Going local: the diary of a supermarket junkie

SHOPPING LOCAL:Supermarket chains are certainly convenient, but is there a better way? Pamela Duncan spent two weeks shopping in local and independent shops to find out

IT STARTED WITH a poll. Darren, a chirpy Red C pollster, calls and asked if I would mind talking about my shopping habits. “So, where do you do your weekly shopping?” he begins.

“Tesco,” I reply.

“And where do you do your daily top-up shopping?” Darren continues.

“Tesco,” I say again. “And where do you do most of your top-up shopping?”

“Eh, Tesco,” I explain. I begin to feel ill at ease. Darren is making me realise that I do almost all my shopping in Tesco, except for the odd foray into a Spar, Centra or Londis.

I’m annoyed, not least because I am prone to the occasional moan over the Tescoisation of the Irish food market and go on about the importance of shopping locally. “After all”, I’ve been known to tell my friends, “if you don’t support your local shop/ butcher/ greengrocers you might just find that they aren’t around anymore.”

So surely, if I put my mind to it I could successfully do all my shopping in independent shops for at least a fortnight? Or has independent shopping become impossibly cumbersome and expensive in modern-day Ireland?

Saturday, April 3rd to Friday, April 16th

If you’re going to carry out an experiment, even one which isn’t terrible scientific, you need a control, so I spend two weeks living out of Tesco which is not a great stretch for me. My grocery life, like the shopping experience in my local Tesco Express, is pretty bland. The shop has most of the stuff I want and it’s five minutes away. The staff are civil but there is little interaction. Despite living in this area for the past six months and buying something in the shop practically every day, I have no sense that I know any of the staff.

Saturday, April 17th

I take my first tentative steps toward independent living in my local farmer’s market. Open from 9.30am until 3.30pm, it gives plenty of scope for a Saturday morning lie-in but there are a few things which are discombobulating. Choice is relatively limited when compared with Tesco and prices are high. A small loaf of bread costs €3, which, for an occasional purchase is fine, but for everyday living isn’t sustainable.

On the plus side the stallholders are full of chat and take their time as they weigh up vegetables and other sundries.

On the way back I stop at the local butchers. A board outside boasts a range of special offers but I am drawn to the steak. An expensive start to independent living (but man does it taste good). It also stocks a range of well-priced vegetables and staples such as rice, pasta – even tortilla wraps and a range of sauces and condiments which could come in handy during the next fortnight. What’s more, I get a dollop of banter with my purchase, a tip on the best way to cook steak and he chops the chicken breasts for me.

Sunday, April 18th

I fall at the second hurdle. Despite all my planning I forgot to buy milk and without it Sunday afternoon coffee would have been ruined. Having tried two independent shops, both of which are closed, convenience takes over and I acquire milk and newspapers in the local Tesco. An unimpressive start.

Monday, April 19th

Back on track but also back in work. It’s all well and good strolling down to the market on a Saturday but what about when you’re juggling work as well? My local independent shop is open late and while there isn’t a wide selection it’s just about enough. I buy bacon, bread and cream, the latter a rip-off at €2.20, but I’m pleasantly surprised at the bacon and bread, both of which come from local suppliers which I have never seen elsewhere. The bacon is really good quality – no fat or run off. The bread is, very simply, delicious. In fact, I have to say that dinner, a dish I cook all the time, tastes much better this time round.

Tuesday, April 20th

Because I sometimes work nights I’m used to grabbing a ready meal 10 minutes before work and bunging it in the microwave. Alas, that is not an option in this experiment. So tonight it’s a leftover pasta dish, a portion of the salad from the market and bread from the local shop. I’d noticed already that I was enjoying my food more. Now other people have joined in – my sister contacts me to tell me how delicious the dinner I left her is while three different work colleagues comment on how good it looks and smells.

Thursday, April 22nd

I’m more aware of independent shops already. Before I was blinded by franchise vision – I could only seem to see shops which I was already familiar with as I had a general idea of what they stocked. But now I notice the butchers, the hardware shop, the tiny independent shop down the road that looks like it was recently excavated from the early 1970s.

People in the independents expect a bit of a chat. I find myself hanging around to hear about the counterfeit €10 notes which are the blight of shops in the local area and listen to one shopkeeper speak of how she managed to juggle the upkeep of the shop with two small children after her husband died suddenly. Random interactions with strangers – you just can’t beat them.

Monday, April 26th

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I barrel into the kitchen, throw on the oven and have one part of my dinner half cooked before I realise that I’ve nothing to go with it. I run to the local to grab a salad. The problem is that there is none – nor is there couscous or ready-made pasta sauces or anything which I would usually rely on for a quick fix. I’m already running late for the night shift at work and there’s simply no time for this. I’m late and I’m frazzled and I can’t be bothered anymore. I give up and buy a salad in Spar. Note to self – independent living doesn’t work on short notice.

Tuesday, April 27th

I’m in town and run into an Asian shop where I’m sure prices for the likes of rice and other sundries are cheap. However, I don’t know what half the stock is due to the fact that, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s all foreign to me. I’m overwhelmed and run away.

But what do I do about dinner? Suddenly I remember a shop which was recommended to me by a friend – a supermarket chain called Fresh. I pause and wonder if this constitutes cheating. My stomach rumbles and my train of thought changes. Technically it’s a chain (there are four Fresh supermarkets around Dublin) but it’s Irish (tick), it stocks local produce alongside well-known brands (tick) and it’s on my way home (tick). For the first time in 10 days I find myself in an actual supermarket and I’m like a kid in a candy shop – the fact that I can buy naan bread is heaven in itself!

Saturday May 1st

A month after the experiment began I’ve discovered that both the big problem and the big advantage with independent living is that it takes planning. The downsides of this are obvious but there are good aspects too.

Firstly there’s price. When I tot up the receipts for the two fortnights I’m hugely surprised. I genuinely thought my Tesco lifestyle would work out a lot cheaper – but in actual fact I spent less in the two weeks of independent living. Independent shops are not cheaper item-by-item but planning ahead coupled with the absence of impulse buying means that I have spent almost €10 less per week living independently than shopping at the big name stories.