I remembered being totally amazed the first time I went with her to a supermarket and she helped herself to items from the shelves and nobody stopped her!
She also went "into town" several days each week. She'd go to Marshall's for meat, Fishers for baked goods (not many of those as she baked at home), and Shipley's for the fruit and vegetables not grown at home. On Tuesdays the fishmonger would call.
But she had to shop several times a week. I remember the excitement when I was about six and we got our first fridge. That was a total transformation as she could shop for several days supplies of perishable goods.
Once a month Sainsbury delivers my groceries. In one way it's like Mother used to shop. She had to go to Todd's but the groceries were delivered. My groceries are delivered but I don't need to go to a shop. I need a monthly delivery as I'm a bit slow and I worry about the frozen foods. I use Lidl on the other weeks.
But I am making much more effort to support a local butcher and the farm shops.
When you look at it this way we have come full circle, except sadly the supermarket chains have killed all the butchers, greengrocers ect.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky as there are four butchers and a greengrocer in Brigg and a fishmonger brings his van to the market.
DeleteI remember going to the village with my mother, late 50s, early 60s. The grocery shop had big tins of biscuits, that you bought by weight, the greengrocer used to give us a handful of peas to eat as we went along, the butcher had sawdust on the floor, and a lady in a minute office in the corner to deal with the money. Our orders were all written in a ledger, and the bill posted every - week? Month?
ReplyDeleteThe bread van and mobile grocery van both called several times a week too, and housewives would come out to buy what they wanted.
Oh those big tins of biscuits! Mother used to get a selection of bikkies !
DeleteWe lived a few miles from town and Mum didn't drive so it was into town by bus, and handing in a book to the co-op with everything you wanted in a list and then they delivered. After that it was the International supermarket who delivered what Mum had been round the shop and bought and there were at least 4 different companies with mobile shops - Mum would never buy from the butchers van - she said the meat was 'off' in hot weather! I liked the Saturday van that came round mainly with things like soap, washing powder etc but he had a little set of drawers that had sweets we were allowed to buy - sweet cigarettes being a favourite!
ReplyDeleteI remember the various traders and their vans from when my grandparents were on a farm. It's almost unimaginable now that we ha sweet cigarettes.
DeleteMy daughter will order groceries online from a local grocery store and then stop there to pick them up. Saves her a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteOoh yes! Do you call that "Click and Collect"?
DeleteWhenever my Grandma went into a Truro shop there was always a chair for her to sit on while she gave her order! That's going back to the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was always a bent wood chair! Yes, I remember that!
DeleteThis was such a fun post! I enjoyed reading it. My mother had a standing order with one store and they would deliver every month; mostly pantry supplies such as sugar, certain treats, and bottles of soda. Most of the daily groceries such as fish, meat, and vegetables came from the local markets, although we had various venders who sold fresh fish and some vegetables, going from house to house. Bread and milk were delivered, daily. All that changed when we left the house and moved into an apartment; then, my mother and I would walk to the nearby market and buy our groceries.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could write a post too?
DeleteFull circle Mary. I haven't tried the ordering online and delivery thing yet, but I can see that this would be a wonderful way to get ones groceries.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It is. I make my list and amend it many times in the period leading up to delivery and it's a really good system.
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