Organic food in supermarkets

smallblueplanet

Edwardia wrote: »

...Vegetarians, what do have for your Christmas lunch ? Is nut roast a boring cliche ?

No more than turkey is.

We have a carrot & mushroom nut roast with lots of roast veggies, fresh veggies, prune & apple stuffing, onion gravy...and any other bits that we fancy.

Kirri

^ rofl never thought of it like that!

I had nut roast last Christmas, a Mary Berry recipe, and loved it! I don't do the cooking and I didn't make it either. In the past I've had Quorn roast and Linda McC roast - basically it's just easy as it fits in with everyone else just to swap the main bit of the meal for me.

The thing I hate most is, if working, having to go for a work meal and in the past have actually not always gone due to the cost of paying a lot of money for a basically crap alternative.

Edwardia

In the USA they still have wild turkeys wandering around but turkey is extinct in the wild here along with bears, wolves and lynx cats There are populations of wild boar in the south east which escaped from farms and bred successfully.

It's awful that turkeys and indeed chickens can barely stand, totally agree.

Organic farmers can only rear the available breeds of chicken and turkey, and maybe Barbie-style chickens (in real life she would fall over as too top heavy), is all that's available because commercially successful ?

Turkey wasn't eaten at Christmas much until the 17th century and became really popular in the Victorian era. Boar was more popular before then.

Edwardia

Made game casserole this evening using assorted diced game from A&C and Ocado (previous offers) out of the freezer.

Bits and pieces of organic veg eg the last onion, an unhappy leek, some getting past it mushrooms, stick of celery, four tiny carrots and a red pepper. Bashed tin of YS Sainsbury's SO organic chopped tomatoes, the last four organic cherry tomatoes I had and a Kallo organic chicken stock cube (ASDA offer) dissolved in boiling water plus half a handful of herbs from the garden (rosemary, chervil, chives, parsley).

Sauteed the veg (not carrots and tomatoes) in olive oil, added game then stock, herbs,tomatoes, carrots. Simmered for two hours on low heat.

I was really surprised how well it turned out. Autumn being the season of mists n mellow fruitfulness, makes it the start of stew season and I just reminded myself how some bargains and not very great veg can transform into a really tasty stew.

Has anyone had organic horseradish sauce or gherkins please btw ? Yup still working on the Christmas food gathering !

smallblueplanet

Edwardia wrote: »

Has anyone had organic horseradish sauce or gherkins please btw ? Yup still working on the Christmas food gathering !

OH has had Sains organic horseradish sauce and likes it (I hate the stuff!) and we've had some organic gherkins and cornichons from Biona via Real Foods that were okay.

Edwardia

Thanks smallblueplanet I will look in Sainsbury's for the horseradish sauce. OH likes it, I find it a bit hot. We used to live in a village where the local pub landlady made awesomely good coleslaw and we could never figure out what it was. One night she confessed that the mystery ingredient was in fact a teaspoon of horseradish.

Lidl has been usurped as purveyor of the cheapest organic bananas. Sainsbury's SO organic were the next cheapest at 1.45 however I have noticed that they are now 1.85 per kg and bunches are individually priced. So far cheapest I've managed is a 71p bunch

Holland and Barrett order today. Got Kallo stock cubes for £1, 9 bars and Go Do organic chocolate bars for OH, Neal's Yard organic Bombay mix for Christmas, Meridian organic sesame oil, Neal's Yard organic walnut pieces (love them in salads), waiting for a few more things.

A&C order turned up today with battered fennel so I complained and they were refunded. It's not often that Abel & Cole, Riverford or Ocado get things wrong but all three have excellent customer service IME.

News on the Ocado & Morrisons tie-up is that Morries is buying one of the Ocado distribution centres then leasing half back to Ocado. There will be Morrisons signed vans delivering food and it won't come from local stores, it will come from the distribution centre. That's good news because it will mean the full range available on the website and possibly some competitive pricing on organics Hopefully, it will mean fresher fresh produce too.

Edwardia

Ocado newbies offer to 31/10
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/ocado?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=oneliner-two&utm_term=08-Oct-13-lt&utm_campaign=deals&utm_content=6

Waitrose newbies £75 off over five shops selected postcodes.

Edwardia

Iceland has Christmas food in and as this thread covers organic, wild and additive free I had a look. OMG the Iceland mince pies are a veritable additive-fest ! :eek:

http://groceries.iceland.co.uk/iceland-12-mince-pies/p/54323

Kirri

Er, sound lovely :eek: Probably last a few xmas's with all those preservatives...

Ingredients Mincemeat Filling (46%), Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oils (Palm, Rapeseed), Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, Raising Agents: Diphosphates, Sodium Bicarbonate; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate. Mincemeat Filling contains: Sugar, Sultanas (19%), Bramley Apple Pur!e (Bramley Apple, Preservatives: Sodium Metabisulphite, Sulphur Dioxide, Potassium Sorbate), Apricot Filling (Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Apricot Pur!e, Sugar, Gelling Agent: Pectins; Citric Acid, Acidity Regulator: Sodium Citrates; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate), Raisins (6%), Candied Mixed Peel (5%) (Orange Peel, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Lemon Peel, Citric Acid, Preservative: Sulphur Dioxide), Vegetable Oils (Palm, Rapeseed), Barley Malt Extract, Acetic Acid, Flavouring.


I had some from Riverford last year (in the hamper I won) and they were really good! I usually make them myself.

I really didn't like the Waitrose (additive free) houmous, a veritable salt-fest... though when I checked it against other houmous on Ocado it actually had less salt than some of the others. Only had 3 days use by date too. Not impressed for the price. The M&S organic one is iirc cheaper, longer lasting and better tasting - I should have walked down to get one though it was raining..

Edwardia

Abel & Cole has the mini star mince pies back from 4th November - we had these last year and my mother and husband loved them. Must admit haven't tried the Riverford ones.

Husband usually makes some as well using Meridian organic mince pie filling (Holland & Barrett) and Dorset Foods organic frozen pastry (A&C ? Ocado?) which is a bit of a cheat. Haven't found organic filo pasty yet but I really like the fresh Sofrabrick JR feuilles de filo from Ocado although it contains potassium sorbate, in preference to the Jus Rol stuff which has way more additives and glucose syrup instead of sugar.

Kirri I've not tried the M&S organic houmous (not found it). My favourite taste-wise is the Riverford, texture-wise, A&C. Both the Waitrose and Sainsbury's organic houmouses/ houmousi ?? are so-so.

Tzatziki is really easy to make, but if you don't have the ingredients to hand, I prefer A&C to Riverford. Riverford might have tweaked the recipe I think.