Читать книгу The Savvy Shopper - Rose Prince - Страница 18

There are four main supermarket chains in the UK: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Then there are smaller chains, such as The Co-op, Waitrose, Budgens and Booths. Much has been said about the buying power of the big chains. This book focuses on how shoppers’ habits can make demands on the retailers, who have no choice but to respond to them.

I sent a detailed questionnaire to the supermarkets, asking how they source or produce most of the foods mentioned in this book. They were given a four-week period in which to reply. Of the Big Four, Morrisons declined to answer shortly after receiving the questionnaire, while Asda did not meet the deadline, pleading time poverty (they were given one month, then a further two months in all). Tesco sent only part of the questionnaire back to me, just inside the extended deadline of three months, again pleading lack of time. That these big retailers cannot put their hands on an up-to-date database in the computer age is an embarrassment on their part. The information should be available, so it appears they chose not to give it. They do have customer service lines (see below), where you can obtain lists of ingredients and sometimes information on the country of origin, but details are hard to obtain from these sources.

The results of the questionnaire are included in most sections and I have tried where possible to mention ethical options sold by supermarkets (e.g. Fairtrade bananas, organic chicken, cod from a sustainable source…). If information from supermarkets who did respond to the questionnaire is missing, it may be because they did not answer clearly or didn’t answer at all.

For up-to-date information about products, the supermarkets can be contacted on the following numbers:

Asda: 0500 100055

Booths: 01772 251701

Budgens: 0870 526002

Co-op: 0800 0686 727

Morrisons: 01924 870 000

Safeway: 01622 712 987

Sainsbury: 0800 636262

Somerfield: 0117 935 9359

Tesco: 0800 5055 5555

Waitrose: 0800 188884

But however many pounds in every ten we spend at Tesco, small shops still exist. Great butcher’s shops, cheese shops, specialist food shops, bakeries, fishmonger’s and even a few greengrocer’s cling on in the high streets – please seek them out. They actually have shop assistants who can talk knowledgeably to you, and may even help carry bags and give cooking advice. Yep, pinch yourself, you’re having a pleasant shopping experience.

Farm shops are my favourite, partly because they make superb meat and just-picked organic produce affordable. No high-street rents and no middle men mean lower prices. And you can take the car – very eco-unfriendly, but you can hardly tramp across fields with your shopping.

Low prices for fresh food are promoted by the supermarkets but before you rush to buy the free-range chicken or English asparagus at Tesco, check the price at your farm shop, butcher’s or local produce stalls. Three experiments carried out by my husband, Dominic Prince, in 2004/2005, in the Evening Standard, the Spectator Magazine and on ‘Tonight with Trevor McDonald’ (ITV), revealed certain prices at the small shops to be up to 40 per cent lower than those at Tesco – a considerable margin.

Online shopping for home-delivered food is another way to buy the best-quality food at the right price. I still find the worldwide web a weird shop. I am unable quite to complete the transaction without phoning the online shop about something quite unnecessary, just to make sure that there are people and not Martians running the place. But mail order is great. Don’t be put off by the home-delivery practicalities. Most online or mail-order companies will organise a delivery time to suit you, or bring it to your office if that helps, or give the delivery to a neighbour or hide it in the garden shed in your absence. Once you have dealt successfully with a home-delivery supplier for the first time, it’s a good idea to add the clause ‘leave unsigned’ to the order, particularly if you have a good hiding place. Small companies are flexible about this, although some will not do it for safety reasons.