Do you still shop once a week, loading your car boot up with lots of shopping bags? Or are you a more a ‘little and often’ kind of person? Some of you long for days past…
Our regular Dieseltaylor says it all depends on where you live:
‘Within 10 minutes by car I have two Aldis, a third arrives soon, one Morrison, two Waitrose, two Sainsburys, and an 18 hour a day Tesco, and another Tesco. There are also two small Co-ops, and a M&S shop at the local petrol station. The closest on foot is 10 minutes. We use Aldi, Waitrose, and the Co-op in decreasing importance and shop at the first two weekly. And the farm shop once a week – but that is just over 10 minutes away.’
Steve isn’t quite as lucky as Diesel:
‘We have the opposite scenario to dieseltaylor – namely a small Tesco and a Co-op. Both these chains are consistently at the bottom of Which?’s pile, but a lot is down to individual store management – our Co-op isn’t as bad as many others I’ve been to.
‘However, with the nearest Lidl 10 miles away, they have no competition. I frequently go to the West Midlands where my lady friend lives – there’s a Lidl or Aldi on almost every street corner, so that is where I do my bulk shopping. I very seldom make a special journey to do a supermarket shop, but if I’m in the area, I take advantage.’
Food shopping in the past
John Ward points out how times have changed:
‘So many things have changed in people’s work and leisure patterns that it’s not a question of whether we have fallen out of love with a big weekly shop, it’s a case of fitting in the shopping when and where we can. With so many more people commuting to work and not controlled by a regular shift pattern life has become looser; eating out at lunchtime [or going out to get a snack and a beverage] rather than opening a lunch box means the evening meal diminishes in regularity and importance.’
Larna8 reminisces about the 1950s:
‘Apart from the social side of everyday shopping in the fifties, fridges and freezers were far from commonplace in the household. Buying fresh meat and veg, and milk etc, to use on the day was the norm. Everything was fresh. There were no freezer shops, or supermarkets. You queued up at the counter of the nearest grocery shop, usually not very large, with your list. When it was your turn you read each item in turn, and they weighed it if necessary. Then you paid them, and then went to the butcher, the greengrocer, the baker or wherever you needed.
‘There were no plastic carrier bags and people had their own shopping bag, plus a string bag for overflow items. You could get brown paper carriers with string handles sometimes. Everything you ate was fresh, and not processed or frozen. It was very social and good exercise too.’
Was food shopping a better experience in the past? Or do you think the modern supermarket experience can’t be beat?