Fireworks (again).

We have become convenient shoppers, one stop supermarket shop or online.

The general public stopped supporting local traders and markets for the convenience of supermarkets.
I regularly used to go over to Catterick with my family to stay at my mates where we would always visit Catterick market and stock up on meat, cheaper. The market was huge, arguably the largest market in the North of England, but it has now been closed since 2016, lack of footfall.

The amount of groceries people put in these large trollies at supermarkets baffles me, maybe because I only purchase what I need not what I want.
I will shop around I be grudge paying more for something when it can be 20% plus cheaper just for the sake of walking 50 yards.

My mates wife was down getting some autumn bulbs a couple of weeks ago and she was saying how things were financially tight, she then asked what colour paint I had used round the windows and doors of my house. I told her I had to mix 2 different Sandtex paints together to get the colour I wanted. I told her the colours and where I got them from as they are considerably cheaper, by as much as £15 per 5L, she said I will get my husband to drop in at B&Q, it's easier. You try to help people, but convenience seems to be more of a priority than cheaper for some.

If me or my Mrs paid nearly double for something just for convenience, fireworks would go off in the house.

 

The two shops in our village are exorbitant. And one is the Co-op. I have to drive to a supermarket or for the most part, get Tesco to deliver. The £4.50 delivery is cheaper than my petrol and my time.

 

I pay, I think, £20 for 6 months delivery from morrisons, which is worth it for me, they bring the bulk stuff and i go to waitrose occasionally for the extras that I like.

 

Iceland offer free delivery if you purchase is over £40.

 

I'm not sure it was just for convenience.

A while ago I made a commitment to support local independent retailers more. Turns it it's more expensive, sometimes considerably so.

One thing that disappoints me on this front is that things that were once popular because they were so cheap have been rebranded, made trendy, and expensive. In the greengrocer for example, what was once all that was available at the time is now 'locally grown' and 'seasonal', ie fashionable and expensive. Or the bacon bones my nanna used to boil for soup because butchers used to practically give them away, they're now 'pork spare ribs' and for the amount of meat that's on them they're insanely expensive. Our local butcher, when it was the old bloke, used to sell pork belly dirt cheap, then he'd offer tips on how to cook it to get the best out of it. It was cheap because it's more fat than meat. Nowadays people talk about 'pan fried' (what else you going to fry it in) marinated tender pork as an ingredient for pretentious fake Italian and Chinese (or more specifically Cantonese because that sounds posher than Chinese) dishes, and now pork belly is expensive. Even beef brisket, the nastiest, toughest bit of beef that used to be peasant food after the toffs had bought the better cuts, now it comes with advice to slow cook it in red wine and such (a good way to cook it). It's still cheaper than some of the other cuts but not by much these days.