I can’t believe two weeks have gone by since I decided to give up supermarkets for Lent. Over the past eight days my non supermarket shopping has been rather erratic. I like to be an organised shopper and for the past year I have undertaken one big shop a month (filling in with milk delivery and veg & fruit box). Call me a control freak but I like to know what we’re having to eat in a couple of weeks’ time. Adjusting to weekly meal planning and shopping, though, seems to be the best way to avoid buying from supermarkets but it definitely takes more time.

However I have been able to find some great little independent shops. My supermarket free Lent has allowed me to explore my local towns more than before. I went to one of the nearby towns last Friday and discovered a street of shops that I didn’t even know existed (and I’ve only lived in the area for 12 years!).

Over the past couple of weeks I have been using a lot of the following types of shops:

– Local Greengrocers (have found a few non veg things here such as juices)

– Local Butchers (really enjoy visiting these and have found some of their cuts of meat to be cheaper than supermarkets)

– Health Food Stores (a great source for supermarket stocked goods but have to be careful how much I spend)

– Bakers (although we have a bread maker I’ve also enjoyed buying loaves from the local bakery. I’ve also experimented more at home and when I couldn’t find any burger rolls I made my own:)

– Wilko and Poundland (technically not supermarkets and bloomin’ cheap but I guess the idea of this challenge wasn’t to spend all my time in these shops)

I haven’t visited any of the towns on market day yet when I hope to pick up a lot of items on my ever growing list. I have also just completed my first online shop with Ethical Superstore so will see how that goes. I’ve also added a couple of items to my veg box delivery including two bottles of wine. I have to say that sourcing non supermarket beer and wine is tricky, which is making this a very dry challenge (unless I go to the pub of course!).

But before I get too carried away with my virtuosity I have a BIG CONFESSION. Last Friday night we decided to have take away tea but the local Chippie was so busy I ended up taking a detour to the Co-op and buying pizzas, pudding and wine there! I guess I could say that this was in lieu of our takeaway but it was still a supermarket shop. I will try to do better for the rest of Lent….