La Puce wrote:
Cat(h) wrote:

Lidl is indeed german. In Ireland, I can find very little wrong with
them.

(great snip)

Are you sure the stuff is local? If it is that is absolutely brilliant.

For reasons I will not go into, I can confirm that some of it is. But
as I said, not every vegetable is. And some of what should be (e.g.
carrots are French), isn't. Essentially because Lidl are looking for
the keenest prices and our producers are not always the most
competitive.

I also think because I'm French and from the south west of France, I am
very dubious of places like these. Why on earth someone would go to a
german supermarket in bordeaux, pau, sarlat or toulouse, when vegs,
meat and bread is there fresh and produced locally?!!

To a fair extent, I agree with you. However, I have lived away from
that situation for nearly 20 years, and where I live, it is *extremely*
difficult to get locally produced goods. I have tried repeatedly to
sign up for veg box schemes, only to find that no-one could guarantee
me regular deliveries. The costs were also pretty horrendous.


I've been brought up with markets and local stuff - I think it's kinda
deep in my blood now and I get funny seeing food stuff displayed with
weeks of shelves lives on them, I don't like tinned stuff, beside
tomatoes, sweetcorn and tuna. The cats and dogs love it though. I try
not to buy yet more plastic if I can help it. I'm not vegetarian, nor
am I campaining day and night etc. I just want simple fresh stuff,
locally made, in season and if I have to pay the extra 20p for my
biodiesel and my carrots, so be it )

I'm with you on teh above. But as I said, I now find myself in a
society where weekly markets are few and far between and those which do
exist are a recent yuppy innovation - I'm not joking - where an
*organic* chicken of medium weight, say 1.5kg, can set you back as much
as €15, locally produced jars of jam sell for upwards of €4 for 250
gr, and there is simply not enough variety to purchase most of one's
food needs.
There is no food market in my immediate viscinity. The nearest is
about 15 km away, it's on Friday mornings, but only starts from 9 am.
It is utterly impractical for me to shop there, as my first task of the
day is to commute to work, and I cannot reasonably be expected to take
half a day off to go shopping for food. Tesco, on the other hand, is
open 24 hours. It's simple, we don't really have the option of markets
in Ireland. However, we have great butchers, and some good fishmongers
in coastal areas. We also have some good greengrocers, but a lot of
these are finding the going very tough when competing with the multiple
retailers.
All in all, as I said, in the society in which I operate, I can find
very little wrong with the Lidl model.
But at this stage, I am so far off topic that I deserve a drastic rap
on the knuckles.
I'll shut up now :-)

Cat(h)

Cat(h) wrote:
To a fair extent, I agree with you. However, I have lived away from
that situation for nearly 20 years, and where I live, it is *extremely*
difficult to get locally produced goods. I have tried repeatedly to
sign up for veg box schemes, only to find that no-one could guarantee
me regular deliveries. The costs were also pretty horrendous.

Do you have a van coming by you once a week? My friend who leaves in
Veuil, (middle of absolutely nowhere), gets the bread van twice a week,
meat once a week. The veg she grows herself and shares with other local
farmers.

I had signed to an organic home delivery, a scheme offering boxes from
£5 to £15. The first time I got 60% oignons roll eyes! I mentioned
it and they exclaimed that it's because they thought I was french lol!!
Still, I continued for a while, just so that I would help them at the
beginning of their venture. I stopped eventually fed up by the random
produces. I couldn't keep up with so many oignons!

I'm with you on teh above. But as I said, I now find myself in a
society where weekly markets are few and far between and those which do
exist are a recent yuppy innovation - I'm not joking - where an
*organic* chicken of medium weight, say 1.5kg, can set you back as much
as €15,

This is madness - I would however put money for a chicken, but £6 is
my limit - once a week chicken though. I've got a friend who started
selling fruits and veg on the high street from a caravan. He sells 6
froots or 6 vegs for £1. I think that's pretty good and you find
students munching on raw carrots when they pass by.

locally produced jars of jam sell for upwards of €4 for 250
gr, and there is simply not enough variety to purchase most of one's
food needs.

I've decided to do more jam this year. There's lots of trees on our
allotments which fruits just fell and nobody seems to care. I'll use
them )

All in all, as I said, in the society in which I operate, I can find
very little wrong with the Lidl model.
But at this stage, I am so far off topic that I deserve a drastic rap
on the knuckles.
I'll shut up now :-)

Don't. It's nice to find out how the others live )

La Puce wrote:
Do you have a van coming by you once a week? My friend who leaves in
Veuil, (middle of absolutely nowhere), gets the bread van twice a week,
meat once a week. The veg she grows herself and shares with other local
farmers.

No such van where I live, but to be fair we are within the commuter
belt of Dublin, and have four good supermarkets (one Lidl) within 5
minutes drive from our home.
On the other hand, I often see the butcher's van on Sat mornings in my
other half's village, in a remote rural area.
I am not sure just how prevalent such services are, though.
And I recall when a child in the Hautes Pyrenees, that I saw the end of
the baker's and butcher's van service which coincided with my leaving
home for college. So your friend is lucky that the service is still
available to her.


I had signed to an organic home delivery, a scheme offering boxes from
£5 to £15. The first time I got 60% oignons roll eyes! I mentioned
it and they exclaimed that it's because they thought I was french lol!!
Still, I continued for a while, just so that I would help them at the
beginning of their venture. I stopped eventually fed up by the random
produces. I couldn't keep up with so many oignons!

I didn't even get that far :-)


This is madness - I would however put money for a chicken, but £6 is
my limit - once a week chicken though. I've got a friend who started
selling fruits and veg on the high street from a caravan. He sells 6
froots or 6 vegs for £1. I think that's pretty good and you find
students munching on raw carrots when they pass by.

A recent study has shown Ireland is one of the EU countries where food
is most expensive - in the top two if memory serves.
Organic food and food markets in Ireland have more to do with recently
acquired affluence and the so-called "celtic tiger" than with
fulfilling the need of procuring food each week - which is what French
food markets are about. Food can be fantastic quality, but the prices
are genuinely horrendous. You could only ever justify buying yourself
a treat - in effect, they are not a viable alternative to ordinary
supermarkets. And to be fair, supermarkets are not bad in Ireland, and
the food is of good quality. Although all my French friends and
rellies find it over processed - though less so than my modest
experience of the UK retail - and overpackaged (fruit, veg, meat and
cheese in particular).
On fruit and veg stalls - in season, we get particularly good
strawberries from the SE of Ireland. Plenty of growers get temporary
licences to sell them from the side of the road. A punnet with 300 or
400g of fruit can cost €5 or more. And when you are travelling long
distances, what greater pleasure is there than munching on aromatic
strawberries still warm from the sun? So, you stop, and you fork out.
But you ain't going to go and make jam with them!


I've decided to do more jam this year. There's lots of trees on our
allotments which fruits just fell and nobody seems to care. I'll use
them )

I get odd looks when I go plundering hedgerows for blackberries and
elderberries here :-)


Don't. It's nice to find out how the others live )

True, and thank you, but this is a gardening newsgroup, and to be fair
to those who log on to read about gardening, this time, I am really
shutting up :-)

Cat(h)

Cat(h) wrote:

(grande snipette)

True, and thank you, but this is a gardening newsgroup, and to be fair
to those who log on to read about gardening, this time, I am really
shutting up :-)

Best indeed. I don't know how good is your french, but there's a
fantastic forum, fr.rec.jardinage. They are the most absolutely funiest
full of beans people I've ever met. Watch out for a Sogoz. He's good at
pun but he knows his plants. A bientot j'espere )