People who buy more expensive local produce, how do you balance the costs?

Posted by thecornflake21@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 21 comments

We've recently moved to a more rural area and there's quite a lot of local businesses selling local (and usually organic) meat, vegetables etc. I'm happy to spend a bit more to support local people but also trying to balance not having a huge amount spare in my budget. I'm wondering what other people do, thinking about focusing on having say one meal a week that makes the most of a local guy who grows and sells beef very close by and then doing a veg box from a local small farmer maybe twice a month. There are also a lot of good local bakers but I'm pretty good at bread making so on that I might look for a local source of flour and make my own.

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21 Comments

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Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

Buy what's worth the difference. Meat for animal welfare and taste. Bread, would rather eat a £5 sourdough than supermarket bread. And you eat less of it. It keeps well too. I will sprinkle with water and give a blast in the oven in the middle of the week. Kills any mould spores and freshens the crust. Slice some up to freeze and use as toast. Fruit and veg is on taste. TBH fancy tomatos are often underwhelming, but supermarket finest in general. Soft fruit is worth it. Carrots too.

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WatchIll4478@reddit

You tend to find there is a range of pricing. The guy we use is effectively supermarket prices but selling produce from the same wholesaler as a shop not far away is selling at eyewatering prices to yuppies. Meat for us is very cheap, usually around £100-120 a lamb if you butcher it yourself, pheasants/partridge/duck/pigeon tend to be free and abundant, venison less frequently seen around us but again £40 was a whole carcass last time we bought one locally. If you have just moved out of the city and want things scrubbed clean and in beautiful packaging with use by dates expect to pay through the nose.

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OpenCantaloupe4790@reddit

Maybe I’m different in that I don’t do it to ‘support local’, I just do it because it tastes better. Couldn’t go back to leathery supermarket chicken now I’ve had the butcher’s chicken, so I tend to prioritise that. Whereas other supermarket meat like mince I find it does the job fine. Some fruit is more reliable from the farm shop, like supermarket oranges are often tasteless. But for a lot of veg that I’m just bulk chucking into stir fries etc, I don’t really care so just get that from the supermarket. Maybe try different things and where you genuinely taste the difference, prioritise that stuff?

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KingForceHundred@reddit

Like farm shop oranges come from the farm? Same produce bought from wholesalers everybody uses and sold at a premium. Don’t see why local should taste any better either. From 25 or 250 miles away won’t taste any different.

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Johto2001@reddit

Locally grown food \_can\_ be different. There is such a thing as terroir. Also there are different varieties grown in different areas and some can be astonishingly good. Some are not. Freshness is another factor. Oranges are all imported but farm shops and supermarkets have different supply chains. Sometimes the oranges being sold in a local greengrocer or a farm shop will be better than those in the supermarket, sometimes the supermarket will be better. One thing the grocer or farm shop has going for it is the need to retain their customers, they will generally be more responsive to crap produce and find something better.

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DigitalStefan@reddit

We have a local smallholding who rear and sell their own pork, beef, lamb and Christmas turkeys. A 15Kg beef box costs £210 (£14/Kg), which I don’t think is too far from supermarket prices but the quality of the meat is above and beyond anything I’ve ever known. It’s not just a case of “oh nice, it tastes better”, it’s literally more nutritious than the bulked up meat from a large producer. That’s my argument for buying organic, local produce. The benefits to diet, health and overall wellbeing have to outweigh any issue regarding cost. Our 5Kg turkey was over £100 and we’ve bought one for 2 consecutive years now because it is so delicious and so rich in flavour. We also have a local ish farm shop and their veg is excellent. They sell 12Kg sacks of potatoes for £6.50. They last forever and taste great.

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thecornflake21@reddit (OP)

How do you store the potatoes? We tried buying large sacks from a farm shop a few years ago and stored them in an unheated garage but found they started going off after about 3 weeks. I'm not sure if it was just too damp for them.

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DigitalStefan@reddit

Our have been in the garage. Purchased a week before Christmas and were fine at the weekend when I roasted a bunch of them. Damp will absolutely ruin them though.

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Serious-Fail-5486@reddit

I have to eat, so I am going to eat well I do not see eating as a cheap thing, nor do I necessarily need it to be If I have to sacrifice X to make Y work, I decide which is more important to me Could I halve - if not more - my monthly grocery bill, and cook more efficiently? Yes. Do I want to, when I consider the impact on my eating experience? No.

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Duckdivejim@reddit

I find the better quality generally, allows you to go for cheaper cuts. Liver from a supermarket is inedible gloop, from my local farm shop it’s fit for a king. Buy bone in chicken thighs or even a whole chicken and butcher it down, cheapest way to buy chicken. Pork is a bit cheaper than lamb and beef. A slow cooker is also your friend. Allows you to buy cheaper cuts and make them tender. Also stews in general are great for padding out with veg etc. Sounds obvious but pay attention to price per kilo/lb. Hopefully they display it. Also I think you have to decide what you think is worth it. I’m happy with supermarket veg and bread but think the meat is worth it

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Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit

Don't overthink or try to keep up with the Joneses. Equally though, eat the best you can afford.

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Other_Exercise@reddit

Oddly enough, I've found with butcher meat you eat less, but enjoy it more when you do. Kind of like: 'that was a great joint, think I'll go veggie for a couple of days now, had my meat quota filled'

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naegoodinthedark@reddit

I live semi rural soots of farm shops and folk selling local produce. Lots of them to decent deals for regular customers up here

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JeffSergeant@reddit

Your local producers will be selling to the supermarkets too! I buy direct when it's something unique, that I prefer over the mass market options. Not to support the producers for the sake of it.

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thecornflake21@reddit (OP)

Both of the ones mentioned only sell direct to locals. One rents fields where he raises beef cattle which are then butchered locally and sold at the gate and the other runs a small smallholding/farm growing veg and just sells veg boxes for local delivery. So they're true small local businesses in those cases.

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Van-Life_25@reddit

We have a caravan and we like nothing more than visiting farm shops round the UK, their produce is far superior than a supermarket and a wider variety. We don’t go abroad for holidays, we don’t buy big fashion brands and as a woman I only own a pair of trainers, one pair shoes for work and a pair of wellies and I don’t own a make-up bag. Our main shop is Lidl or Aldi.

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bbqandgin@reddit

Make friends with your butcher and buy joints in bulk for less. Slice them up for plenty of portions/steaks and freeze. It is an upfront cost so, of course if you can afford it -- but by doing so I save a fortune, high quality meat for less than supermarket prices.

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adreddit298@reddit

We started this too, when we moved to an area that had lots of little boutique shops. Pick the things that are worth buying locally vs from the supermarket. Vegetables are usually, fruit too; meat cuts are usually worth it, but maybe think about buying less but better meat, e.g. have meat twice or three times per week compared to four or five. Chicken isn't usually worth trying to get from a butchers either, in my experience. Pies and sausages can be, but can also be expensive, so maybe just occasionally. Also, remember that even just shopping locally half the time is better than none, so if you switch between supermarket and local, you can get a good variety without breaking the bank. Then finally, just treat yourself occasionally. Sometimes we'll buy a really nice steak from the butcher, which will be much more expensive than something ok from the supermarket, but much nicer too. I kept it to groceries because that's what people mostly refer to when they talk about shopping locally, but similar principles apply to clothes or other things too.

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cgknight1@reddit

I don't basically - like u/BillyJoeDubuluw I'm on a decent wedge and have no children.

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BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit

I’ve actively “shopped local” for the best part of a decade now and personally found that after the initial investment it actually worked out marginally cheaper to do so. What I would add, however, is that I’m child free, I’m not on bad money in all reality and I plan a monthly menu of meals that is precisely stuck to, so there’s no fatty treats that didn’t make the shopping list etc. I’m quite strict once the decisions have been made as to what will be on the menu! It is definitely an initial effort and a conscious choice.

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