onwards

It's been quite awhile, though I'm sure you all stopped paying attention a long time ago, clearly I did. ;^)

Things have been going much as I predicted in my last post. I'm glad we did try to do it. Our last major shop came from Waitrose/Ocado, who have begun to match Tesco on prices of many branded household items that they both sell. They sent us a £15 off voucher as well, to lure us back in, plus they offer free delivery on certain time slots, such as late evening ones, which suit us very nicely. I'm hoping to get to the greengrocer's later, I still prefer to get all the fruit and veg there that I can. As the weather is rather glorious at the moment, I want to make some summer recipes, including pasta salad, which calls for cherry tomatoes and basil.

I've been trying to bake bread on days off, so we have something fresh and not storebought. Last week I did brown bread for the first time and whole-wheat scones. I've got a back of wholemeal flour to use up, so I thought I'd try the scone recipe on the package. They were interesting, I think they'd be well suited to savoury scones, so I might try adding some cheese to them if I make any today. Next recipe in the test kitchen is going to be chocolate, almond and cardamom cake. I need to find out the best way to remove cardamom seeds from the pods, the ones I bought look sort of tough to crack.

Days 24-43

Truth be told, I lost count awhile ago. I apologise for my extended absence, work, life etc.

To make up for the Tesco visits documented previously, I went to the Unicorn grocery co-op in Chorlton, south Manchester on Sunday March 9. Chorlton seems like a nice little town, it has a good vibe, a variety of interesting independent shops and restaurants, and the Unicorn is closest thing Whole Foods I've seen in the UK that isn't an actual massive corporation.

It's bigger than the Windmill co-op and has quite a variety of items. It is vegan, so that's why I couldn't find any cow's milk, plenty of soy and rice options though. Unfortunately the veg choice wasn't huge, I know it's the end of season in the UK, so some items will be missing, but the carrots and parsnips were about as thick as my finger :/ . The butternut squash and swede I got were fine though. They're big on yeast/wheat/gluten-free type breads. I went for an organic herb loaf, which did seem to have yeast and wheat in it, hurrah, and it was quite herby. It lasted pretty well most of the week though.

Other than that, I've mostly been going to the Bread Shop in Aigburth for everyday items like cranberry juice and sandwich rolls. Husband's patience is starting to fray a bit, he's very much ready to go back to Tesco. I think he's concerned we've spent a lot more than usual on food over the past month. I haven't been keeping close tabs on this, I would say yes, it's probably more than what we would spend at Tesco, but I wouldn't say it's dramatically more. I might see if we can compromise a bit, sticking with the greengrocer and butcher as often as possible and maybe doing Ocado/Waitrose orders once a month so we're not going to Tesco as often. I wish there was a Waitrose closer by, I'd just do my shopping there, but the nearest one's in Formby, which is a bit of a trek.

Still, I think we've done quite well overall, I'll come back with further thoughts over the weekend.

Days 24 - 29

We had a bit of a breakdown over the weekend. A couple of husband's friends had come to stay for a few days, and though they were out most of the time, I hadn't planned on having extra stuff around for breakfast. Also I worked six days last week, so I was just concerned with getting stuff the two of us needed when I could. So Saturday morning, husband goes out in search of bacon sandwiches, or similar, for breakfast. None of the places to eat nearby are open at this hour (around 8.30). So to Tesco he went and came home with croissants.

Then on my way home from work I found out he had come down with some sort of stomach bug, and needed medication. It's about 6.30, and the nearest chemist (Boots) was already closed and I imagined that most of the other ones in the area would be as well. So back to Tesco, and got some bacon (the poshest I could find ;) for Sunday morning.

Sunday morning arrives, he needs more meds. I also discover we're nearly out of tea. Visit number 3 achieves both of these. W only buy fairtrade tea though, so at least we were able to get that.

Thankfully, he's starting to feel better, he was in a pretty bad way until Monday evening. I've been trying to get back on track; milk from a corner shop on Monday, sliced bread from Matta's yesterday. He bought a few things from the Co-op yesterday on his way home from work. I haven't seen one near us in Liverpool, which is too bad as I'd prefer to shop there if I could. Searching online, there are a couple in Wavertree and one in Childwall, which are only a couple miles away, so I will keep that in mind for the future.

Off to the butchers in a bit, we're in need of sausages and bacon again.

Days 19 - 23

We made an order with Good Food Store on Sunday evening and it was delivered last night. We opted to go with them instead of Northern Harvest because you could choose a delivery time, including evenings, which is more convenient for us, rather than only having one delivery day. I might give Northern Harvest a go in the future if I'm already off on a Friday, but as we don't have a porch or similar, someone has to be in to receive deliveries.

Our order came to about £20 before delivery charge (which is £4.95) and this is what we got:

The box:


Fruit and veg, and bread:


Groceries:


Later I'm heading to Aigburth Road to get some other things we need. My yoga teacher told me about the Unicorn Grocery which is a co-op in Chorlton, south Manchester. I'm going out that way next weekend, so I may stop and check it out, there seem to be a lot of similar ethical shops nearby.

Days 16-18

We ate the bread before I remembered to photograph it. Whoops. I'll probably bake another loaf on Thursday when I'm off, if I have time. If it's pretty, I'll try to remember to keep the camera nearby.

We were discussing the project with a friend of husband's earlier, and he thought it was a great idea. Husband said that most people he's told about it have been very receptive to the idea and have offered suggestions of independent shops to visit. His idea for the next step is that we make a map and put all the shops on it. I wonder if we can get it online...his photoshop skills are probably more than up to the task.

Someone asked me not long ago if it wasn't more expensive to shop at local independents than Tesco. The short answer is yes, but it's worth considering the reasons behind this. Tesco and other supermarket chains have the purchasing power to keep prices artificially low; many consumers don't think about this and assume 'that's just how much x costs and I'm being overcharged if I buy the same product somewhere else for more'. A recent example that has garnered a lot of media attention is broiler chickens, how they're raised, and the low prices paid to farmers who intensively rear them. I watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's programme on Channel 4 and plan to sign up for the campaign to get people to switch to free-range chicken. More information about it is here: http://www.chickenout.tv

Getting back to my earlier point, this person said that it was too expensive to shop at farm stands and such in her area because it has many wealthy people and so prices are higher. I mentioned that one item with competitive pricing is free-range eggs. That might be something she could afford to buy, as prices for local free-range eggs are often equal to or lower than Tesco in this area.

Days 13-15

Today was a bit of a scatterbrained day, so I didn't get everything I'd planned to. Most important on the list were milk (for me) and sandwich rolls (for him). Both were obtained from The Bread Shop on Aigburth Road, which is like a little bakery, sandwich shop and grocery store all in one. I hadn't been down to Aigburth Road in awhile and I'd forgotten that there is a good variety of independent shops there, albeit spread out over a couple of miles. Happily, there is also a convenient bus route between Aigburth Road and my neighbourhood, so it's not too hard to get to either.

I baked my first loaf of bread in several years this afternoon, will post a picture of it after tea. We're having soup with it, warm bread, mmmmm.

Days 11-12

Friday was a very productive and enjoyable day.

I got the bus to Woolton, which is probably my favourite area in Liverpool. It does feel like a village, it seem like you're still within city limits at all. Woolton High Street and Allerton Road meet in a T and have most of the shops in the village. Here are a few pictures.






I had lunch at BreakBread, which used to have another branch near us on Smithdown Road. It was great for picking up delicious food after work, often healthier than the usual takeaway options, and for about the same price. However, it appeared to shut sometime last year, and I don't get over to Woolton that often. The friendly woman behind the counter told me that they are planning to re-open it later this year with some changes, but the date hadn't been set. I look forward to it, I miss their Pieminister pies!

I got some tiger bread (it's a white loaf brushed with sesame oil before baking which gives it sort of a dark crackled appearance on top of the crust, very tasty) at Waterfields bakery, which had been recommended by a friend. They are a chain from Lancashire, it turns out, so I guess I've broken the rules. However, they seem to be a good one, family run and have won some awards recently. So I don't feel too bad about that purchase.

Next was


where I got some Cumberland-style sausages for husband and stilton and guinness pate for myself (which I might share if I'm feeling generous). Then finally off to the


which is possibly my favourite shop in Liverpool. I could spend hours and quite a bit of money there, as almost every type of cheese they sell sounds tempting in some way. I ended up with small pieces of a Northumberland cheese washed in locally made Baltic Fleet Brewery ale, a Portuguese sheep's milk cheese, and some Danish cheese called Esrom. And 500g worth of local butter, which comes from the same dairy and is a byproduct of Lancashire cheeses that they stock. I was very excited about this. It's all well and good to get organic butter elsewhere, but the main brand I've seen seems to come from the Netherlands. I'd prefer local to organic in most cases.

I stopped at the greengrocer's on Allerton Road on the way home and now have quite a bit of fruit and veg. My last visit was to the Windmill Co-op which has a lot of useful every day items, including organic milk from a co-operative dairy in West Yorkshire. Score. The helpful guy working there told me they're open till 7.30 on Thursday so people can come in after work to get things that have been delivered earlier that day.

I got some wholemeal flour and attempted to make sandwich rolls later, but they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. Edible, but chewy. I think I'll have to find another recipe.

And here are some photos of the day's haul:


all in recycled/reused/fairtrade bags



That's a butternut squash on the far right; the dirty carrots came from the black-and-white building in Woolton that's a sort of holistic beauty/health place