Ethical shopping versus economy

MrsTinks

I prefer to buy my eggs from my butchers who gets them from a local producer - they usually sell out every day and the eggs stand on the counter in butchers in a huge wicker basket and they grab however many you want and you can either have them in your own brought in box or they have boxes.
Now many people would cringe at the eggs... they often have a bit of mud on them and the occasional feather - and those cluckers are as free range as free range can get do they taste better? Couldn't tell you... but I feel better knowing the plucky cluckers have a semi happy life

rosh12

There's a really ueful acronym (and I don't know who made it up- not me!!) which is LOAF- local, organic, animal-friendly, fair trade.

On the whole I think it works pretty well when I'm shopping- it really helps me (esp when it comes to fruit and veg and other fresh stuff- meat, fish etc)... as someone else has said, there's not masses of point buying organic if it's travelled 800 miles, but on the other hand if you HAVE to buy something from far away, organic and fairtrade is a pretty good combo!

It got to the point where I would spend ages deliberating over stuff in the shops... using LOAF definitely helps me a bit...

little_miss_thrifty

I buy all my meat, veg, fruit and eggs from a local farm shop - you can see his cows in the field, and his chickens pecking under the bridge near the A12!!

I have a personal challenge this month to try and not buy anything from a supermarket - i have been reading a great book which gives insights to supermarket practises. I wanted to make a change - i, myself on my own may not amount to much in their profits, but at least it will make me feel better.

Just wanted to know - how much does everyone pay for their eggs? Mine are 85p for 6 (local, free range)

SusanCarter

So it sounds like "free range" is a bit of a marketing ploy as the minimum standards are so low. Presumably some are better than others but I guess you can't assume that they are going to be any better than the minimum standard. What are the minimum standards for "organic" eggs.

As for the mushrooms, I usually buy the big packet but I know I'll be able to make good use of the plastic packet otherwise I probably wouldn't (am so jealous of all these people with plastic recycling facilities).

Although I think there is an element of personal judgement as to what your priorities are, that "LOAF" thing sounds quite useful. The more local something is, the more chance you have of making sure it is ethical in other ways too. (I bet your local butcher/farm shop can tell you more about where the stuff came from than the person working in the supermarket.)

Personally I try to go for green/ethical as much as I can afford. I've mainly been focusing on how far things have come rather than anything else but have been considering a local organic food box. One area I haven't spent money on is organic/fairtrade clothes but the majority of my clothes come from charity shops so are "reused" instead.

Ken68

Just got back from shopping.
Lidl's eggs were 85pence per 6, sold as 'free range'. Tesco were near enough twice that with 'organic eggs' costing even more.
Lidl veg was being discounted by 70%, so some sort of store wars going on as the stuff looked good.
BUT kept saying to myself , PESTICIDES,SUGAR, SALT.
So came home only with the basics.
Ought to write it down on the shopping list, together with LOAF.

donnalou

I buy my Free Range eggs from a farm near me

£1.25 a dozen

Its great picking out all the large ones, we often get some double yokers!

Also the shells on Supermarket eggs seem thicker too

pollys

I buy our eggs from the local farm shop, from their own hens they cost 70p for 6. I take the egg box back to refill.

Justie

SusanCarter wrote:

So it sounds like "free range" is a bit of a marketing ploy as the minimum standards are so low. Presumably some are better than others but I guess you can't assume that they are going to be any better than the minimum standard. What are the minimum standards for "organic" eggs.

As with all things it varies a lot. If you can find a farm where the hens are out in the fields then they will be free range but equally they could be in a big barn with 'access to the outside' but not enough room or food to want to wander. Organic is generally better policed if the farmer etc is part of the soil association then there are very strict standards, there are other 'organic' standards though so it's not always clear and I've noticed that Supermarket own brand organic eggs aren't as tasty as some of the heritage breed free range ones which say that the birds are out on grass... If you can find local suppliers then it helps cut down on food miles and you can probably see for yourself how they're kept - there are lots of hobby hen keepers too who often have signs outside their house for eggs for sale or sell in local shops or if you have an organic box scheme then they may also have egg suppliers who will be proper organic and smaller farms rather than intensive farming.