With last week’s blog post in mind about how I do not trust big-chain supermarkets, I thought I better put together a list of retailers that I do indeed now place my trust. If you missed it, you can read my blog post from last week here. These are my top picks for retailers where I now get the majority of my food. They are all located in South East Queensland. Alas, I have included some online options for you folk further afield so stay with me. **None of these retailers have paid me to write about them. I genuinely love them.** HOME FRESH ORGANICSI get a weekly veggie box delivery from Home Fresh Organics. There are literally LOADS of fresh fruit & vegetable delivery options in Brisbane. The BEST part about the Home Fresh Organic boxes (and the reason why I choose them) is that you get to fully customize which veggies and/or fruit goes into the box unlike many of their competitors. I get the medium organic veggie box for $56.50 per week however there is also a conventional option ($39.50) if you don’t wish to pay more for organic. All boxes (both organic and conventional) come in small, medium and large. Small gives you 10 fruit/veggie selections, medium is 15 selections and large is 20 selections. I also order “extras” such as milk, meat, eggs, cleaning products, and pantry staples from them. Their prices are VERY competitive. For example, Natural Mountain Bread wraps are $2.91 at Home Fresh Organics as opposed to $3.99 at Woolworths. Pure harvest “Coco Quench” coconut milk is $3.25 as opposed to $3.50 at Woolworths. Any "extras" are delivered free with your weekly veggie box. Home Fresh Organics have a large selection of free-range, grass fed, and organic meats and eggs. All fresh produce is locally sourced and seasonal. *Gasp* Sometimes you can’t get summer veggies in winter. They leave the delivery on your front doorstep or at a designated location on your property so that you don’t have to be home. No more waiting around for the delivery drivers that give you a three hour window! The cold goods are placed in ice boxes that are reused every week. All produce is minimally packaged and where packaging is required, brown paper bags are used instead of plastics (where possible). Home Fresh Organics state on their webpage that they are required by law (for hygiene) to place a plastic liner inside each delivery box. While this is not ideal, I recycle this liner each week with my soft plastics. You can read about soft plastics recycling in a previous blog post of mine here. This week I used Home Fresh Organics for 100% of my grocery shop. No Coles. No Woolworths. No Aldi. WINNING! MRS FLANNERY'SMrs Flannery’s is a franchised chain so check their website. There may be one in your area. The Chermside store have recently completed a major expansion and renovation. They sell pantry staples, skincare, meats, fresh organic produce, and an awesome selection of breads depending on your dietary requirements. They now even have a cafe for when you need to rest your weary legs and refuel after all that shopping. The thing that get me NUTS about Mrs Flannery's is the HUGE selection of.......NUTS. Their bulk produce section is a thing of beauty! I can spend an hour perusing and stocking up on nuts, seeds, quinoa, oats, coconut, cacao power. This list goes on. And best yet, the prices are amazing. At the time of writing this, pesticide-free raw almonds were $11.99 per kilo! Run, don't walk! Take a look at their shelves in the above photos. My OCD heart wants to sing zippity fucking doo dah with all that symmetry and cleanliness. They have NO plastic bags at the cashier (paper only) but bring your own bag anyway. Most Mrs Flannery's stores have “Super Saturday” sales on the first (and more recently third) weekends of the month. At these, they offer up to 20% off their "Flannery’s Own” range and bulk produce to loyalty card holders. If you stock up on your bulk produce on these days, their prices are extremely hard to beat! If you are like me and eat more seed and nuts than a budgerigar, this is your shop. NUTRITIOUS DELICIOUS & COThis little unassuming health food store is nestled inside the Terry White Chemist at Lutwyche City. I don’t know who buys stock for this place but they always seem to have EVERYTHING I need. My Dad (the weirdo) eats 100% pure cacao bars (the darkest of dark chocolate). My mum and I called every health food store in Brisbane looking for someone who stocks it. Nutritious Delicious & Co was the only store we could find who had it! The funny part is that it was recently sold out when I went to buy it. My Dad’s mind can rest easy knowing that he is not the only freak in the village. There are other loonies in Brisbane who actually eat that shit. Nutritious Delicious & Co also stock LOTS of pantry staples, free-range eggs, protein powders, dairy products, natural skincare and natural cleaning products. They have a HUGE vegan section for the plant eaters amongst us. Don’t judge vegans. They are saving our planet one soy dog at a time. The way I see it, having a vegan friend kind of acts as a carbon offset for us meat eaters. Everyone needs a vegan friend. Nutritious Delicious & Co also stock Ancient Grains bread – one of the only bread ranges I have found that use olive oil instead of seed oils. Every second Thursday this little store has 20% off for their loyal customers. This place is definitely worth a look! CHARLIE'S FRUIT MARKETIn the hustle bustle of Everton Park’s busy South Pine Road is Charlie’s Fruit Market. Charlie’s has a HUGE range of fruit and veggies at sometimes INSANE prices. Most impressive about Charlies is their company ethos surrounding both food waste and plastics. They have the most delightful “ugly produce” section. Produce that farmers were unable to sell on to supermarkets just because of its appearance is for sale at a fraction of the regular price. For those on a budget, this is the best way to get your fresh produce with your loose change. If this section didn’t make me want to cry with happiness enough, they have packaged it all in paper bags. No plastics to be seen. Their organic section also makes me want kiss someone. It is packaging FREE! All produce is loose. Praise Charlie’s. Just when I couldn’t love this family-run business enough, they have also started taking in soft plastics for recycling. And unlike Coles and Woolworths, I trust Charlie’s is in fact recycling these plastics and not dumping them in the creek. Charlie's Fruit Market is also open 24 HOURS! Great for shift workers and for those who find themselves without a spaghetti squash at 2am. As I write this, one of Charlie’s specials includes: An ugly produce box which includes 8kg of fruit and vegetables FOR TEN DOLLARS! If you can't get to the store, they also offer home delivery. Charlie’s have also recently opened “Charlie’s Vegan Pantry” (adjoining the fruit market) with all your vegan pantry staples, treats, cleaning products and skincare. You know how I feel about vegans. Meat eaters may just meet their special vegan for the offset program browsing the shelves of this little nook. Charlie's also have a side business called Moo Free Burgers which is a vegan burger joint. Sounds loco I know but take one look at their instagram and suddenly meat seems irrelevant in a burger. Did I just say that? Of course, most SE Queenslanders will know Charlie's for its famous chain of Raw Squeeze Vegan Superfood Bars around Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. These locations are where you can get your Acai bowls, Smoothies and Vegan treats. I took my son for a banana "nice-cream" here after his very first day of school. Charlie's are a fruit market with over THIRTY SEVEN THOUSAND instagram followers! I think we can all agree that Charlie’s is doing everything right! LOCAL MARKETSI am a HUGE fan of local markets. Local, fresh, beautiful produce in abundance often at prices cheaper than the supermarkets. Any place where the kids can bounce to infinity on a jumping castle for $5 whilst their hungover parents drink lattes in the sun is alright by me! I could carry on for pages about each beautiful market in my city. I think that is a post for another day. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, subscriptions are so trendy right now. A regular delivery of your necessities ensure that you never run out of the essentials. Notably my favourite online subscriptions include: WHO GIVES A CRAPThis is a company who recognized that billions of people around the world do not have access to toilets. These unsanitary conditions lead to a HUGE number of otherwise preventable diarrhea-related diseases. According to their webpage, 900 kids under 5 years old are killed every day in Africa due to these diseases. So Who Gives a Crap developed a toilet paper subscription. We all buy toilet paper right? Every quarter I get 48 double rolls of toilet paper delivered to my door. I NEVER run out. Each roll is wrapped in paper. There is no plastic packaging. 50% of the profits from rolls sold help to build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. Their product is made from 100% recycled paper or bamboo (no forests chopped down for your arse's pleasure). They also have a forest-friendly tissue and paper towel range that you can add to your subscription. From a design point of view, you nearly don’t want to wipe your butt with it because the rolls look so good in your bathroom. And when you are finished a roll, it is all recyclable. It’s loo paper with a conscience. I highly recommend it. THE COFFEE POSTMy husband is a bit of a coffee snob. He will turn his nose up at beans that are more than six weeks past their roasting date. Worse still if the beans don’t have a roasting date stated on the bag. Who knows how old they could be! The Coffee Post is another local subscription service that delivers 500g of fresh coffee beans every month for $29.95. There are so many boutique coffee roasters in South East Queensland and this is the most delightful way to try them all without even having to get in the car. All beans are freshly roasted and have the roasting date displayed along with a little story about the roasters themselves. Some even give you barista tips, coffee quizzes, or a free in-store coffee. So far we have had Fox Coffee (Geebung), Blackstar (West End), Fonzie Abbott (Albion), Wolff Coffee (Hendra), and Abrisca Coffee (East Brisbane). All delicious and all VERY local. You can choose to order grinds instead of whole beans if you don’t have a grinder at home. I love supporting local businesses and if supporting them means that we have to drink their delicious coffee then so be it! We are really spoiled for choice when it comes to fresh produce in Brisbane. There are so many more fruit markets, butchers and health food stores that I didn’t even list! So many options outside of the big-chain supermarkets. I personally love knowing that my money is going to hard working families and well-deserving charities instead of shareholders. Give these places a try and let me know what you think. Yes it can take a bit more leg work and you will probably still need to get some things at big-chain supermarkets (I still do). However, shifting the majority of my weekly spend to smaller businesses flips the bird to Coles, Woolworths and Aldi and allows for these amazing local businesses to continue and flourish. Do you have any favourite local stores that you can’t live without?
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In the last two years, I have dramatically reduced how much of my total grocery spend goes to you big chain supermarkets. I used to spend $300 per week with you. Now, I spend under $100. The reason? I don’t trust you. I want to trust you. But I don’t. Aldi. How about that time that you were selling us “grass-fed beef” at a premium price and then *whoops* the beef wasn’t actually grass-fed? Woolworths. How about that time you placed all of those soft plastic recycling bins outside your supermarkets only to be uncovered by ABC’s War on Waste that you actually throw it all into landfill? Coles. How about that time you advertised your bread as “freshly baked in store” when it was actually partially baked off-site, frozen and then "baked to completion" at the local Coles store? That little lie cost ya $2.5 million in court didn’t it? You are all guilty. You can all do better. I realize that you all have shareholders to keep happy. But you have a triopoly on the supermarket game in Australia. People shop with you for convenience. I work hard to find the best and most ethical produce from local independent stores. But this takes time. Time most people don’t have. I implore you to do better. Restore my faith in you. Can I make some suggestions? Ban the Bag Don’t wait until the law is changed in 2018 to ban plastic bags. Do it now. And don’t just change your lightweight plastics to the heavier type under the guise that they are reusable. Just don’t give the option of using ANY new plastics. Better yet, give reward point incentives at the checkout if you bring your own reusable bags! Get Ugly Buy more ugly food from farmers. Farmers are throwing out tonnes of food daily just because they don’t meet your stringent aesthetic requirements. Change your requirements. OR, purchase all of that otherwise wasted produce and put it for sale in your stores for a big discount. I am a huge advocate for subsidizing fresh produce. Our country is in the midst of an obesity crisis because we are able to buy a burger for $1 when a salad is $7. Make fresh produce too cheap to refuse. Ugly produce is a great way to get cheap, fresh food to the masses while bypassing any lengthy bureaucratic government subsidy process. Buy those warped bananas off the farmers. They were going to go to waste anyway. Sell them for half price. Make them cheap. People will buy them. I guarantee it. Plastic packaging While we are in the fresh produce aisle, get rid of that ridiculous amount of packaging! No more plastic trays. No more cling film. No more plastic bags. Keep the produce loose! Aldi, ban the pods! Aldi have announced that they have partnered with Terracycle in a new recycling program for their Expressi coffee pods. Hoorah! All you have to do is POST your used coffee pods to them. What bullshit. Realistically, who is going to do that? Billions of coffee pods are being used every year. They have been in the spotlight time and time again for the scourge they are on the environment. Are we still seriously using coffee pods? Ban the pods altogether Aldi. Stay true to your word If you say that you are going to recycle your soft plastics, for God’s sake, recycle your soft plastics! Don't bloody dump them in the nearest creek! ** Keep in mind that best practice is not using plastics in the first place** Woolworths, I appreciate what you are trying to do with your “odd bunch” range however if this is truly produce that was otherwise going to waste, what is with the price? $1.30/kg of ugly carrots compared to $1.70/kg for the Brad Pitt of carrots? Or $4.00/kg for ugly lemons compared to $4.80 for Lemon Clooney? There is hardly a significant discount here. Also, with your shareholders always in mind I know you have developed your “macro” organic range. A product produced and packaged by Woolworths is more money in Woolworth’s pocket after all. At first I was cartwheeling with glee over this range. Reasonable prices AND organic. But my trust in you is so low, I now question if these products are actually organic at all and if you pay your farmers fair prices for their produce. Have you tried to source locally or are you just purchasing from overseas because it is cheap? You see? Trust is everything. I don’t trust you. Do better. What are your biggest gripes about your large chain supermarkets? |