Boycott

I don't consider myself to be an activist of any kind - I eat meat, I love driving gas powered vehicles, I eat McDonald's, my chocolate chip cookies are made with Nestle chips. But, there are a few things that I boycott if at all possible. One of those is Wal-Mart which is insanely easy to do, even when I was in the US. Same with Exxon. One that is a bit more difficult is Tesco. As with most people who boycott Tesco I choose to do this due to them undercutting the prices of local shop owners (then jacking them back up when the local shop goes out of business), poor quality produce, and basically their Wal-Martesque way of doing business. It wasn't hard when I was in England because there was no Tesco in Bath. Perfect! I was quite happy with the Sainsbury's in Bath, even if the store looked like a bare warehouse on Tuesday nights - not a chicken to be found anywhere. Unfortunately, there is no Sainsbury's in Ireland and there are lots of Tescos. We have three within walking distance of us. Because of what I felt was convenience and better prices, I've been doing a bit of the shopping at Tesco, but we're just so annoyed with them that we have decided to stop shopping there all together. Plus, it's not really anymore convenient for us to shop there and their prices aren't really better than anyone else.

Grocery shopping in Ireland is already a little tricky, but boycotting the largest chain store in the country adds another element to the experience. We can now choose from: Dunnes, Lidl, Aldi, Fresh, and, Marks and Spencers. Fortunately, Dunnes sells Sam Adams or the boycott from Tesco might have to be lifted! It is not uncommon to have to visit more than one of these shops in order to get all of the ingredients for one recipe. This would be a pain in the ass for a working couple, but since I'm not working it gives me something to do during the day! I should also add that I really like grocery shopping, which I know many people do not.

Anyways, I was very proud of myself today. Having to rethink our dinner of meatloaf tonight because our refrigerator sucks so bad that the meat, which is dated 2 days from now to go off, has gone off, I made my way to the shops. We're having sausages, garlic mash, and broccoli. Well, only M&S has low fat sausages, but the potatoes and broccoli are cheapest at Lidl, so I had to go to two shops for this meal. Not too bad really! I picked up all this food for just under 12 euro. The avocados were only 45c at Lidl! The broccoli only 99c! And it was actually grown in Ireland! Usually, the only locally grown veg I can find is potatoes. Trying to buy primarily locally grown fruit, veg and meat, or goods made in Ireland is a whole other kink in the chain!


I don't know...maybe you have to shop in Ireland on a regular basis to get excited about a bag of groceries for 12 euro. Trust me, it's exciting stuff!