Shoptober. My quest to shop nowhere else but our village shop for the month of October. Really thought that it would be a lot harder than it was... here is what I discovered.
a. I didn't miss driving into Andover to do our weekly food shop.
b. There was more choice in the shop than I thought there would be (and that's coming from the shop manager, which is odd!)
c. And this one really made a difference.... we didn't throw any food away for the month of October. We had no food waste at all.
d. We ate better than we have done in other months.
e. The meals we had were more thought out than usual.
Obviously, a lot of that won't surprise you. Of course the meals were more thought out than usual... I was writing about them and therefore making more of a conscious effort in thinking what to have. In with that thought process was trying to show case what the shop had to offer, so of course it was more thought through. But what I found interesting was the rewards we got for taking that extra 5 mins to think about what we were going to eat. We had some really great meals and really enjoyed supper time rather than throwing stuff together just to fuel ourselves from a gruelling day. None of the meals were difficult, none of them schlappy, all of them required minimum ingredients but all of them delivered on taste and originality (apart from the fish burger, chips and peas - that scored pretty low on originality!).
I realise the shop is not amazing or extraordinary and I also know that it still has a long way to go to be the perfect village shop. It doesn't stock everything and it can be really annoying when you go in for something specific only to find it's not stocked or we've run out. To be honest, I think there will always be instances where this happens, whatever level of utopia I'm hoping to reach with the shop but I do believe that it has more redeeming features than negative ones. And the distance between the two is widening all the time.
The shop will never beat Lidl, Sainsburys, Tesco or whatever your supermarket of choice is. Nor will it deliver the same convenience as Ocado but as a village I think we are hugely privileged to have a shop at all. How lucky we are that if we run out of milk or have a dying urge for chocolate that we can nip to the village shop rather than schlep into Whitchurch. If we want an ice cream on a hot summers day (remember them?) you can stop in whilst watching the cricket. I remember our village shop as a child and going in there to spend my pocket money - every child should have that memory growing up.
So. The big question. Am I going to continue only shopping at the village shop? In honesty,.. no. But - will I continue to mainly shop at the village shop?.... yes. I will, approximately once a month or so, go to Andover and do a shop for some of the stuff that is unavailable at the village shop. The more exotic fruit and veg, something different and will buy most of my non food stuff from there too. But generally, on a day to day basis, the shop has proved it's worth and for us and the way we live, it works.
I am not naive enough to think this way of shopping suits everyone and for busy families, of course it is much harder to shop this way. But I ask you. Please. Next time you're passing, drop in and see us. Try one supper a month from the shop and see what you think. If you can't find an ingredient, do ask us. We are very happy to widen our range of stock if it's a product that will appeal to a wide audience.
Next year I will challenge more of the village to Shoptober.... so be warned!
Will this blog now stop? No. I've already taken photos of two of our suppers in November that were from the shop so keep posted for more recipes!
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I know it's not the most exciting of blogs and will not keep you rivetted to your seat but I hope it has just highlighted some of the things that the shop has to offer and whet your appetite enough to come and have a look.
a. I didn't miss driving into Andover to do our weekly food shop.
b. There was more choice in the shop than I thought there would be (and that's coming from the shop manager, which is odd!)
c. And this one really made a difference.... we didn't throw any food away for the month of October. We had no food waste at all.
d. We ate better than we have done in other months.
e. The meals we had were more thought out than usual.
Obviously, a lot of that won't surprise you. Of course the meals were more thought out than usual... I was writing about them and therefore making more of a conscious effort in thinking what to have. In with that thought process was trying to show case what the shop had to offer, so of course it was more thought through. But what I found interesting was the rewards we got for taking that extra 5 mins to think about what we were going to eat. We had some really great meals and really enjoyed supper time rather than throwing stuff together just to fuel ourselves from a gruelling day. None of the meals were difficult, none of them schlappy, all of them required minimum ingredients but all of them delivered on taste and originality (apart from the fish burger, chips and peas - that scored pretty low on originality!).
I realise the shop is not amazing or extraordinary and I also know that it still has a long way to go to be the perfect village shop. It doesn't stock everything and it can be really annoying when you go in for something specific only to find it's not stocked or we've run out. To be honest, I think there will always be instances where this happens, whatever level of utopia I'm hoping to reach with the shop but I do believe that it has more redeeming features than negative ones. And the distance between the two is widening all the time.
The shop will never beat Lidl, Sainsburys, Tesco or whatever your supermarket of choice is. Nor will it deliver the same convenience as Ocado but as a village I think we are hugely privileged to have a shop at all. How lucky we are that if we run out of milk or have a dying urge for chocolate that we can nip to the village shop rather than schlep into Whitchurch. If we want an ice cream on a hot summers day (remember them?) you can stop in whilst watching the cricket. I remember our village shop as a child and going in there to spend my pocket money - every child should have that memory growing up.
So. The big question. Am I going to continue only shopping at the village shop? In honesty,.. no. But - will I continue to mainly shop at the village shop?.... yes. I will, approximately once a month or so, go to Andover and do a shop for some of the stuff that is unavailable at the village shop. The more exotic fruit and veg, something different and will buy most of my non food stuff from there too. But generally, on a day to day basis, the shop has proved it's worth and for us and the way we live, it works.
I am not naive enough to think this way of shopping suits everyone and for busy families, of course it is much harder to shop this way. But I ask you. Please. Next time you're passing, drop in and see us. Try one supper a month from the shop and see what you think. If you can't find an ingredient, do ask us. We are very happy to widen our range of stock if it's a product that will appeal to a wide audience.
Next year I will challenge more of the village to Shoptober.... so be warned!
Will this blog now stop? No. I've already taken photos of two of our suppers in November that were from the shop so keep posted for more recipes!
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I know it's not the most exciting of blogs and will not keep you rivetted to your seat but I hope it has just highlighted some of the things that the shop has to offer and whet your appetite enough to come and have a look.
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