Food co-ops - what are they and why join one?

Could food co-ops ever take the place of the big supermarket shop? For many families they already have.

It was really only when Janet Biard became a mother that she began to take a serious interest in how her food was produced and where it came from.  

 

‘I don't think we were really conscious about eating organically before,' says NHS manager Janet, 50. ‘But after we had the children, and after all those food scandals, like BSE, it really made us think.'

 

The desire to eat only organically produced food, together with a belief in the importance of buying locally sourced goods wherever possible, led Janet and book dealer husband Mike to sign up to their local food co-op - the Stroud Valleys Wholefood Society.

 

‘There are just over 20 families in the co-op,' Janet explains, ‘And once every six or so weeks each family submits their order to the co-op coordinator online, via our Yahoo group, and we put a big order in to a trading co-operative in Bristol called Essential.'

 

The goods are delivered directly to a co-op member's house on a rota basis and from there, we take it in turns to sort out the orders ready for each family to collect their shopping.

 

Nowadays, food co-ops are springing up all over the country as like-minded families get together to buy good quality food in bulk. But when pioneers set up the Stroud Valleys Wholefood Society around 20 years ago it was a different story. ‘Back then,' explains Janet, ‘It was quite an unusual thing to do and things weren't as convenient. The members would have to order huge sacks of flour and rice and so on and then sit around weighing it out and splitting it into more manageable quantities. Things are so much easier now.'

 

Janet buys mostly dry goods such as flour, pasta, rice and lentils via the co-op, together with tinned goods, tea, coffee and household cleaning products. She does nip into the supermarket for the odd thing, but tries to avoid big stores.

 

‘I don't like the power wielded by supermarkets,' she says, ‘And I find shopping in them a soulless experience. We buy our vegetables and meat from the farmers' market, and we have an allotment.

 

‘I'm not saying we eat organic lentils all the time - we don't. I'm quite happy to nip into Marks after work to pick up something if I don't feel like cooking. But the choices we've made mean I can avoid supermarkets most of the time.'

 

When it comes to cost, Janet feels it's not clear cut whether or not they do spend more than the average family. ‘I reckon we do spend more than we would if we were just going around Tesco, picking up a cheap chicken, but given that we have made the decision to buy organically and cook our food from scratch, I don't think we do pay more, like for like, than we would if we shopped in supermarkets all the time.'

 

Though there are plenty of co-ops in existence throughout the country, if you can't find one locally there's plenty of help on offer to get you started. Check out www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk as a first port of call to get initial information and advice. Alternatively, the Soil Association has excellent advice in its dowloadable leaflet Local Food Works, available on their website www.soilassociation.org. You may also find you can get a grant to help you set up your co-op - try www.localfoodgrants.org which is set to distribute £50m of lottery money to support local food initiatives.

 

If you're really keen to find out more, you could visit the national food co-ops conference organized by Sustain as part of the Making Local Food Work Programme. It takes place on Monday February 2nd from 10am - 4pm at 76 Portland Place, London W1 and is free for volunteers and community workers. For more details see www.sustainweb.org.

 

Feature by Catherine Moore

 

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