I have acquaintances in Newark On Trent who claim to shop for their weekly food shop exclusively at Waitrose.This is a mum, dad and twenty year old daughter. Periodically, I have seen them shop and they are relatively wealthy but their food bill (and alcohol bill) at each shopping experience comes to £300 plus! That's approx £1200 per month! More than I earn. They are very brand driven and will pay through the nose for any product that claims to be Organic or made by dis-enfranchised, Sting loving pygmies from the high forests of the Philippines or the Vale of Evesham on a wet Wednesday.
They won't even buy Waitrose's own brand sausages and seem to prefer isolated croft - hand knitted - sausages from some 'special' range that shows pretty pictures of deliriously happy pigs in sepia.
They would not be seen dead buying (name your supermarket)'s cheaper ranges from one of the popular stores and have an impulse to go for the perceived 'best' even though it may cost them three or four times as much.
I would love to be a fly on the proverbial wall one day when/if the income dramatically decreased and such extravagences were no longer viable.
Listening to a local radio programme the other day they often quoted parents who felt 'obliged' to buy brand name biscuits or chocolate for their kids pack up because otherwise the other kids at school would tease them or even actively bully them for not having the same brands as the majority.
I don't earn very much really and still revel in the fact I can still enjoy good quality food, often taking advantage of half price offers or stretching my meals by bulk cooking. I also try not to waste food and freeze items for future use. Often my greatest pleasure is coming away from a store (supermarket or individual independent shop) with a bulging bag full of food goodies that really hasn't cost me a lot and being creative with them. I don't care about the brands. What about you? Are you a food snob sometimes?
Europe on a plate. Food and drink blogs direct from Phil Lowe, Butcher and Fishmonger. Written with passion and humour. Winner of Tesco 'Passion For Food Award' 2013. Order from Amazon links below. Just published Phil Lowe's 5* book - Supermarket Creatures.
3 comments:
I had no idea that brand snobbery at school went as far as food !!
I often buy the basic or value range of vegetables. Who cares if a carrot is a bit wonky so long as it is fresh and grown in the UK? But I think it's probably different with processed foods or prepared meals. I would be wary of buying the cheapest sausages, wondering what the content is and the provenance of any meat. Not that posh packaging makes any difference, but I always think of a TV programme a few years ago about the origin of cheap chicken - it was frightening.
I love getting the yellow ticket offers on sell by date foods, as they are all good for a couple of days & all at great prices. I've made some nice meals too. Well I have not managed to poison us yet!
No, I'm not really a brand snob, he says, as he's typing this on his Apple Mac. But I try not to buy cheap tat either. I'm happy to be in the middle.
I'm not a food snob at all. We shop at lots of different shops, & so long as the food doesn't have artificial colourings, flavourings & preservatives, & is preferably British, we will buy it. I love Value ranges too, especially things like baked beans, flour & pasta, though I do sometimes go totally mad & buy stuff from places like Carluccio's. One thing I do sometimes use Waitrose for is their excellent price reductions - reduced food is often 2 days ahead of it's 'use by date' & can be a bargain. But I certainly would never shop there exclusively, it's far too expensive.
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