Not shopping in supermarkets

[Festered]

I reeeeeeeeeally want to stop shopping in supermarkets, for obvious reasons, environment and animal welfare, just want to stop giving them my money.

But, aside from getting produce from the local farmers' market (which is going to need some preparation, I work 50 hours a week!) I don't know what else I can do? For things like household consumables ?
I buy other household things, books, clothes etc second hand mostly so am not so concerned about those things.
Any tips?

[Mollfie]

You can order boxes of organic veg to be delivered to your house, greengrocers often do it but there's also a few online that do it too.

[harpy]

Some of those organic box schemes do some groceries as well as fruit and veg.

This site may help http://www.boxscheme.org/Category/Bo...Home-Delivery/

If you have an Oxfam shop near you (and if you approve of Oxfam), you can buy vegan washing up liquid and stuff like that in those sometimes. You can also order them from the Ethical Superstore/Natural Collection - works better if you can order in bulk.

[Korn]

Most people buy food in supermarkets. The group of people who would by fair trade and environmental friendly products etc. only if they are easily found where they shop regularly is much larger than people who are dedicated to eg. veganism or focusing on environmental concerns.

If people who are into ethical products would stop using supermarkets, this would limit the selection of such products in these stores, which again would reduce the market/sales of such products. Even people who aren't yet into such products see them daily when they are in supermarkets, so they serve as reminders of the other choices that exist out there...

So - I don't follow your 'obvious reasons', Festered!

[Festered]

I understand what you mean. It's kind of like the argument I have with myself all the time regards animals in rescue centres/shelters. Me and a bunch of other folks care and adopt these animals. If we didn't, it may eventually reduce the amount of animals in them, as in they would cease to trade if no animals in them never found a new home. But,



on the other hand, it isn't their fault and I love animals and want to give them a second chance.


I agree, if we all stopped shopping at supermarkets veganism/ethical consumerism would be more difficult given the limits on product range.
I personally though, never buy any specifically vegan products (imitation meat or dairy free sauces for example) not that there is anything 'wrong' with these products, I just don't use them. So, for the stuff I do buy (veg/grains/household cleaning and maintenance products etc, I feel I should do better by avoiding supermarkets, given their huge environmental impact , the fact they support animal abuse, and their unethical stance, anyway.

[harpy]

I don't mind shopping for some things in supermarkets (although I would prefer it to be Waitrose or Co-op which seem slightly more "ethical" than some of the others, not particularly from a vegan point of view).

I like supporting things like box schemes and all-vegan businesses as well. I guess you wouldn't find all the box schemes equally ethical either though - some of them also sell meat for example.

[Johnstuff]

I think it would be good if "we all stopped shopping at supermarkets" as smaller more ethical busnesses would have more customers. It may mean that there is less vegan stuff in supermarkets for the mainstream to see but supermarkets don't cater for vegans very well anyway.

I try and avoid shopping in supermarkets now, I just use them for the odd thing.

[f2097]

I banned myself from supermarkets a few months ago.

I just got so fed up with them having few vegan options, not giving a crap about animal welfare, the environment and having terrible structures that result in bad customer service and unhappy staff.

They aren't the kind of organisations I want to give my money to I do still occasionally shop in the Co-op and Waitrose as they are both mutuals and are controlled by staff (& customers in the Co-op's case) rather than stock markets like the others are... But most stuff I now get from the internet or from independent health food shops.

With lots of companies you can just buy direct and it means they get all your money and its cheaper (I've been doing this with Plamil, Doves Farm, Pukka Herbs & Natural Balance Foods).

[twinkle toes]

I banned myself from supermarkets a few months ago.

I just got so fed up with them having few vegan options, not giving a crap about animal welfare, the environment and having terrible structures that result in bad customer service and unhappy staff.

They aren't the kind of organisations I want to give my money to I do still occasionally shop in the Co-op and Waitrose as they are both mutuals and are controlled by staff (& customers in the Co-op's case) rather than stock markets like the others are... But most stuff I now get from the internet or from independent health food shops.

With lots of companies you can just buy direct and it means they get all your money and its cheaper (I've been doing this with Plamil, Doves Farm, Pukka Herbs & Natural Balance Foods).

hmm i'm pretty tempted to do the same thing myself.. to be honest the only reason i don't already is pure laziness/convinience so perhaps its time to make a bit more of an effort i can't find the article online, but when they were considering building an asda superstore where i live, the local newspaper reported that something like 50% of the trade in town is for tesco which is pretty sad :/

[Festered]

I mostly buy from Supermarkets, veg, wine, popadums (!) grains such as quinoa, lentils, dried beans, conveniences such as cup soups and sauces (hot sauces mostly, ketchup etc, herbs, stock cubes, seasonings, and wine. I suppose, if I just started buying my veggies from a farmers market, and grains online, that would make a difference in itself?

[twinkle toes]

i've started reading 'tescopoly' by andrew simms which is quite interesting.. i'm only halfway through it but basically he talks about tesco and some of their unscrupulous actions (hoarding land, putting local companies out of business, making unfair demands on their suppliers and basically being anti-competitive). the only downside of the book is that it's totally one sided which can get annoying :/
anyway i thought that perhaps the others who posted in this thread might find it interesting

[erfoud]

I think the point is the "what you buy" rather than the "where you buy", that is, for me the most important thing is to avoid some brands that belong to food corporations (Nestle, unilever, Kraft etc) that are the banners of an unsustainable way of life that sooner or later will collapse.
In this way you may boicott some supermarkets and shopping centers in favour of local stores, but if by doing so you still get coffee from nestle and form Coca Cola groups, it doesn´t make a difference.
The keyword in this is and will be increasingly in the coming years, local produce ie, trying to get most of your stuff from your area, thus saving the energy (mis)used from transport and at the same time eschewing the big firms. By doing so we´ll take the real strides into a really sustainable and fair world

[Sgable84]

What a wonderful idea!

I work for a grocery store and the only thing I buy there is the produce because it is the best I have seen around. But...there is a mom and pop health food store in my town that I buy at for pretty much everything else (sometimes I buy the organic produce there too) I choose really to give my money back to the community, then really give too much to my store which sends it back states away. And the mom and pop store is a bit more expensive, but I think of that as the sacrifice of buying local and keeping the money local.
When the summer comes around, I will for sure by at the local farmers markets in town.

The best thing I can say for wanting to not shop at the supermarkets, is to try and buy as much local stuff as you can. I know sometimes you cant always...Locally owned health food stores (the mom and pop type) and farmers markets are the best by far to shop for produce and other stuff, and if you need other things like clothes, books, etc, then YES thrifting is the best thing. I have been thrifting for years and years. Plus a lot of the local thrift stores ARE locally owned (Goodwill and salvation army do have local "chapters" where they give half the money to local shelters and food pantries.)