On Sunday I had a little rummage through my wardrobe and picked out a few things to wear this week. It's worked pretty well, of course I hadn't factored in the drop in temperature or violent thunder storms but it's been warm enough.


Today's outfit is an H&M tunic. I only remembered that I had this tunic when I saw a lady wearing it in town. I love the shape, the colour, the lightness of fabric and the pattern - in fact it could only be improved by the addition of pockets.


It's nicely complimented by my new Bourjois lip crayon. I have always been intrigued by the hype that surrounded the Clinique Chubby Sticks but considering my wearing of lip colour is sporadic at best I was never going to pay £17.00 for one.


At £7.99 the Bourjois version is far more purse friendly and, if reviews are to be believed, it's every bit as good, although the choice of colour is limited to just 4. I chose Orange Crush, it gives a subtle hint of colour and a nice, non sticky, sheen. It lasts pretty well too.


I'm also sporting some new sunnies, someone (ahem) dropped and stood on my last ones, but they lasted about 4 years which is pretty good going for me. These are from Boots and half price - the reward to shopping for sunglasses in July.


I also picked up a copy of Crafty Magazine. I read about it on Tilly and the Buttons and my interest was piqued. It's really lovely, if you're crafty check it out, issue 5 has a great 12 project supplement. I'll be making the felted pebbles and the flower pin cushion ring.


What have you been up to recently?

My last July challenge post left you at day 14, half way through my month without shopping in Tesco. The first two weeks where a steep learning curve, I found new shops, discovered local produce stalls and found myself slowing down at every roadside sign to see if it pointed to a farm shop or advertised a market. With more local knowledge under my belt the second half of the month was easier.

However, there is something very comforting about a place you know well, a place you can rely on to have what you need at almost anytime of the day or night and, I'm not going to lie, this is why a panic for horseradish sauce sent me running back to Tesco. The thing that I have found the most disconcerting is not knowing if I will find what I need. This is okay if I'm just cooking an average meal for OH and I, I either make a substitution or go without but, if I want something specific for a recipe when cooking for friends, I like to know that I have everything I need. Again, this just comes down to local knowledge. As I get to know the shops I've discovered, and find more, I'll get to know where to go for what.

I've enjoyed the challenge, I like gathering fruit and veg from my local market and popping to the butchers for meat. My local farm shop has a surprising amount of useful 'stuff', especially given it's size (about that of an average garage). And I've noticed that I'm cooking differently. I've noticed a turn towards a more traditional meat and two veg type dinners. I've made pastry for pies and we're eating more eggs and less pre-prepared foods. Yesterday you would have found me Googling 'how to make pizza bases'. It's easier to find ingredients rather than ready-made food now.

The comments on my first post seemed to be in two camps - those that already do shop locally where ever possible and those that would love to but don't have the time. It has to be said that shopping in this way takes more time and planning. The opening hours of local shops tend to be very limited. I have now dedicated my Saturday mornings to visiting certain food shops simply because my work hours don't allow me to get to them during the week. I wonder how receptive local shop owners would be to opening and closing an hour later a few days a week? It would certainly make my life easier.

As for the financial aspect of it, whilst things tend to be more expensive I find that I am only buying what I need, I'm not lured by BOGOFs and other special offers and as I now have to plan a menu I'm not wandering around the aisles putting random items into my trolley. Hell, I'm not even using a trolley anymore, it's all baskets and potatoes are heavy - great for toning the arms. Anyway, my point is I'm not spending as much as I did because I am only buying what I need.

Something I hadn't thought about was the service. I'm not saying that the service was always bad in Tesco, sometimes the service was charming - but then I was using the self service checkouts more often than not *grins*. During the last month every single person that has served me has said hello, thank you and goodbye, along with some banter or polite chit chat. I haven't had to wait for anyone to show their colleague a picture of their grandchildren before giving me my change, no one has been bored witless, mute or rude. What I have discovered is genuine customer service.

And now here comes the confession - I will be returning to Tesco. By some fluke or stroke of luck I have not needed to buy any cleaning or laundry products, but I have wondered where I would buy things such as these, if not from Tesco?

So this is what I have decided to do - I will shop at supermarkets for the things that I can't easily buy elsewhere. Never again will I go to Tesco for greeting cards, books, fruit, meat, a new kettle, paint (!), pants or clothes.

I think that sounds like a plan. What do you think?

Love

This is a little different from the challenges I normally set myself.

You may wonder why I would choose to ban myself from such all-under-one-roof convenience but I often grumble about the 'bloody supermarkets' when I see smaller shops close down through lack of trade. I've been known to wax lyrical about how communities should refuse to shop in a new store after they fought to stop it being built. As consumers we have an incredible amount of power - a shop, no matter how big it is, can't survive without customers.

However, in the past year I have purchased numerous non food items from Tesco when I could just as easily have gone to local shops. The contradiction here became to hard for me to ignore.

So, for the whole of July I intend to support the high street and use local shops where ever possible. I want to see if I can survive without Tesco.

Here is how I have been getting on so far...

Day 1
Whilst in B&Q, for reasons of a DIY nature, I picked up some dishwasher gubbins too. I realise that in doing this I am simply swapping one large store for another but bear with me, I started this with no plan in place so I am having to find my way one day at a time.

Day 2
Back at work. I should have been more organised but I'm so used to the convenience of having a Tesco within walking distance of work I didn't think to plan ahead. I'd intended to go to a local butcher, it's combined with a bakery (that had no sandwiches left despite it being just passed noon) and it also had no meat - not a sausage, as they say.

As a result I had to go to Tesco as no butcher would be open on my way home and I'd run out of time to go elsewhere. I spent £4.20 on two jars of Dolmeo in local shop instead of the £3.48 it would have cost me in Tesco. Today has been a bit of a hoo-ha.

Day 3
All I needed for supper tonight was some veg. My greenhouse offers a nice line in radishes and salad leaves but I wanted proper, hearty, green veg. I knew that there was a veg stall on the Square near to where I work, I found out that this is every Tuesday... between 9 and 10.15 am. Not helpful. So, I ventured to Woodbridge to go to the greengrocer there. Guess what? No broccoli or greens, I made do with frozen peas and beans that I had at home. Fail.

Day 4
Needed cat food, so I went to Seapets which is just around the corner from my office. Again, I see the irony that I am still using large, out-of-town stores. But I don't have a problem with these stores as such, what I have a problem with is my reliance on one store above all others. That said, my intention to support local stores remains intact.

Day 5
Back to Woodbridge to the greengrocer, baker, fish monger and I needed single cream so had to pop into Budgens too. This is a small store tucked unobtrusively into the town centre so I felt okay with shopping there. I needed white wine to cook with but I didn't have time to get to an off license so I substituted the wine for water - it tasted just as good!

Day 6
No shopping

Day 7
I visited The Egg Shed this morning, stocked up on eggs, milk, broccoli, bacon and, as OH was with me, a random pot of mustard. I also checked out a butcher and baker and the Saturday market in the town centre (where some friendly banter with a stall holder left me in the finest of moods). I had all the provisions I needed for the next few days.

Or so I thought.

When I returned home I discovered that we were having a BBQ for five friends. With two hours to go and a house to clean, OH went to Tesco.

I was disappointed to default back to Tesco so soon but we needed a number of different things and we wouldn't have been able to get everything from the limited number of smaller shops nearby in the time that we had.

I have found that living in a rural area has hindered this experiment a little. The local farm shop and the only general store both open at 9am and close at 5pm. I drive past at 8am and back again at 5.45pm during the week, so any shopping has to be in my lunch hour and near to work so planning is crucial!


Day 8
No shopping (eating BBQ leftovers and nursing a slight hangover)

Day 9
No shopping (more BBQ leftovers). This is unusual for me, I used to go to Tesco once a day, sometimes twice.

Day 10
I bought my lunch from the sandwich lady (a lovely lady in a van stuffed full of the nicest chicken baguettes known to man). It feels much nicer to support her than to trudge to Tesco for sandwiches everyday.

After 10 days I'm roughly £8 out of pocket. I have found some new places to shop and I feel good about it. Not only am I exploring my local area more, I'm supporting local businesses (which I hope to do more of as I discover more) and I've only been into Tesco twice.

As for the £8, I think I would have spent that on impulse buys in Tesco - I always used to pick up 'extras' every time I went in. Hands up who's gone in for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread and spent £70.00?

Day 11, 12, 13
No shopping.

Day 14
I explored a nearby town. I found a butcher, baker, reptile house, the most fabulous haberdashery, two wool shops... no green grocer though. So, for my veg I went to a farm shop on my way home - I'm slowly discovering more places like this locally - but they, quite rightly, only have seasonal veg. This is going to be a bitter pill to swallow, I cooked a roast dinner but had to forego the parsnips. Roast parsnips are the best.

Do you always head to Tesco or do you use local stores? I'm really interested to hear your thoughts on this.