Weekly shop spend?

[vickster]

Fish finger sandwich?

lovely with thin chips

nah, oven chips, green beans and sweet corn

 

[Reynard]

Speaking of, I'm doing chips tonight.

I fry mine in beef dripping.

 

[vickster]

Speaking of, I'm doing chips tonight.

I fry mine in beef dripping.

 

[Reynard]

Slightly disappointed that so many people seem to be supermarket-mainly or supermarket-only. If you buy fresh food from them, you are paying more for worse (usually not as fresh or not as tasty). I thought cyclists were cleverer than that and a cycle makes it easier to visit more smaller shops (in normal times, at least!)

Not necessarily. If you buy off the counter rather than pre-packaged, the quality is as good.

Plus the added fact that now's not the time to go traipsing from one shop to another. If I can't get it in Tesco or by the roadside, I simply do without.

Besides, Ely doesn't have much in the way of independent food shops - there's only two butchers and one baker. No greengrocer or fishmonger or cheesemonger. The High Street is full of charity shops and coffee shops and not a lot else. OK, there is the market, but it's been pretty poor of late, and I avoid going into town on a market day simply to avoid everyone else who is.

 

[Jody]

Speaking of, I'm doing chips tonight.

I fry mine in beef dripping.

Now we're talking. My nan used to do them in dripping. Mmmmmmmm

 

[BoldonLad]

Speaking of, I'm doing chips tonight.

I fry mine in beef dripping.

It is the ONLY way (IMHO).... enjoy

 

[Kingfisher101]

£70-80 for food for 2 adults and 2 cats. £20.00 for household things, like toiletries, binbags, bird nuts/seeds etc. I only eat meals cooked from scratch and I wont eat frozen food.

 

[mjr]

Not necessarily. If you buy off the counter rather than pre-packaged, the quality is as good.

Counters here closed in lockdown 1 and I don't think they have reopened.

Plus the added fact that now's not the time to go traipsing from one shop to another. If I can't get it in Tesco or by the roadside, I simply do without.

I think queuing up outside for short visits to independent shops each with maximum capacity of 2-4 customers probably carries less avoidable risk than being in a hypermarket with a comically high capacity posted on the window which I guess must be calculated on the basis of floor space, most of which is occupied by departments with almost no-one in it while there are hordes in the quarter of the shop selling food.

Especially as you can click/call-and-collect prepacked goods at most of the hypermarkets.

Besides, Ely doesn't have much in the way of independent food shops - there's only two butchers and one baker. No greengrocer or fishmonger or cheesemonger. The High Street is full of charity shops and coffee shops and not a lot else. OK, there is the market, but it's been pretty poor of late, and I avoid going into town on a market day simply to avoid everyone else who is.

Yeah, Ely is a city but it's more like a small town. Market days here have been pretty quiet: Downham Market has fewer stalls (or more on the Town Square instead of the Market Square? I'm not sure) to space them out more and almost everyone is wearing masks (partly because the town council seems to be giving them to anyone without one); whereas Lynn's Tuesday Market appears to have collapsed entirely.

There's always Cambridge market, but I can understand if you don't want to travel into that wretched hive of scum and villainy right now. Are the farm shops around Ely open? Norfolk's seem to be, but of course I have only visited a few because they are indoors and sell much the same as the outdoor market.

 

[Gunk]

I only eat meals cooked from scratch and I wont eat frozen food

so no ice cream or Arctic Roll

 

[Kingfisher101]

so no ice cream or Arctic Roll

No nothing like that ever.

 

[Mrs M]

Around £150 per week including all food, cat and dog food, household items and take away.

 

[itboffin]

Maybe but living alone, frankly I can't be bothered to cook from scratch every day and the cost of buying prepared food doesn't trouble me.

I never shop in Lidl or Aldi but do mostly use Asda and/or Tesco for every day stuff which are really no more expensive, offer more choice (and are closer to home)

I've thought about buying those prepared fancy home cooked meals and using the fresh food box deliveries as i'm also living alone since Nov but all of the services seem to have a minimum of 2-4 people so I've revert back to cooking fresh i did in the late 80s / 90s not only have i remembered its really not that hard but a lot of meals i can make for 2-4 and freeze portions and now i'm WFH i have at least 4 hours where i'm not in the car to prepare meals for the week, tomorrow i'm going to make a seafood pie, vegan pie, vegetable biryani and a veggie cottage pie.

Also before my COVID divorce my monthly food bill was £1.5-2k a month now its £50-60 a week and i cant remember the last item of food i threw away, i wasnt doing the shopping before

 

[Gunk]

No nothing like that ever.

What order do you belong to?

 

[kynikos]

Easy to answer which it wouldn't have been in the past. Since last April we've had everything delivered. Comes out at £86.20* per person per week albeit we have a lot more gin and whiskey stock now than we did on 1/4/20.
*£43.10 if you count the cats.

 

[Reynard]

Counters here closed in lockdown 1 and I don't think they have reopened.

Bummer. Here, the meat and fish ones have, but the deli one hasn't.

I think queuing up outside for short visits to independent shops each with maximum capacity of 2-4 customers probably carries less avoidable risk than being in a hypermarket with a comically high capacity posted on the window which I guess must be calculated on the basis of floor space, most of which is occupied by departments with almost no-one in it while there are hordes in the quarter of the shop selling food.

It would help if we *had* the independents here, but we don't. Other than two butchers, one of whom only sells pre-packaged stuff, and one not very good bakery, it's supermarkets or nothing i.e. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Iceland and Aldi. Plus I go in the evening when most people are eating their supper, and at that time of night, Tesco is distinctly un-busy.

Especially as you can click/call-and-collect prepacked goods at most of the hypermarkets.

True, but slots here are hard to come by, and I'd rather leave those for people who have more need of them than me.

Yeah, Ely is a city but it's more like a small town. Market days here have been pretty quiet: Downham Market has fewer stalls (or more on the Town Square instead of the Market Square? I'm not sure) to space them out more and almost everyone is wearing masks (partly because the town council seems to be giving them to anyone without one); whereas Lynn's Tuesday Market appears to have collapsed entirely.

To be honest, I haven't been to the market since the first lockdown. I've been avoiding it. Although the pressing need for both chilli sauce and seville oranges might send me in that direction sooner rather than later.

There's always Cambridge market, but I can understand if you don't want to travel into that wretched hive of scum and villainy right now. Are the farm shops around Ely open? Norfolk's seem to be, but of course I have only visited a few because they are indoors and sell much the same as the outdoor market.

Nope, Cambridge is off the radar right now LOL... Ely is about as far as I go when I do go out. I have a good stall in the village that sells really good organic veg and a couple of places that sell potatoes by the side of the road. There aren't any farm shops in this corner of the fens, unfortunately. The closest one (which is, admittedly very good) is out Witchford way.