It is possible to shop locally without spending more – and to go shopping without going to a supermarket:
Discover 10 Benefits of Shopping Local | SPANA
Here’s a very timely piece from the i-newspaper on how our spending decisions can have a real impact.
‘I haven’t used a supermarket for 10 years’: Meet the shoppers on a mission to save high streets
Shopping locally cuts waste, helps build a sense of community – and can even save you money, say the people who have shunned supermarkets for good
By Sarah Barratt February 2, 2023 7:00 am
Nick Weir can’t remember the last time he shopped in a supermarket, but estimates it was around 15 years ago. “I believe that where we spend our money is the biggest form of control we have over the future,” says the communications manager from Stroud, Gloucestershire. “Small shops are part of the fabric of the community. The soul of a place is lost when they disappear.”
“Shopping this way could soon be a necessity,” notes Kay Reed, a marketing strategist for the Open Food Network, a not-for-profit whose interactive map connects communities with local producers.
“With our current reliance on complicated and fragile global supply chains, when one thing goes wrong, it causes huge disruption, resulting in the shelf shortages we have seen so much in the past few years.” Localised food systems, she points out, are much more robust.
The pandemic helped supercharge the change. Organic veg box retailer Riverford saw sales soar from 50,000 boxes a week to 85,000 at the height of lockdown in 2020. While numbers have dipped since then, the Devon-based B Corp still delivers 70,000 boxes a week.
“I think this reflects how the benefits of finding an alternative way to buy groceries, discovered by many during the pandemic, are going to last way beyond it,” says Rob Haward, CEO of Riverford. “The convenience of home delivery, combined with the direct connection to the farm and seasons, is something that supermarkets can’t match.”
It’s even possible to save money while avoiding supermarkets. Just ask Helen Morrison, from Newcastle, who shunned the big shops in 2021 after a change in her financial circumstances. Now, she spends as little as £4 a week, sourcing food on OLIO - an app that redistributes waste produce, as well as The Bread and Butter Thing, a food surplus redistribution charity offering affordable groceries to those who need them.
Fi Darby from Devon is more hard-line, having pledged to go “supermarket-free for 2023”. One month in and she hasn’t cracked yet – despite a struggle to find reasonably-priced cheddar, coffee and tea bags (as a result, she’s using hers twice). “Shopping this way takes more time. I’m not sure I’d have managed it when my kids were young or when I had a full-time teaching career,” she admits. “But now I work as a freelance writer, I use downtime to garden, bake, or research alternative ways to shop. I get such a sense of satisfaction from finding new ways to eat that I see it as a hobby.”
The bulk of her vegetables come from a local supplier called Devon Fresh. “Everything arrives with minimum packaging, and I can see where all the produce comes from,” she says. “Plus, it all tastes far better. The carrots are so carroty that my grown-up daughter always asks for one when she visits.”
“Community” is a word that comes up often. “It’s a side-effect of shopping I wasn’t expecting,” notes Arnell. “After I gave birth to our son, Chris from the farm shop offered to drop groceries to our home. Now, he’s become a friend. I’m not sure you get that at the self-service checkout.” She also notes that she now looks forward to shopping, rather than seeing it as a chore. “Visiting the farmers’ market is a lovely morning out,” she says. “And you really get a sense that every time you shop with a smaller business that it makes a huge difference to them.”