Organic food in supermarkets

Edwardia

rufydoofyM I bought the 3 for £10 Sainsbury's SO organic diced beef and some lumps were melt in the mouth and others were really chewy. I don't have a slow cooker to try it in though.

Riverford houmous is great, even better than Abel & Cole's (and that's good too). If you can find Sainsbury's SO organic houmous it's not bad, but Clive's classic houmous from Ocado is truly dire, with totally overpowering lemon.

I was overcharged by Ocado cos they sent organic chicken breasts not chicken wings and 9.50 is a fair bit more expensive than 2.70. Customer services said must be a warehouse glitch as I wasn't the first customer to report this that day and I got an immediate refund and MIL got the chicken breasts (we don't like skinless chicken breasts).

While I was on phone had a whinge about the red offer triangle being applied to Moo organic UHT milk with an only £1 ! message when it's that price everywhere - so not an offer and there was no date for an end to the offer. I told customer services IMO it's the kind of misleading non-offer that I'd expect from Tesco and one of the reasons why I don't shop there.

Kirri - no idea on the Aleppo pepper - maybe a Middle Eastern shop as Aleppo is in Syria. ?? My favourite is Green Valley Supermarket in Upper Berkeley St, jut off Edgware Road.

Morrisons organic 80 teabags 1.50.. OH thinks they are made by same manufacturer as the Sainsbury's and Tesco organic teabags. Taste the same to us too. So buying Morries organic teabags saves 51p on the Sainsbos and Tesco price for the same number of teabags and they are foil-wrapped too.

When taste tested against Clipper organic 80 everyday teabags though, they aren't as good.

Edwardia

ASDA

Clipper Fairtrade organic Earl Grey 100 teabags were 3.48 now 2.90 (unfortunately for me my local ASDA doesn't stock them)

Ocado

Clipper organic 160 Everyday teabags were 4.65 now 3.72
Clipper organic 80 Everyday teabags were 2.55 now 2.04 (so currently cheaper than 80 Sainsbury's SO organic and Tesco organic teabags)
Clipper organic 40 decaffeinated teabags were 2.55 now 2.04
Clipper Fairtrade organic 50 Earl Grey teabags were 2.40 now 1.92
Clipper Fairtrade organic 40 English breakfast teabags were 2.40 now 1.92
Clipper Fairtrade organic 50 Assam teabags were 2.29 now 1.83
Clipper organic 20 detox teabags were 1.70 now 1.36
Clipper organic 20 dandelion and burdock teabags were 1.69 now 1.35
Clipper organic 20 liquorice teabags were 99p now 79p
Clipper organic Sleep Easy 20 infusion teabags were 1.39 now 1.11
Clipper organic 20 chamomile, lemon and Manuka honey teabags were 1.45 now 1.16
Clipper organic 20 raspberry leaf relaxing infusion teabags were 1.69 now 1.35
Clipper organic 20 nettle teabags were 1.39 now 1.11

Waitrose

Clipper organic 80 Everyday teabags were 2.55 now £2
Clipper organic 20 nettle teabags 1.39 any 3 for 2
Clipper organic 20 raspberry leaf relaxing infusion teabags 1.69 any 3 for 2

No offers on organic Clipper teas at Sainsbury's and Tesco.

dasophster

Kirri the Aleppo Pepper is also sold in Turkish shops under the name 'pul biber' xx

Kirri

dasophster wrote: »

Kirri the Aleppo Pepper is also sold in Turkish shops under the name 'pul biber' xx

Thank you, didn't know it had another name - I know Asda have a Turkish selection of foods in the World Food aisle but doubt it would stretch to that but never know..!

Edwardia, will check out Green Valley Supermarket - have only been up the Edgware Road once but I was thinking somewhere up there might have it (there's a hamman up there I fancied trying!).

I don't know of any Middle Eastern shops South of the river but sure there must be some.


I wanted Sumac this week but didn't attempt to find organic, just got Barts..

***cupcake***_2

I've taken the plunge with ordering from Abel and Cole after reading this thread avidly (thanks to all :T).

I've got the 4th box free and free cookbook deal which seems great.

So I've gone for the medium veg box, and added some guernsey milk as a treat for the munchkins, plus a 'pot luck' soup. Is there anything else anyone would recommend to try? It all looks lovely

SO looking forward to delivery now :j

Edwardia

Hi again ***cupcake*** I got the cookbook, my mother borrowed it and I haven't seen it since.

OK then here are our(me, husband, my mother) best picks from Abel & Cole:

• Abel & Cole whole milk - IMO it's the best I've tried, have every week now
• Abel & Cole organic free range large eggs - again IMO best I've tried, have every week now
• Abel & Cole organic Mature Cheddar on offer ATM
• Long Crichel Bakery Pain d'Auvergne 400g
• Authentic Bread Co cheese scones
• Authentic Bread Co all butter croissants
• Abel & Coleslaw
• Abel & Cole houmous (Riverford one marginally better tho)
• Pegoty Hedge organic ready meals eg beef lasagne, fish pie, cottage pie
• Organic Connexion brazil nut roast
• Abel & Cole baked chocolate cheesecake
• Yeo Valley yogurt - natural, peach & apricot, raspberry, strawberry
• Brown Cow yogurts - butterscotch, vanilla, orange lemon and ginger, strawberry,
• Montani & Gruzza grated Parmesan
• High Weald Dairy Halloumi
• Lye Cross Farm Double Gloucester and Red Leicester on offer ATM
• Green's of Glastonbury smoked Farmhouse Cheddar
• Abel & Cole organic free range chicken wings
• Hampshire Game wild venison shanks
• Hampshire Game whole wild pheasant
• Hampshire Game whole partridge
• Laverstoke Park Farm scrag of lamb
• Laverstoke Park Farm lamb bones for stock
• Laverstoke Park Farm beef bones for stock
• Tregida whole pan ready plaice and dab
• Tregida samphire
• sweet bite peppers
• aubergines
• globe artichokes
• fennel
• black salsify
• celeriac
• Jerusalem artichokes
• kohl rabi
• all their mushrooms
• cherry tomatoes
• winter purslane
• watercress
• Abel & Cole mayonnaise

hopefully other people can add to this !

***cupcake***_2

Thanks Edwardia - I have added hummus, coleslaw, scones, chicken wings, long crichel bread and blueberry yoghurt!

I know organic costs a little more but this seems such good food value - I can't wait to see how my tribe respond. And it saves a Saturday trip round the supermarkets too so win win.

:j

Kirri

The A&C coriander was excellent, it wasn't just chopped stalks but a whole 'plant', in a bag, so keeps in the fridge so well.

rufydoofyM

Edwardia have tried the so organic houmous and it is good and freezes well too. Hope your oh earns his choccy buttons

We love the brown cow yoghurt from A&C especially the blueberry which is on offer at the mo. We tried the ginger cake from the Long Crichel bakery last week and it was delicious (always feel guilty buying cake instead of baking but hadn't the energy for baking last week) Will certainly be ordering it again.
The A&C milk is certainly the best tasting and like someone else said we use less in tea and coffee so the cost difference is very little. We also love their sizeable eggs (often get double yokes), their cream is amazing too.
I have added globe artichokes to the order for Tuesday, never eaten artichoke before and looking forward to trying them as a treat.

Since we have started shopping with A&C, Riverford and Ocado I have spent less time in Sainsbos (as a regular round the ys areas the staff were concerned about my absence bless them) I'm not tempted by stuff that we don't need or is unhealthy. Going more organic has not really increased our food bill much overall. Quality over quantity, if/when finances change then perhaps we will have to be selective and favor standard over organic on flour for example and stay with organic for veg, but we'll deal with that when the time comes.

Having more beef stew tonight and since thats already done will I be making a crust or dumplings hmmmm think I'll let oh decide. Organic Mackies ice cream after (on offer at Ocado) not as nice as G&B but cheaper.

Edwardia

I will try freezing houmous not done that before !

My husband is a G&B chocolate ice cream fan. Have to say I agree the Mackies doesn't taste as good as G&B vanilla and I think Kelly's of Cornwall clotted cream ice cream tastes better than Mackie's too though not organic.

Artichokes and kids...oh this should be fun. My strong suggestion would be aprons/bibs on them and have plenty of wet wipes/kitchen towel to hand.

Globe artichokes are really simple to cook. Just get a big saucepan of boiling water and chuck it in. If yours isn't that big, suggest turning it around occasionally so that all sides get to cook. When you can pull one of the bottom leaves off easily and the whole thing looks softer, it's done. If you're nervous, pull a few leaves off in different parts, to check that the base of the leaf is tender not hard.

Suggest if sharing, you cut the stalk off so it will sit up, and then kids can all dig in. Imagine the leaf as an upside down triangle. You pull whole leaf off (so that's why important it detachs) and can dunk the top flat edge in mayonnaise, Hollandaise, French dressing, whatever you want - then you pull the tender bit of the leaf off it with your teeth. When all the leaves have gone you are left with the choke. If you cut off the furry bit and the stalk and tidy it up a bit you can then slice/cube that for dunking too.

Have fun.. wishing I had ordered them now too, I love a globe artichoke for lunch