Eating Habits

[Taylor]

People will shop amazon as they are lazy and prefer to get things cheaper...

No one can deny the handiness of online shopping, though our local butchers have seen a huge upturn in business, they have developed also and they make a lot of fresh stuff made up the night before.

Why wouldnt someone use Amazon?
Many shops are closed so you cant get some of the things local - in addition to prices being lower with them.
If local shops are open then they need to be competitive.

Reminds me a bit of the push for staycations last year - Irish companies ripped the arse out of it by charging extortionate prices

Butchers is a no brainer considering the difference in quality between them and the large corporate brands

[Milltown Row2]

People will shop amazon as they are lazy and prefer to get things cheaper...

No one can deny the handiness of online shopping, though our local butchers have seen a huge upturn in business, they have developed also and they make a lot of fresh stuff made up the night before.

Why wouldnt someone use Amazon?
Many shops are closed so you cant get some of the things local - in addition to prices being lower with them.
If local shops are open then they need to be competitive.

Reminds me a bit of the push for staycations last year - Irish companies ripped the arse out of it by charging extortionate prices

Butchers is a no brainer considering the difference in quality between them and the large corporate brands

It think its buying from Amazon, after or before lockdown is the question being asked, I noticed and mentioned on here during the first lockdown, some local shops took the piss out of their prices, there was a hike in prices, even the local Spar's and the like lifted their, Iceland and Lidil kept things the same.

My butchers worked very hard to keep their names out there and provided a delivery service also. As for butchers and quality, its very hard for butchers to compete with the big stores, buying baulk and having the facilities to freeze larger amounts will bring the price down for them. So butchers have to pay a wee bit more on quality meat.

A local Butcher struggles, my brother owned a butchers for a few years, on a busy road in Belfast many years ago, the profit margins were slim to nothing, spending an extra 5 going local will save you the hassle driving to a store, parking and walking around Stresco's!

[screenexile]

Been dieting since 4th January and doing fairly well so far have 9lbs off in that time.

It hasn't really been that difficult either. I'd be awful for eating takeaway food or eating out any chance I get it would usually have been minimum twice a week so obviously I've cut that out. Also with bars and sweets and crisps anytime I was in a shop I'd have bought myself something and would have had a couple of bars of chocolate at work along with a feed of crisps or chocolate after dinner so I've cut all that out (best is not to have it in the house if I know it's there it'll be gone!)

The last thing is reducing portion sizes. I would have easily went back up for that extra slice of beef or ham or that extra spud or bit of chicken but have cut that out and my wife has moved to serving dinner on a side plate rather than a big dinner plate to give the illusion of having a full plate but it seems to work.

Other than that I'll have a bowl of cereal and fruit for breakfast, soup and a sandwich for lunch and my dinner.

Will be interesting to see how far down that gets me before I'd have to do something more drastic like change what  I eat or start working out on a more regular basis but for me anyway it seems to be that if I can put a bit of discipline into it the weight can come down not too bad! I haven't been 13.5st since my early twenties would be nice to get back there!

[Ethan Tremblay]

I am all for shopping locally, but at the end of the day the price is going to be the deciding factor in where I buy my groceries. 

I would have shopped in my local supermarket for years, then I tried Sainsburys and bought the same items and the price difference was roughly £15 - £20.  Over the course of the year that accrues to some saving like. 

I do have a distain for the big supermarkets and how they capture your data and analyse it to market you better, and also how they create their own branded products based off of what people are purchasing, they are trying to monopolise the food industry in that regard.  But, as the main breadwinner in my family, I have to do what is financially best for my family. 

I have a friend who is a butcher and I will always give him a turn though, even though I know I could get, say a box of chicken for £7 cheaper elsewhere, that would be a concession of mine. 

[lfdown2]

I am all for shopping locally, but at the end of the day the price is going to be the deciding factor in where I buy my groceries. 

I would have shopped in my local supermarket for years, then I tried Sainsburys and bought the same items and the price difference was roughly £15 - £20.  Over the course of the year that accrues to some saving like. 

I do have a distain for the big supermarkets and how they capture your data and analyse it to market you better, and also how they create their own branded products based off of what people are purchasing, they are trying to monopolise the food industry in that regard.  But, as the main breadwinner in my family, I have to do what is financially best for my family. 

I have a friend who is a butcher and I will always give him a turn though, even though I know I could get, say a box of chicken for £7 cheaper elsewhere, that would be a concession of mine.

But do you know what you're getting.

I understand the argument though, the problem being that as the Amazon's and Tesco's of this world get bigger their buying power increases accordingly, and it's at the point now where the small retailers will never be able to compete with them again - it's all about scale.

Apologies for hijacking the thread to discuss the merits of capitalism...

[brokencrossbar1]

Would shop locally for fresh stuff like bread, fruit, veg, fish and any chicken/meat that we might get. We would do a weekly click and collect for the basics like tinned, baby stuff etc but try to go local. We get our fish of the Shankill road....little did I know that's where I would end up!!

[StephenC]

Shopping local generally means choosing to spend a little more for the same product in the hope that your money stays in the local economy.
I shop local from anyone who chooses to shop local. If a retailer is asking me to spend more from my families budget locally, then I expect them to do the same. Is that retailer preferentially purchasing their merchandise from local vendors even if it means that their profits are a bit lower? Are they willing to forego their own 'budget' in order to help the local economy? If not, then they can go and shite; they are essentially looking for private households to do what they are not willing to themselves. Plenty of businesses are struggling at the moment, but so are plenty of households.

[bigarsedkeeper]

A lot of people don't realise that local shops aren't buying local produce as much as say Aldi and Lidl. Lidl have locally produced high quality meat on the shelves. Some butchers don't always take in as good quality meat as local supermarkets either. It can be pretty complex. I like to support local businesses as much as possible. Buy my clothes and shoes from smaller businesses when I can. amazon gets hit for stuff I wouldn't have time to look for.

[johnnycool]

Would shop locally for fresh stuff like bread, fruit, veg, fish and any chicken/meat that we might get. We would do a weekly click and collect for the basics like tinned, baby stuff etc but try to go local. We get our fish of the Shankill road....little did I know that's where I would end up!!

Portavogies finest I bet..

[Tony Baloney]

Nowadays if you want to shop local and trail around butchers, greengrocers etc. a lot of the time you are having to queue etc. so as well as cost there is a lot to be said for the big supermarkets. It's not as if me going to Sainsburys in Armagh doesn't benefit the local economy when they are an employer of local people. I also don't buy the argument that local butchers etc. are going to be better, especially in relation to hygiene etc.

[JoG2]

Big Ciaran who runs Pure Derry and the Ulster Fry is in the process of setting up the Pure Derry Marketplace. A local version of Amazon. Be interesting to see how it goes.

[trueblue1234]

How many of you would consider not only what you are eating but where it has come from?

Since moving jobs closer to my local town I have made a point now of going to the local butcher and green grocer - doing my best not to buy either of those from the big supermarkets. Have also bought some meat from the farm gate and I would have seen a big difference in quality & taste.

I have developed a particular dislike of the big supermarkets through this pandemic too (not that they will care and not that is particularly their fault), when it's all over there will be very little left on the high street.

We've recently got big shopping  orders from our local shop. I'm not going back to those big f**kers. We have to support our small businesses, because a lot of them won't be here as this goes on.

I can't unders people constantly ordering from those amazon b******s. Never bought nothing from them and never will. Shop local. If you had a local business, how would you feel people bypassing you and heading to those big f******s?

To be fair there are local suppliers on Amazon.

[Don Johnson]

We would generally eat well during the week but Christ have i a sweet tooth. The kids sweet cupboard gets raided pretty often and biscuits are my downfall. We are getting fed up with the same dinners week in week out so have taken up those Hello Fresh offers I've seen advertised so looking forward to trying those this weekend. Anyone else used them? I believe they are having problems with delivery to here due to Brexit.

I've got Hello Fresh meal a few times, normally only when they send me a 40 or 50% discount. The food is nice and definitely makes you try new things but the portions aren't great to be honest. Maybe I'm just a greedy bastard.

[manfromdelmonte]

How many of ye grow your own veg?

Great way to eat healthier

[square_ball]

We would generally eat well during the week but Christ have i a sweet tooth. The kids sweet cupboard gets raided pretty often and biscuits are my downfall. We are getting fed up with the same dinners week in week out so have taken up those Hello Fresh offers I've seen advertised so looking forward to trying those this weekend. Anyone else used them? I believe they are having problems with delivery to here due to Brexit.

I've got Hello Fresh meal a few times, normally only when they send me a 40 or 50% discount. The food is nice and definitely makes you try new things but the portions aren't great to be honest. Maybe I'm just a greedy bastard.

We had them delivered yesterday with no issues thankfully. Made them last night and tonight. Decent enough actually and good to be cooking something different from the usual dinners. Got it on a trial week for a tenner so will probably cancel and get the wife to take out a new subscription. I see what your saying about portions but they do the job for the January diet.