Seasonality

[Peter]

Tesco in the news today.

Tesco holds 30.6% of UK grocery market and has a land bank which experts believe, if developed into stores, would give them 45% of UK grocery market.

Tesco takes the biggest slice of food sales in 67 of the UK's 120 postal districts.

Their headline profit figure �2.2 billion .

That is one company, add in Sainsbury, Asda, Morrisons et al.

It's enough to make you cry.

[JennieAtkinson]

I wouldn't like to start telling you what we pay here for fruit and vegetables - and they are not fresh either after days of travelling on the roads and ferries.

A number of growers in Shetland have branched out to supply some veg - strawberries in particular and of course we get local tatties. So it is down to growing your own, which is where I started four years ago when I decided to buy the polytunnel. So far this year I have only bought a couple of sprigs of calebrese and lived on the veg stored in the freezer from summer pickings, stored onions, garlic and carrots and the few cabbages and leeks growing at the moment. I feel quite chuffed with what I have achieved this last couple of years. I love sitting down to a meal grown my myself.

[SueA]

Hi Bramble, we noticed that last year when in Kinsale. A good idea indeed. Paper bags would also be good as they would be recycled and can go into the compost bin unlike plastic.

Our local Tesco gives away free plastic bags & I used to take them back & re-use them each week but they are now so weedy that they rip if you try & do that.Luckily though our local council now collects plastic bags in the recycling bin so thats how I get rid of them other than the ones I use for rubbish bags.

[andrewo]

We have become lazy as communities and a species, expecting our produce in the west when we want it. We have created an unfair industry were farmers and labourers come off worst. and what for? Strawberries that taste like bitter water, apples that have no texture or taste and lettuce in Winter. Frankly, who wants a salad on Christmas Day? Come on, wise up, the big supermarkets, who in turn are owned by big conglomerates are telling us what to eat and when we should eat - and this drive to show us what exactly is the fat and sugar content in our food may be good for PR but have you ever sat down and read what the E numbers are. We have to look at a sustainable future with communities, were green belts are used for agricultural purposes rather than new houses from Every House is Exactly The Same company. Rant over....

[Peter]

We have become lazy as communities and a species, expecting our produce in the west when we want it. ---- and lettuce in Winter. Frankly, who wants a salad on Christmas Day?

The old boy on the plot next to me grows lettuce all through the year. Sows a few every few weeks, plants then out inside a one plank high 3 X 2 wooden square frame and in winter just covers it with a sheet of glass.

[andrewo]

That's fine it hasn't clocked up over 3,000 miles to get to him or been super frozen to retain moisture. Still, salad on Christmas Day, it just isn't right

[blackkitty]

Andrew you're right about e numbers, lots of manufacturers have gone back to listing them under there chemical names as consumers think they're okay then. I don't know how many people know how to identify different types of sugar. The clear labelling often only refers to cane or beet sugar. the same with fats, some are good, some bad and lots of people can't distinguish.
Re carrier bags, I sure I remember Gordon Brown thinking about taxing them and then changing his mind.

[eskymo]

I wish there was a tax on plastic bags.

One reason I can't bear to shop in supermarkets is seeing the amount of plastic packaging and the amount of plastic bags people use to take their shopping home. They put their veg in a small plastic bag and then put that into a larger plastic bag...I think it's insane and drives me mad as I wait in the queue with my two canvas shopping bags.

That's another reason I like Lidl - they charge for their plastic bags and people always put their shopping into cardboard boxes which a freely available.

Tescos and other supermarkets used to have cardboard boxes lying around near the tills for people to use and then all of a sudden about 5 years ago they were deemed a fire hazard and therefore no longer available...ridiculous!

[Birdie Wife]

Get hold of some of those folding plastic boxes, �15 for 4 from B&Q, absolutely brilliant for putting your shopping in and packs down afterwards. They can take a fair old weight too, and they'll last for years.

[eskymo]

I've got some of those - they're good aren't they!

[JennieAtkinson]

I agree with you Eskymo - there should be a tax on bags. We were very impressed when in Ireland.

Lakeland do pairs of trolley shoppers which are very good, pack flat while shopping and then two fill a standard trolley. Trouble is there are extremely useful for other things and I find they go walkies! I also have a canvas bottle bag, holds six bottles, so I can take back my empties and buy six new ones!

[nick the grief]

Safeways used to do crates that were good then stopped. I don't got to safeways any more (morrisons took them over I think ) butthe crates are still usefull!

And as to fresh fruit & veg, I'm suprised that trading standards haven't had a go. A few years ago we thought of haveing a small farm & looked at contract egg production via Bowlers who supplied a lot of the supermarkets. At the time they only collected once a week & then the eggs went to be cleaned sorted & packed then distributed. In theory you could have had an egg than was 7 days old before they got it then I think it took 3-5 days thru their system, How can a 12 day old egg be fresh? still warm & srying as wyou walk up to the house is fresh

[blackkitty]

There's a good website www.bigbarn.co.uk which allows you to look up all your local food producers if you'd rather give your money to the farmer than Tesco's.

[eskymo]

That's a great website, but for some reason it didn't show the Farmers Market in Kirkcaldy or the local smallholders when I looked in my area...but it showed me loads of other stuff which is useful. There's also a link to 'What's in season' which is great and full of recipes and ideas!

Here's a direct link