SUPERMARKETS

A necessary evil. I get so annoyed about the ridiculous 'price cuts' that theyimpose . Why the heck can't they just sell things cheaply, stop all the nonsense with vouchers and coupons, provide local, seasonal produce that is not air-brushed and perfectly shaped, and let us use our own sense to decide what we want to buy, instead of conning us with placement tricks and silly BOGOFs. Grrrr!

Great time savers but, in an ideal world, with lots of spare time I'd love to wander to the shops, on a daily basis, basket in hand chatting with everyone along the way.

We only have a Tesco and Morrisons here and I dont care for either but I get a delivery from Waitrose in Stamford weekly but buy lots in the town market and farmers markets. Thinking of changing to Ocado as Waitrose is always late!

Yes they are great time savers but surely we grans can find a little time to shop around. I can understand families not wanting to bother because they always appear to be time poor
I do speak from a fortunate situation in being near to local shops which sell good local food and, I would like to add, it is cheaper than the supermarkets.
As I posted on another thread, my big dislike about them is the misleading labelling. Also I hate the way they screw their suppliers and don't sell much local produce.
In the pipeline there is supposed to be a bill being introduced in parliament to appoint an ombudsman to oversee food producers and sales ie supermarkets.

gangy5 I do much the same thing but don't think it is hypocritical. Cat food, cat litter, canned tomatoes, loo paper, kitchen roll, bleach etc are ordered on line and delivered. I don't drive so this makes my life very easy. I buy fresh food – meat, poultry, fish, fruit and veg and bread from the market where I can ask for exactly the quantities I want and have the benefit of locally grown produce. Also, I know the butcher, baker and candlestick maker and their staff, so shopping is actually a pleasant and social occasion.

Of course we have to use them, unless you live near local shops.
The confusing 2 for 1s or 3 for 2s!!! leave me wanting to get in and out as quickly as possible and buy just what is on my list. No browsing for me.

I love supermarkets.

We don't have many markets around here north of the border, and in our village it's impossible to buy anything fresh any more (although you can buy arty farty stuff to your hearts content in no less than 8 art/gift shops). There's a Farmer market 1x a month some miles away, so it has to be the Supermarkets and I do wonder where some of the vegetables and fruit come from and how long they have been lurking... I get so envious of the French, who can shop daily for their produce and have such a huge range of vegetables, fruit and meats, but of course they have the advantage of 'weather'; having said that, I have also visited some amazing markets in England.

I do love a big supermarket! I've been to farmer's markets and suckling but the quality is variable. Just have to watch the air miles, and stay seasonal. Our local siansburys always advertise local (Kentish) fruit and veg. Also shop online for boring stuff.

Me too Gally and Jingle. When I was living in America, I used to take visitors from Britain around supermarkets, they couldn't believe the varietyin them. One of them had animated figures that would burst into song, advertising the fresh vegetables or eggs etc;

Our "local" Tesco's is a 20 mins drive away and is an unwelcoming hangar where food if hard to find by me and by staff. The head butcher is a gem though. We have a Tesco Express 5 mins away but it seems to cater more for the local student population as two aisles is devoted to booze.

Fortunately, Sainsburys came to the rescue with a small store on our High Street and very helpful staff. Still have to travel to a larger branch for non-stock items but here it is the fishmonger who is my guardian angel.

Waitrose opened up in town (Newcastle upon Tyne) and now gives every appearance of a scruffy corner shop. Yet another Waitrose opened up nearer us this week and I hold out just a little hope that it will be user friendly. .

I went to my nearest supermarket yesterday - it was a 60 mile round trip to a very small Tesco!! There is a local shop here - about a ten minute walk away but with a very limited and expensive range of goods! Waitrose? A fish counter? Yes, please.

The food markets in France are lovely to wander around, but they can be more expensive than the supermarkets, unless you buy seasonally from the farmers' stalls who grow their own in the surrounding villages. You certainly won't get any airbrushed or irradiated fruit and veg. from them. There are large stalls that obviously buy in. Once I'd 'got my eye in' re. costs, I now happily buy from both. For simple staples, I go to Lidl's - a bit of a trip but I bulk buy.

Cheese and fish are expensive in the markets, but the quality and range is lovely and I buy there for a treat. The home-made butter is fabulous.

I bought Ox Cheek this morning from my local supermarket butcher, and it's now in the oven on a very long and slow cook. I haven't cooked it before, but I'm hopeful it'll be tender and tasty.

What few supermarkets can offer is the "human touch" - the chat at the counter, even if you are only talking about the weather or having a moan! I like our local Waitrose as the checkout staff are very friendly whatever their age and that can cheer me up if I am having a down day. But some supermarket staff don't even make eye contact at the till and can be so offhand you feel like something on the underside of their shoe. I do use Ocado for the "staples" - dog food, bottled sparkling water which I like, the heavy things and the bulky items but you could exist on internet shopping and never set foot outside the door - how awful would that be!

What a contrast the monthly farmers' market is to weekly supermarket shopping. Today, I went to a farmers' market near Congleton and was coddled and courted by all the stallholders who fed me and offered me price cuts and small pieces of meat and cheese to try, instead of buying large amounts. The vast array of organic veg and foraged mushrooms was amazing, and I was given a great big bag of assorted mushrooms for the same price I would have paid for a couple of portions of button mushrooms in Tesco. I came home feeling completely de-stressed, instead of falling through the door and putting the kettle on after fighting my way through checkouts and car parks. If only all our shopping could be like that.

Online shopping is great for toilet rolls and tins, but fresh produce and variety from a farmers' market for me every time.

I use our local greengrocer and our local butcher, using Aldi, Coles and Woolworths for the rest. I think Coles is the equiv of Tesco. The greengrocer and butcher are really friendly, and you can get an amazing amount of food from both places for relatively little. For instance, 4 kilos of beef mince is A$20 ie about 12 UKPounds, and oranges are about $2 a kilo (UKP 1.20)

I don't like shopping at all, though. I do like farmers' markets, but rarely get to one. There isn't one nearby. I don't drive, so my husband drives me, though as he is agoraphobic it has to be a very quick trip, and sometimes we have to go home before we've finished.

Luckily I grow a fair bit of food in the garden, and I have chickens.

We are lucky to have farmer's market twice a month on different end's of The Wirral so we have a good choice,as you say Carol the stall holders really cater for the consumer and give you the exact amount you need and I have also come home with sample's to try,all my other shopping is done at morrison's and at local bakery for anything else I will go to M&S ie. treats etc and dine in offer on Saturday's when it is on offer.

I loathe Tecso as I think Tesco rules the world. They announce eye-watering profits but go into a flap if they are a few million down! I do realise that supermarkets are not a public service, but cheaper food prices, more local produce and being content to make a moderate profit may help me to change my opinion of them.
Many years ago, a local shop boasted the logo ' SPQR' (small profit quick returns, in their case). What happened?

Every time I see another screaming advert from a supermarket advertising how much cheaper they are than everyone else I think of the farmers in this country being driven to bankruptcy or in developing countries having to take their children out of school or risk their health to feed this overfed nation at unrealisticaly low prices. At times it makes me feel physically sick.

I find many of the big supermarkets such unpleasant places to shop. Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburies always give the impression of being overcrowded, untidy and grubby and the size of many of them make them very inefficient places to shop, far too time-consuming.

I shop at Waitrose or the Co-op who both seem more ethical than the others and generally have much smaller stores. I can do a weeks shopping in Waitrose and be in and out in under half an hour. They may be more expensive, although I am not convinced about that, but there are solutions to that, eat less, eat cheaper (cheaper cuts of meat, or no-meat meals) and eat from scratch (cook from fresh ingredients).

I buy meat from an organic supplier and grow much of my own veg.

I used to love Waitrose but our's was re-vamped 6 months ago to make space for an entirely unnecessary cafe. Now the range of products have been cut, it's terribly congested and nobody can find anything. They've also gone in for my pet hate - boxes of stuff on the corners of all the aisles so you can't get along without queueing. I do hope their profits are down.

I must say we have a fair abundance of supermarkets here..
and within approx 1 mile radius we have an

Asda/lidll/Aldi/ 3 Tescos (2 of them tesco express and 1 superstore) Morrisons, plus travel a further 6 miles and we have yet another Asda/Morrisons and Tesco/Aldi/Lidll

Bikergran, you are well supplied. I live in a 'rural' area in the south east. We have a Co-op in the village, a journey of five miles will then give me the choice of 2 more Co-ops, 2 Waitroses, a large and small Tesco and Sainsburies depending on which of the three local towns I visit. And thats it. I am 15 miles from an Aldi or Lidl and 30 miles from an Asda or Morrisons.

I live in a small seaside town, but amongst others, we have a Waitrose, Tesco Express, Lidl, Co-Op, Spar and an old fashioned Grocer's shop. We also have three traditional baker's shops, two award winning butcher's shops, two fishmongers and two greengrocer's shops. With the exception of Waitrose (30 minutes) they are all within a 20 minute walk from my house.

Actually we buy honey, eggs, pork and venison from a friend; catch our own fish as much as possible and grow lots of fruit and veg on our allotment - if only I had a cow and a toilet roll tree I'd be set up for life!