Hello all,
There's a decent reason as to why I have not been able to be very focused on writing up my blog in the last few weeks and it is this: poverty. That's right. I am el broke-o. Like pretty much everyone else in our blessed coalition country. Uni is 3 days a week so I'm only able to work 3 mornings and two full days Monday-Friday. I play hockey on Saturdays, no way I can give that up, so that doesn't exactly make me an employer's dream. I kept shopping out at the Slaithwaite community shop up until about the beginning of November when I existed for a couple of weeks on whatever was left in my cupboard and whatever I could steal from my lovely Sal.
Things have not progressed much in the pennies department but I do now have a little cleaning job on a Friday, just £25 a week but enough to buy food again. I've been shopping at our local tiny Co-op supermarket mainly. It's not felt great, having to go in there. Co-op is by far the best of the supermarkets (excepting Waitrose which we do not have up here), much of their food is fair trade, free-range or organic. Even their tuna is both dolphin friendly and sustainably fished. Obviously I only buy their British vegetables too. So it's not really the products that are the problem in supermarkets like this, it's the amount of waste they produce and the brand name products (Nestle, etc.) whose behaviour they support. It's hard to draw a line between what is OK and what isn't with ventures like this. You have to know so much about where everything comes from.
Still, I am not giving up! When I get more money on Friday I will be going out again to the Slaithwaite shop. I am looking forward to seeing what veg they have in at the moment, the earth is so frozen and snowy, I love to see what resilient veg has persisted with growing. The problem with having very little money is not that this shop is more expensive than the supermarkets, it's that what I would usually buy has changed from plenty of veg and fresh food, cheeses, fish and meats, to simply potatoes, pasta, rice etc. I live with my good friend Ed now, and splitting bills means we can get a bit more. But still I am looking forward to a time when I can really afford to shop the way I want to. It makes me sad that the supermarkets, even if it's just the local Co-op one, have one up on me at the moment.
I'll do some research into super-cheap winter meals possible without supermarkets and let you know how I get on.
Lots of love to you all on this brilliant white snowy day,
Ash
Hey! You're doing good work Ais. Don't lose heart.
ReplyDeleteSay... That co-op you're beating yourself up about using, have you ever thought about checking out their bins? I know it sounds a bit strange but they often throw out loads of perfectly good stuff. I know plenty of people who shop this way. It could save you some cash and a lot of waste! :)