Organic food in supermarkets

Edwardia

:rotfl:

Tottenham Hotspur FC organic lip balm £3
http://shop.tottenhamhotspur.com/product/spurs-organic-lip-balm/45010

Kirri

^ plus the sulphites in those sausages, I try and avoid them.. I think LM used to be all vegan food but in the last year or two they've started including dairy or egg or something in some of their products. No idea who owns them though these days.

It feels like a constant juggling of veggie/vegan/animal rights/organic/healthy for me. I don't think once in a while it hurts to have whatever (or else I'd never eat out or at other people's houses) but for the majority I want the above but it isn't easy and sometimes all the cooking makes me tired!

I got the £27 of free food from Ocado the other week and that was bizarrely a mix of organic and stuff with a lot of additives in! From that I've had the Rude Health non org honey nut granola, it is really nice - additive free iirc and has organic sugar. I normally have their organic muesli, they do a mix of org/non org products. Just had also from that offer a Yeo Valley Noughty yoghurt - they are quite nice and I'd been meaning to try them. Still prefer my YV pots though.

Falafel are probably a reasonably good snack? - albeit the ones I think taste the best aren't organic - not had them in a while but they are the Cauldon Moroccan spiced ones (better than their standard ones - but just checked, they have sulphites in...). I'm hoping for some inspiration on snack type things from Wholefoods..

Kirri

Edwardia wrote: »

:rotfl:

Tottenham Hotspur FC organic lip balm £3
http://shop.tottenhamhotspur.com/product/spurs-organic-lip-balm/45010

That must be the most bizarre and unexpected organic item on the thread :rotfl:

Edwardia

Pastilla Nash prune and walnut log from Sydney, Australia. All natural, made with 38% organic prunes. 260g approx 20 servings 10.99 eg 54p per serving so would serve plenty of friends or relatives.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/40781/Pastilla-Nash-Prune-and-Walnut-Log

edited to add: OH has me ordering this for him and my mother. Hopefully there will be leftovers for his lunch box !

Mentioning lunch box I noticed this book on The Works' website for 1.99
http://www.theworks.co.uk/p/healthy-eating-books/lunch-boxes---talking-it-through/9781905117055

My dearly beloved PITA lurves his Sistema Klip It To Go lunch box stuff. I've just ordered him the breakfast to go box from Lakeland for 3.99 as couldn't find it locally.

Edwardia

OH had some Cauldron Foods falafel and he wasn't all that impressed. They were on offer 2 for £3 at Sainsbury's.

Not all falafels contain sulphites but many contain bicarbonate of soda - I imagine as a raising agent. Many contain stuff like sweetened egg powder or strange things like pureed dates.

I used to make my own houmous - just chick peas, Lebanese all natural tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil - but I can't make really small quantities for OH and he doesn't like any of the supermarket ones - they use sunflower oil usually, sometimes rapeseed oil, E numbers, cucumber, green pepper - all sorts of strange ingredients. I've found that the worst E number offenders were Yarden and Sabra from Israel.

Husband loves Yeo Valley yogurt but doesn't like their butter. Also likes Rachel's organic yogurts too but his all time favourite yogurts now are the Brown Cow Organics ones from Abel & Cole. He isn't a great fan of plain yogurt except to use in recipes eg borani esfanj.

I don't think all the sugar in the fruit flavoured ones is that healthy. I do try to mix it up a bit by giving him organic creme fraiche or natural yogurt with organic soft fruit such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Kirri

^ I was looking at those brands on Ocado last night, strangely enough, hadn't heard of them before. I have to confess I have ordered a non organic houmous for tonight - the Waitrose one with the chick peas/paprika and parsley (?!) on top - only because it looked better than the organic ones. I do mostly make my own houmous but as I am supposed to be spending the weekend doing decorating I got this as a lazy treat, along with the organic pittas (another thing I usually make) as otherwise I will spend the whole day in the kitchen... I did read somewhere that you can make a large batch of houmous and it freezes ok?

I love the Yeo Valley spreadable... and not keen on natural yoghurt unless cooking. I am currently addicted to the Tropical Treats YV yoghurt pots, as much as I don't think it's ethical to use milk.. I did like the Brown Cow yoghurts but twice had issues with 'blown' lids well before the use by date resulting in leaking yoghurt in the fridge and yoghurts going in the bin Also disappointed they stopped selling the small pots individually unless in mixed packs.

Edwardia

My local Sainsbury's sells the Yarden brand and Ocado does too.

Now that OH isn't commuting right into cental London he can't get me the Al Wadi al Akhdar tahini from Green Valley Supermarket in W2. AFAIK they don't do mail order This is the link for the manufacturer http://www.alwadi-alakhdar.com/

I'm surprised that houmous freezes because of the high olive oil content. I can't make my own dressings and store in fridge, the olive oil goes white and solidifies eww.

Sainsbury's used to do an organic French dressing but I haven't seen it in months. Haven't seen their organic mayo in months either.

Brown Cow Organics has a new flavour out in 500g pots - dark cherry - currently on offer at Abel & Cole for 1.79

I've had pot probs too when A&C put the milk on top of the yogurt and cracked pots and another time when they packed the yogurt pack upside down :eek: However, to be fair, A&C did refund the cost of the useless yogurts and ensure there's a box tidy in the box to separate them from the milk now.

For the benefit of lurkers, here's Brown Cow Organics' website
http://www.browncoworganics.co.uk/ and they won at the Taste awards and Soil Association organic awards this year.

namecheck

If we have turkey at Christmas, I buy an organic one. However, even "organic" is not necessarily what it seems.

I've just ordered from wonnacottfarm.co.uk in Devon. It is one of the few registered organic producers in the UK to breed and hatch their own birds.

The farm breeds Norfolk Blacks. They are not cheap - but the birds are bred naturally (not artificially inseminated), and they are bred and hatched on the farm and killed and plucked on the farm. The parent birds are also kept on a free-range and organic system.

Quite a lot of info on the website.

If you do not live near enough to collect, there is a courier delivery service which will deliver on Sat Dec 21 before 1pm (unfortunately the delivery is quite costly as it is on a weekend).

Edwardia

Thanks namecheck, not sure why your link didn't work but here it is again https://www.wonnacottfarm.co.uk

Have you had their turkey before ? Certainly sounds like they pay attention to detail and raise their birds properly.

I compared prices with Waitrose and Wonnacott Farm is considerably more expensive than organic free range and Duchy Originals - mostly that's the whopping delivery charge, as you say.

OH and I don't really like turkey other than cold sliced as part of a buffet. Are we alone in that ? Vegetarians, what do have for your Christmas lunch ? Is nut roast a boring cliche ?

namecheck

Edwardia wrote: »

Thanks namecheck, not sure why your link didn't work but here it is again https://www.wonnacottfarm.co.uk

Have you had their turkey before ? Certainly sounds like they pay attention to detail and raise their birds properly.

I compared prices with Waitrose and Wonnacott Farm is considerably more expensive than organic free range and Duchy Originals - mostly that's the whopping delivery charge, as you say.

OH and I don't really like turkey other than cold sliced as part of a buffet. Are we alone in that ? Vegetarians, what do have for your Christmas lunch ? Is nut roast a boring cliche ?

I hadn't bothered with the www.

The price of these turkeys is high. However I am concerned with the birds' welfare (and taste).

99.9% of turkeys bred in the UK are bred via artificial insemination.

Commercially bred turkeys are bred to have a large amount of breast meat and short legs. Their fertility rate is less then 10% (as low as 5%) and without artificial insemination they would be unable to breed.

In addition, even organic turkeys are sent in crates to huge processing factories to be killed, plucked, gutted and packed.

I've been concerned with chickens' welfare ever since I was on a farm and saw a barn of chickens barely able to stand (the farmer's wife was housing them temporarily for someone else, and she was horrified too).

But it's only fairly recently that I've understood what most turkeys go through and I'm sure that Waitrose turkeys - for instance - may be organic but will probably not have had the traditional life they would have led at Wonnacott Farm (as an example).

It's the first time I have ordered from the Devon farm.

As Christmas lunch is once a year, for us it is worth paying for the best turkey. We don't buy huge tins of chocs (much as I love them), Christmas cake, expensive jars of peaches in brandy etc etc.