A rant about the supermarket.

ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

I wonder if it is just me but I have been getting more and more frustrated with the quality of fruit and veg I buy at the supermarket.

I buy tomatoes, nectarines, strawberries and avocados which 9 times out of 10 go off before they even ripen. I know I ‘should’ buy only what is in season and local, but I live in the north of the UK,there’s not much growing from October to March!

If I buy something like an electrical item, or a CD and it goes wrong, then I take it back and get a refund… so my plan is to keep hold of the rotten fruit and return it to the supermarket and get my money back! I can’t think why I haven’t done it before, I normally just throw the fruit away and accept that it is going to happen now and again. But when I pay £1.00 per avocado and £2.80 for a small punnet of strawberries that are inedible, I think it has to stop.

I also have a suspicion that the big supermarkets only have the fresh fruit and veg aisle for marketing purposes, to make it ‘look’ like a food store, to make the store feel fresh and vibrant. Because 90% of the store is devoted to food in boxes, cans, bottles and bags. When I look in other peoples shopping trolleys – yikes! nothing green or fruity in there.

When I go shopping I go to three different places…the local indoor daily market which has independent fruit and veg sellers, what they do have is great quality, flavour, and a fraction of supermarket prices. But they don’t sell any organic food whatsoever. And I can’t get kale, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, dates, unrefined olive oil or good avocados there. So I go to the big Tescos (like Wal Mart) for avocados, kale, nuts, organic unrefined oil and seeds. (and Tonka the Cat’s raw chicken dinners)

And then I go to Manchester, even further away, to buy dates, spices, avocados and whatever strange exotic fruit and veg I can find from the Asian food shops. There’s a road in Manchester called the curry mile, it’s got a whole mile of Asian food shops and curry houses. Smells fab, great value and quality. Soft fresh huge dates for £1.50 for 500 grammes, I buy 10 boxes at a time! The best quality and tasting fruit and veg always comes from the daily indoor market and the Asian food shops. This is really funny because over here, only the poorest people, like pensioners, students and people on state benefits are going to these places for their food. I never see anyone else in there. All the richer folk who have busy careers, expensive clothes and big cars are flooding the aisles of Tescos, Sainsburys etc for expensive, buying their over packaged, rotten and unripe tasteless fruit and veg.

I am dreaming of the day when I have a garden of my own ( got one now but am currently renting and can’t dig it up) and I can grow what I want. Oh I do feel a lot better now I have got it all out and had a good rant! Anyone else want to join in?

Comments

  • I have returned salad before. I buy this huge clam shell of mixed salad greens at Whole Foods. It usually lasts me about four days. On occasion on the second or third day of the box, the salad has gone off, so I take it back to Whole Foods (natural food store here in the US) and they gladly let me exchange the item. I’ve also cut into avos and discovered they are brown throughout. I’ve exchanged them as well. Food is too expensive, exchange away! Good Luck!

  • JoescJoesc Raw Master

    I didn’t know you can return those brown avocados. I am going to do that. I have had to throw some away. I buy food at the whole food store too. When I lived in Georgia the best place to go was Harry’s Farmers market it was twice the size of whole foods, cheaper and of course had more variety of organic food. I miss it so much.

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