No shopping, but still supporting local indies

Well, I haven’t had to buy anything since Monday which is good for the purse but no so interesting for the blog diary.

But I did do something to support a local independent business yesterday.

In 1998 when I was on maternity leave with baby number 1 a man came to the door to ask if I’d be interested in having milk delivered to me. To someone whose idea of hell is not having milk for the numerous cups of tea I need to drink everyday this was a very appealing offer so I signed up.

For the last 14 years Church Farm Dairy (www.churchfarmdairy.co.uk) have been delivering fresh milk to my doorstep 3 times a week from their farm in Budbrooke just outside Warwick. And they’ve been brilliant. I honestly don’t think they’ve ever missed a delivery, whatever the weather. The eco friendly side of me likes the fact that the milk comes in glass bottles to ‘rinse and return’, with little aluminium caps for recycling. Nothing to go into the bin at all!

Anyway, one of the things I’d been struggling to find locally at independents during Lent was fresh cream. I could find long life cream but I don’t really like the taste of it. I’m sure I just wasn’t looking in the right shops but in the end I gave up and went to M&S. But it suddenly struck me yesterday that Church Farm Dairy would also deliver double cream to my door, so I’ve added a pot to my weekly order, and at the same time increased the amount of milk and eggs they deliver to us (we never seem to have enough).

I did also see a tweet from @LifeInWarwick yesterday implying that Church Farm Dairy also brews and delivers beer. I think that might deserve further investigation, and I’m sure my husband will be happy enough to sample the service…

Is it possible to live for a month shopping only in Warwick’s independent shops?

Last month @warwickrocks asked Twitter whether it’s possible to ‘live for a month shopping only in Warwick’s independent shops’. This caught my attention because in a moment of madness on Shrove Tuesday I’d decided to give up supermarkets for Lent (not sure what possessed me as I’ve never given up anything for Lent in my life until now!). So since mid February I’ve been trying to do exactly what @warwickrocks had set as their challenge. I’ve struggled a bit (and therefore cheated a little…) so I thought I’d try again in #ShopWarwickMonth and keep a public record of how I get on.

So here goes…

I live in Warwick and have 3 children, a husband and 4 cats to feed every day. I work in Birmingham so I can’t shop during the week in Warwick as all the town centre shops are shut by the time I get home. My shopping is therefore limited to town centre on Saturdays and top ups at the local convenience shops. What I really want to know is whether it’s possible to get everything I need from Warwick’s independents without massive inconvenience and without spending loads more than I would in a supermarket.

April 1st – Easter Monday – day 1 of the challenge.
I’d got my beef mince from Warwick market on Saturday, and had vegetables left from a supermarket shop last week but I needed some store cupboard ingredients to make the chilli, cottage pie and bolognese I had planned for the rest of the week. I wandered off to Shakespeare Stores on Shakespeare Avenue. It’s recently been branded as a Premier Store but I still count it as an independent as it’s run by a lovely local family and is definitely part of the Shakespeare Avenue community (not too much of a cheat I hope?).

My shopping list:
4 tins tomatoes
tin of red kidney beans
tin of any other type of bean
Worcestershire sauce
butter
toothpaste (as usual the kids wait till they have used the last little bit in the tube until they tell me they’ve run out)

I was pretty sure they’d have everything except the Worcestershire sauce. In fact, they had everything I needed. The Worcestershire sauce and the butter cost a little more than they would have done in a supermarket but everything else was the same price or a bit cheaper.

Day 1 – a definite success!