is also perfectly fine 😁

Allira

A question:

Why does butter keep longer than cream? Presumably because it has a higher fat content, but if you used cream which was just on its use by date, would that keep for a while or not?

Yes, up to date cream lasts longer as butter.