Ten months on ........

I can't believe that its six months since I last posted on this blog. I hadn't planned to be so neglectful but various events conspired against me and consequently time has marched on and its now November!


 I'm sure that due to my silence you decided months ago that we had given up on supporting local and gone back to supermarket shopping ...................


So what's happened since April?


We've continued to buy from the village shop all the regular items that were on our list before.


 We were able to buy unsalted butter from Landsdowne Dairy in Bude until the Farmers Market finished for the season and we had no need to go to Bude. Luckily we found it in the Cheese Pantry in Hatherleigh, so we're sorted for the winter. However crème fraiche has proved to be more difficult and we've had to buy it in a supermarket.


All our fruit and veg has come from green grocers, farm shops or markets and a small amount from our garden.
Back in the spring we did have to buy a bag of frozen cauliflower from Waitrose as none of the green grocers or Waitrose for that matter had any fresh ones (due to the weather we later found out) and Chris needed it for the curry he was cooking that night.

We were buying dishwasher tablets from the village shop until the dishwasher stopped dispensing them properly so have resorted to buying liquid capsules from Waitrose along with Persil washing capsules due to my sensitive skin. The only other occasion we have had to resort to Waitrose was on our way back from Gatwick after our holiday at 7pm when we needed a few bits such as milk and something for supper.

Apart from this it has become second nature to do our shopping in independent local shops and we're definitely saving money too. We have found that £200 is lasting us five weeks.

It's strange to think that in six weeks time we will have come to the end of this challenge!!

Copplestone Farm Shop

Once a month I have to go to a farm between Crediton and Tiverton. On my way I pass two farm shops. One of these is Copplestone Farm Shop, located on a main road and with a large carpark, so no excuses really for not popping in............ I've only been in once before - last summer.

Well one month I fly past in the afternoon and am always running late so can't stop off. Sounds like an excuse? Yes, you're right, it is! I should leave earlier!

This month it was a morning trip So on my way back I paid it a visit.

As I was waiting to turn in I saw the sign advertising English yellow tomatoes and Jersey Royal potatoes ........... I'd made the right decision.

Before I'd even got in the door I was clutching yellow tomatoes, spring cabbage and cauliflower.
Inside I picked up a basket and soon filled it with purple sprouting broccoli, celariac, Jersey royal potatoes and lots more ....... see for yourself!

It was so good to be able to touch and feel everything to make sure it was fresh and ripe.


Also there are blackboards up inside the shop with everything priced and smaller tickets for the outside displays. Also all the English produce is flagged up.


And of course I had a lovely chat with Mrs. CFS.


Now for those of you taking note .............. I'm sure you'll point out that I've just bought a lot of fruit and veg for £17.21 on this months budget ...........................yes you're right...........


However it was  too good an opportunity to miss, as tomorrow Chris is at a market and I've got errands in Holsworthy. Also I want decent fruit and veg for a change!


Soooooooooooooooo I'm bending the rules and this is actually going to come out of next months budget. (its only a day after all!)


Incidentally this last month we have spent £234.88 out of our new £240 budget!

Melongate

So the last you heard we were going to give the new fruit and veg supplier at Ye Olde Village Shoppe another chance.


On Friday I went to collect my order from the shop and discovered that they had sold my melon. How this could happen I don't know as my order comes in a separate box with my name on it, but it did.


Anyway I'll give the shop assistant, who lives in the village her due as she popped home and came back with a melon! Of course it was a from a supermarket but I have to accept that it was a damage limitation exercise and I wanted a melon! (and I guess if I hadn't turned up when I had, I would be non the wiser).


How was this weeks produce then???


One very manky onion and six seriously bruised kiwi fruit with inedible cores. (that's a new one on me)


On Saturday we were at the fabulous Ruby Country Market www.rubycountrymarket.co.uk and bought  some lovely purple sprouting broccoli and a huge cauliflower from Hallwood Veg www.hallwoodfreshveg.co.uk  They have a shop in Okehampton but unfortunately we rarely have the need to go in that direction.


Yesterday I was in Holsworthy for a haircut so popped into Mr. Dynamic for gram flour and turmeric ...... oh yes, did I tell you that last week when I went in for yeast (the very yeast that he ordered in for me at the start ) had sold out and he hadn't noticed! aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So back to yesterday, I then went to the fruit and veg shop ......... where there are no prices displayed and always strange people congregating in it, for a melon.


'Can I help you?'


'Yes have you any melons?'


'They're very expensive and not ripe'


'What is very expensive?'


He didn't reply but got a melon out from under a cloth and fondled it before declaring 'its not ripe' and covered it up again.


Now this isn't the first time he's told me something is expensive ........... a while back I picked up some leeks from his outdoor display, walked the gauntlet of strange men commenting on the size of the leeks, to the till for him to tell me that they were very expensive.
Well £2.55 was a bargain as far as I was concerned.


Back to yesterday ....... I then homed in on the kiwi fruit .......


'you need to pick the ones on the left, the others aren't very good'


Now I know why we gave up using this shop 17 years ago when we moved here...................


How can you run a business like that?


.....................and please let me decide what is expensive!


So I now need to work on where to get our fruit and veg this week ..............


Where's Baldrick when you need a cunning plan???

Seriously not impressed .....

What's the latest in parish news I hear you ask?


Well, the village shop have changed fruit and veg suppliers.


Their reason? (not necessarily in this order)  daily delivery, fresher, cheaper and some items pre packed compared to their previous supplier. Can't argue with that.


We've been very happy with our fruit and veg order via the village shop since we started this challenge and apart from a couple of things being left off the order and a very manky garlic during the three months we've been doing it we haven't any complaints and as I've mentioned before we've liked the freshness and variety of it.




Fan fare new supplier ....................


So far we've had three orders and to be honest I'm not impressed......


On the first one the beansprouts were missing and the first red onion I picked up to cook with was completely rotten and mouldy .......  you didn't need to peel it to find out.


.................... and the white onions ........


Well, I'll ask you. If you ordered a kilo of white onions, what would you expect?


Yes, like me small to medium.


Nope ........ four huge buggers at 250g each. That's all well and good if you're a catering establishment but not for two of us despite our love of cooking. Yes we cut them in half and wrapped in cling film but...............


My kiwi fruit felt soft in places but not overall and when peeled were actually bruised not ripe.


The pears which I ordered as NOT conference pears were delivered as conference pears ...... ok it may have been lost in translation. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.


The clementines were fabulous though, the best we've had all season.


Next order ...........


Another manky red onion......


Four large white onions = 1kg


Pak choi ... two of which had bolted and I'm surprised hadn't been composted and two of a different variety which were very fresh.


1 kg tomatoes ....... they were soft, sqidgy and battered. Trying to find good ones to serve for lunch on a cheese making course two days later was seriously difficult as although I didn't count them ... (there must have been about sixteen) nine were bad. (Chris and I ate the bad ones after I cut the mouldy tops off )


Fabulous grapes and clementines though.


So to todays delivery ......


This evenings meal was vegetable stir fry ....... well it was until .....no pak choi or beansprouts in the box.


One of the clementines was completely rotten and the NOT conference pears were conference pears.


We did get 1 kg of replacement tomatoes.


Now, Keith is very happy with his deliveries from Edds and looking at the fruit and veg he has on display I have to agree it looks lovely and fresh, however comparing what we've been sent by Edds it looks like we're getting completely different stock....... the second rate stuff.


Against our better judgement we are giving them one more chance ........ if Edds leave stuff off or send us rubbish next week we're out.

We've completed twelve weeks!

Well its a month since I last wrote about our challenge and I hadn't intended to be neglectful of the blog even though I ended the last post with 'I'll let you know on the 27th March' .............. I thought I'd have posted something but I don't know where the time has gone!




I have had to go into Waitrose this month but only to buy milk and a couple of things for the cheese making courses. (allowed in the rules) The only other thing I have to confess to buying was some flowers for a friends Birthday. We were going to Bude two weeks ago to do our shopping and I'd planned to get the flowers from the florist there, however there was thick fog and a fatal accident so we didn't get any further than Holsworthy. As they were a present and also not paid for from the housekeeping money I think it was allowed.


It now feels quite normal, shopping in the village and at the other independent shops and not popping into Waitrose. Its a lot quicker too!


I also think that we are eating a far more varied diet than before. When I order the fruit and veg I have no idea how much things are or whether they are available. By trying to stick to fairly seasonal stuff it generally is! If I was in Waitrose and thought that something in the fruit and veg section was overpriced I wouldn't buy it. By ordering blind as it were I have no choice over price but to me that's an advantage as I'm still able to have my 8-9 portions a day with a good selection.


So how did we do with our £200 this month?


Well, we spent £218.61


You can tell that the food mountain has gone down ........ in fact almost everything is now in date in the cupboard!


As we had no idea what budget to set when we started this challenge and rather plucked £50 per week out of the air, Chris has suggested we up it to £60 per week and see how we do with £240 for the next four weeks.....................................

Eight weeks down the line ................

I was having a bit of a spring clean and tidy up this week ......... only because I was trying to avoid doing the accounts and vat return. In one massive pile on a shelf was my credit card bills going back .... erm several years, (yes I'm a slovern!!!)

I couldn't do a proper comparison as to our spending in Waitrose because clearly some weeks Chris paid for the shopping, however I saw that not only was there the weekly shop bill but also quite a few mid week ones ....... I'd forgotten about these, you know the 'I'll just pop in for some milk' type ones?

At £25, £34, £14  just to mention a few figures I clearly bought more than milk!

One monthly bill was for £588 ...... quite shocking!
In other bills no week was below £70 and the majority were over £100. As I mentioned at the start of this challenge wine and beer was included in our supermarket shopping bill so this explains some of it, although I also saw that we'd had quite alot of wine delivered direct.

Its amazing how much we've cut down on our alcohol consumption since January, now that we can't just go and fill a trolley ................

Today is the end of week eight .... on Friday as you know we spent £46.78 and then on Tuesday we had a top up fruit and veg order of £5.26. Along with loo rolls, milk and teabags it bought the weekly total to £59.88.

In eight weeks we have spent £398.84 and all of it locally!

At the start we were perhaps a bit naive thinking that £50 a week was a suitable budget. As we have found some weeks the spend is higher than others due to the outlay for washing powder etc. and although I then divided the price out over two months (the time it would last) it all just gets rather confusing, therefore we have concluded that working with the months budget of £200 may be easier ................... I'll let you know on 27th March!!!

What we also need to remember is that this challenge is for a year .......................

Discuss!!

Fabulous colours in this weeks shopping

We had to go into Waitrose again today to buy milk for tomorrows cheese making workshop and I have to say like last week I didn't have any urge to wander around the store. I went straight to the milk section, picked up what I needed, and left (via the checkout of course). I'm not sure whether I should have an urge .... is it natural after only seven weeks not to want to look at supermarket stuff? Discuss!!

 

I popped into see Mr. Dynamic for the Doves yeast and cardamoms ........ as I marched into the shop I immediately spotted the yeast. Brilliant! and at £1.09 seemed to be competitive. I asked for the cardamoms. Aaaahhhhh slight problem he hadn't ordered them as he didn't have enough money this week as it had been his worst week ever especially as the Wednesday market didn't happen due to the wind. Ok so the weather is playing a part in poor sales for a lot of traders .... we've found this out too but perleeeeese ................

In a previous life I used to be a manager in the retail sector for various people who had cash flow problems (yes I should have learnt the first time around) so I understand about ordering or not and how you can't please all of the people all of the time but ...................

I also wonder whether Mr. Dynamic is struggling because most of Holsworthy consists of charity shops and hairdressers as well as Waitrose stocking most of what he does. I have only really ever shopped at his gaff for herbs and spices which are so much cheaper than the pre-packed supermarket ones and for chickpea and buckwheat flour. I'm no doubt as guilty as everyone else for not supporting him except in an hour of need, so is it now all a little too late??? When Tesco arrives will it be curtains for him?
Discuss!!

The only other food purchase in Holsworthy was frozen peas from Mole Valley Farmers for £1.91 (with our discount - all 4p of it) .... discount you ask??? Yes its a farmers co-operative and we have shares! They didn't have frozen green beans though.

Back to South View stores in sunny Shebbear for our fabulous coloured fruit and veg box order and our usual staples. I know I mentioned it before but I can't get over how beautiful it all looks.
The colours are so vibrant and there isn't all the bloody awful packaging that you get with the supermarket stuff. I also need to show you the amazingly large bunch of flat leaf parsley ..........

The last time I bought a bunch that size was from a continental shop in Cambridge 18 years ago!!
Soooooooooooo with the three tins of dog meat and frozen green beans and peas not in the picture the Shebshop Global bill was £39.92. With the peas and yeast spend of £3 plus before I forget the addition of the washing budget of £3.86, we are up to £46.78.