The Moore household has ended its 'great shopping experiment'. We had abandoned online ordering in favour of visiting the supermarket. The rationale was that we would save money by not just reordering from our favourites list, instead shopping for what we needed, when we needed it. Sadly, it didn't work like that.
We'd start running low on food, but couldn't face the supermarket. Instead we'd go to Tesco Express or a c-store just along the road - fine but a pricey way to shop. When feeling really lazy, which was far too often, we'd get a takeaway.
I gave up keeping a tally of our weekly expenditure, but I can certainly confirm we weren't saving any money and we were constantly thinking about whether we needed to go shopping, rather than just ordering once a week. Thank goodness it's over.
This week I'm playing the role of 'guilty mother'. The reason? Well, I've been following the additives in food debate with interest. No-one wants unnecessary ingredients in food - especially the food and drink they give to their children. But I keep coming back to the same thought.
I was born towards the end of the 60s, so obviously most of my growing up was done in the 70s and 80s. Who thought then that Coca-Cola wasn't a suitable drink for seven-year-olds? Did my parents consider how many pesticides may still be stuck to our carrots and were they even a little concerned about blue Smarties? Of course not.
Food shopping for children can, if you allow it to, be an emotional ride these days. There's the pester power from kids begging for all sorts of unsuitable foods, and then there's your purse screaming for mercy as you ponder the organic raspberries. Finally there's the food police on your conscience if you even glance in the direction of the chicken nuggets on buy-one-get-one-free.
My final thought is this. Will removing additives from food really make a difference to the children who already eat too much salt, sugar and fat? So they'll be less hyperactive after a fizzy drink and confectionery binge but won't be protected from heart disease or diabetes later on. It all comes back to consumers doing it for themselves and not expecting the industry to do it for them. It's about balance and the people who already achieve that aren't affected by additives anyway.
Has the number of customer complaints about the price of goods increased recently?
