  Shopping without supermarkets The three of us have come to the conclusion that it is better to eat properly without Supermarkets.  It started with The Boy wanting to stop eating Nestle products ( is that possible?  Then we all got thinking,  and actually we are fairly good anyway,  although lazy in things like microwave meals.
 M,  The Boy and I all work,  and at different times,  so meals can be dificult.  Supermarkets boast about how they force prices down,  supposedly for our benefit,
 but really for their own enormous profit,  thus forcing:  farmers out of business;  the loss of traditional crops and animal breeds;  the homogenisation of all our food by shape and colour and not by taste or nutrition;  the addition of vicious fats and sugars into ours and our children's food;
 the exploitation of 3rd world farmers;  unnecessary transport of foodstuff across the country and around the world with all the pollution etc that that causes etc etc.  Oh,  and proper cheese.  I miss that.  The plan is to use the local greengrocer as much as possible,
 bearing in mind they are not organic necessarily but we have used them for years and they are a one shop local business.  Secondly,  the local health food shop,  also a small local chain,  for basics like rice,  pasta,
 butter.  Thirdly the local butcher,  as long as it is not LLoyd Maunder ( who make the pasties etc for the supermarkets,  and,  alledgedly,
 with dodgy meat.  I wouldn't care because I don't touch the stuff.  Meat,  that is)  Fourthly by thinking of local sources of other supermarket stuff eg loo roll,  baked beans,
 canned drinks for lunch boxes,  choclit,  although,  actually the sourcing of this stuff might be worse than say,  recycled loo roll,  or organic drinks from the supemarket.
 Anything else will have to come from the supermarket,  whether tis Sainsbury or Tesco,  but ideally,  a whole week with no supermarket input will be a good result.  I think it won't be too much more expensive either.  I have a whole day off tomorrow to investigate this,
 which could pull the rug from under the whole scheme because I can't do that every week,  and if we are away,  the whole thing falls apart.  There is an organic farm shop about 10 miles away which has most everything,  and isn't that much more expensive ( also their lovely organic bread goes off in 24 hours.
 Oh!  just like in France where it goes stale quickly too,  but hey they have a baker in every village,  which is how it should be.  Perhaps they need to put more chemicals in it;  but I dont think the additional fuel and pollution cost make it worthwhile unless we are driving past,
 which is a shame.  Just shopping carefully in our own town makes a lot of difference.  Any advice welcomed.  A 
