Living in a walkable city means my weekly shop is a few hours of walking or biking instead of being stuck in traffic, and I’m only mildly tired afterwards since I use a bike with pretty large pannier bags. Since I have no car related costs I can afford more fresh food, a healthier diet, and I can afford to be more choosy about the ethics of what I buy. There’s a twice weekly farmers market about a ten minute walk away, and quiet walks through parks to get to the shops. Living somewhere with car centric infrastructure, as I used to, this lifestyle was far less feasible.
Have your experiences been different with moving to walkable/bikeable cities? Any questions or points to be made? I’m not very up on the theory side of city planning, but my experiences line up with the whole “fuck cars” thing.
One of the best things about living in a walkable place is that the concept of a weekly shop is basically dead - access to grocery shopping is available enough that I can go as many or as few times to shop as is warranted.
Granted, this usually adds up to once a week or less, but yeah. Big benefit.
This is an important concept to be imparted on those who do not understand the benefits of walkable places - a frequent question is how they can manage to complete their weekly shop without a car, since the car is in their mind needed to transport enough groceries to last the entire week. This is of course necessitated by the fact that their ideal location to shop for groceries is a significant distance away that can only be completed in a practical manner by car.
With where I live, this is unwarranted because I have access to convenient grocery shopping about 200 meters away by foot, and for ideal pricing I go 1 km away on a bike with storage on the rack. I do not want for variety either, I’ve got multiple speciality shops and 5 different grocery chains within a 1 km radius.
Notjustbikes had a whole episode on how nice it is to decide each day what you want to eat, and just buy it on the way home.
It’s nice to be able to, done get me wrong, but if I could stock up for 6 months I would. Who wants to waste time getting groceries every day?
it’s not a waste of time lol, are you stuck in car-centric thinking where getting groceries is an hour long affair? for me it takes like 20 minutes to buy stuff of which most of it is just getting to the store, and i don’t even live that close to the store!
For me it’s a short drive to the store - would be bikable except for the hill. However grocery shopping is still a chore, and it still takes over an hour out of my life. Yes, I’d try to minimize that, regardless of what transportation I used.
Over COViD I invested in a chest freezer, and I already had significant storage, so now i can bulk buy more things. Already the only reason I go so often is fresh vegetables: if I could get them to last more than a week, you bet I’d make fewer shopping trips
You don’t have to make a Costco run every day. You can spend 5 minutes at the grocery store grabbing 3 items.
A Costco run every couple months keeps me in stock of dry goods and anything that freezes.
I may have to goto the grocery weekly for produce, dairy, and bread, but at least don’t have to worry about things, like meat, cereal, etc.
@usualsuspect191 @perviouslyiner Uh… people who eat fruit or vegetables or fresh baked goods?
It’s not that you get them every day, but that you have the ability to get them whenever you want them instead of having to plan an excursion.
I’m personally a big fan of finishing up work, looking through the cupboards, polling the kids and wife, and then walking 5 minutes to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. Gets me out of the house, and since I work from home mostly I find it helps me make a nice mental and physical separation between work and the evening. Fresh baked sourdough from a local baker is an added plus.
I realize there’s an immense level of privilege I enjoy to be able to do this (namely living in a very metro area, and usually having no commute), but having also lived in Europe and India for periods of my life it’s sad to see there this type of daily shopping is way more normal and commonplace.
You need to watch the video because he specifically addresses your misconception.
I’d love to break up the shop into more frequent, smaller trips and I could, but for my work and parenting duties during the week it’s just easier to do it all in one go.
is a few hours of walking
Hmmm, I dont think people want to walk for hours to complete a grocery shopping trip? Walkable means you’re done in 20mins max, that’s a reasonable standard given what some urban areas already have.
Fucking hell… I’ll walk all day for fun but I HATE grocery shopping, I’m not walking an hour each way and carrying shit… I’m so lucky to have a little bodega about three minutes away from me, where I can pick up a bunch of dope stuff. But actual grocery shopping? I noticed the community I’m commenting it (I only browse /all/) but I’m driving a few minutes, not hauling all that back over a 30+ minute walk.
I can walk endlessly in dirt trails, even mid to advanced hiking trails while hauling shit in a huge backpack, but the moment I touch pavement I can only manage a couple minutes.
I double checked the stats. It was more like 1.5 hours total walking over 2 miles, though I was out and about four 3 hours. I wanted to go to a bigger shop outside the city centre and the farmer’s market in town, had to stop at home to empty the cart. If I was less choosy I could do it in 20, but the shop near me is a little depressing.
I think it’s cool you’re doing what you like. I walk long distance for urban hiking, which can take up to six hours with breaks. I am not sure I’d like a routine walk for groceries though, if it’s not 20ish - 30ish total. To each their own 🤷♀️
I assumed they meant the travel walk was probably within that time then they spent the other hours walking around the shops/market stalls etc. Which is pretty standard where I live! We’re not a “walkable city” but we get the bus into town and then spend a few hours walking about buying stuff before getting the bus back. Like OP its doable by bike too, both methods work depending how lazy you’re feeling and how many shops you want to go in.
The travel of 2 trips was closer to 2 miles. The long time quoted was just because I’m a lazy ass who meanders through the shops in a dissociative fugue, deep in the reverie of some unspeakably horrible podcast.
It sounds so weird to call “a few hours of walking” lazy but I completely get what you mean, and I’m all for it!
I’m most interested in the Dinosaur Quiz.
I got you fam
Damn I got like maybe 1 or 2 :(
Glad you post here using ASCII and not handwriting - but keep up the practice!! 🦖✍️
The answer no8 isn’t dragons. Just inject some light racism quiz.
why are cucumbers wrapped in plastic? WHY ARE THEY WRAPPED IN PLASTIC?
Cucumbers stay much longer fresh when tightly wrapped in plastics.
Edit: No need to downvote. I don’t like that either.
I dunno man, they literally aren’t sold any other way in this whole country AFAIK. It was the same in the states, the only ones they sell out of plastic are the gross ones with thick skin
Can confirm all the “good” cucumbers in the USA are shrink wrapped, unless you buy at a farmers market. I think it’s a distribution and storage issue and the plastic keeps it fresh longer. My wife and I both hate it, it so hard to get the plastic off, and its no good for the planet.
I don’t know about all the good ones, but yes, at my grocery, two of the three types of cucumbers sold are wrapped in plastic. I prefer the “normAl” cucumbers in bulk anyway, but occasionally get the English cucumbers or mini cucumbers despite them being 8n plastic
The cukes in Canada are individually shrink wrapped like this and then 3 off them are bundled together in even more plastic to be sold as a set for $5+
I also don’t get why people try to force rubber on my cuke
A grocery store I frequent has 4 cobs of corn, lightly trimmed as to see the kernals. And they’re packaged like a steak. 🤦♂️
Not that you posted to be judged on your weekly shop, but given you’re on this sub and interested in social issues, thought you might want to know that brewdog are kinda arseholes to their staff:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/brewdog-staff-craft-beer-firm-letter
Immediately the first thing I noticed too. I also work at a brewery and the fallout from brew dog sent shockwaves through many breweries.
Also, their beer is terrible.
I’m discovering this. And yeah, I was out of the loop. I think I’d better just go back to making my own. At least then when I drink bad beer I’m technically learning something.
A few hours!? I live in a walkable city and the nearest store is 3-4 minutes and 3 others within 20 minutes.
Did you drink half of the hot sauce on the way home?
A few… hours?
I assume it’s cumulative, not a few hours every time. But I’m not sure.
Today was closer to 2.5 because I went to a slightly out of the way shop. Pretty comparable to how long I’d spend on a trip to Costco, once upon a time. I could go faster if I was more organized/wasn’t being lazy.
So counting the shopping time? Not bad
Got thirsty on the trip home and drank a third of the Sriracha and most of the soy sauce? We’ve all been there
I live in NYC. It’s pretty great.
I can walk a couple minutes to some bodegas. A couple more minutes to some small groceries. Looking at the map, there’s a couple supermarkets I forgot existed within 15 minutes of walking, in addition to the two I usually go to. There’s also other useful stuff like pharmacies, hardware stores, libraries, and so on. This isn’t a fancy or especially expensive neighborhood.
I have a hand cart for when I want to buy something heavy.
I haven’t had a car for like 15 years. I have no regrets. None of the “But what if it rains??” fears have ever been a problem. I can only remember twice in 15 years I needed to borrow someone’s car to move stuff.
I feel like NYC is playing this game in easy mode. There are definitely many other places in the US where being carless is possible, but nowhere else with as many options
This is part of why I plan to never move out of the city. Almost anywhere else in the US is going to be car centric. So I could move somewhere that’s “cheaper” but it wouldn’t be as good in ways I care about.
I do somewhat miss this, but a while back I moved to where I can own my own house with a bit of yard.
Carless can mostly work for Boston as well. In my case it was road trips and friends in the suburbs that made it difficult, but transit and walking was mostly easier than car. No Bodegas, though. Of course that was before Uber/Zipcar so it may be easier now.
Currently I live in a somewhat walkable town just outside Boston. We have a walkable town center focussed on a transit hub, and plenty of shops and restaurants. You could make carless work, if you lived a bit closer in than I am. We even used to have a grocery express near the train, that os similar to a bodega, but unfortunately died during COViD
Ever since I first lived in the city center during nursing school I always make it a priority to live somewhere walkable with public transport. But I do sacrifice apartment space for it.
Right now I have several supermarkets (including Aldi) and a tram stop in my immediate walking distance. I do all my shopping by foot and I guess I would have to go twice for that amount OP carried home on their bike.
But I have to say, that I mostly drink tap water (+Tea/Koffee) which is very good quality at my location. If I had to carry crates of water and other beverages it would be much harder. Not everyone has that choice unfortunately.
@norimee @Gradually_Adjusting Another problem of the politics of austerity and obsession with low taxes at any cost. We’ve defunded water infrastructure almost as much as we’ve defunded public transit. There’s no excuse for a wealthy society to create an environment where many of its residents don’t feel safe drinking tap water and access to any tap water in major cities is periodically cut off by 100 year old pipes predictably breaking.
That’s one thing I missed when I lived within easy walk of a grocery. I’d generally drive, just for carrying the drinks. I noticed people taking taxis, but that didn’t seem useful …… until many years later when I got hit by the obvious that I could have walked one way and taken a taxi back. This was before cargo bikes
I can’t even imagine. Where I grew up, the closest gas station was a 10 minute drive. No way were you walking anywhere to buy some thing.
Look at Richie Rich over here, able to afford groceries and a city apartment.
And fully WFH. I am practically a 1%er
Pshhh maybe globally upturned nose
Till you got the yacht you’re only a “have”:
- have yacht
- have
- have not
PS: great haul, feels like plastics are the next thing to try to tackle
I could minimise the plastics more, but I’m at my mental energy limit as it is. A kid with ADHD is unreal.
Edit: my mom lives on a yacht lol
Wait… do you mean I can just win capitalism if I use the money I saved for a deposit on a house and buy a shitty yacht instead?
Groceries are very affordable in the UK if you’re buying simple ingredients like this. Those Italian hard cheeses and the 2 kg of chicken are the most expensive things, probably 3£ and change each, the rest of those items are like 1-2£ each. This is most of a week’s food for like 40£.
My total shop today was about £120, but would have been closer to 70 if not for the wine, beer, and a few other things. It feeds 3.
… that, and the good ol’ bundy ginger beer
Wife wanted to party with a Moscow mule 💃🏽
Before the Ukraine invasion, I used to be able to do my weekly shop for under a fiver. Maybe £8ish if I was stocking up on store cupboard stuff. It’s more than doubled since then.
Yeah, I know it’s got way more expensive here the last few years, but it’s still much cheaper than in the US or on the continent
Your grocery store sells just loose Pokémon cards? The ones around here have people fist fighting for them.
I’m blessed with a recently priced grocery store within 1-2 minutes walking (less than 200m/ 0.1mile). I have some nice large reusable bags, so no car needed for daily stuff.
However, due to this, I also shop there every single day instead of making weekly trips. In weekly totals I still spend 10-20 minutes transport and probably a lot more spontaneous purchases than I would from just one weekly trip.
Whenever we do plan weekly shopping, we usually use the car to go elsewhere because one shop doesn’t have all the things.
However, I recently found an app that can plan the cooking recipes based on this one store, so I could potentially use a handcart and get everything in one walk. I haven’t done this yet though.
There’s a balance to be struck between freshness and structure for sure.
![[discussion] This is what walkability means for me](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/16951e3f-e3ab-4b79-b2b9-9c2710bdf45d.jpeg){kind=link}