Organic food in supermarkets

bornintoit

In the Christmas at Sainsburys booklet there is a coupon for 50p off Nature's Path Organic Crispy Rice Bites (Pack of 5) in Choco-Knobbly and Berry Bobbly flavours. A gluten free product aimed at children I believe.

http://www.naturespath.co.uk/ - This is the companys website looks like they do organic gluten free cereal as well.

Posting incase it is helpful for anyone who may stumble upon this thread.

Hello to everyone here I don't already know .

Haffiana

namecheck wrote: »

Thank you for making this point.

Commercial interests continually say that organic food is not always more nutritious, and sometimes less so..

However, they keep quiet about the pesticides/fertilisers/hormones/antibiotics etc.

I do wonder if children growing up today will have MORE illness as a result of this unhealthy mass-produced food. We are given the line that mass production is necessary to feed the world, but generally it is more profitable for the producers.

Worth noting that NO meat that is produced in the EU contains hormones. Their use is banned in the EU and has been since the 1980's.

Quasar

vincenta wrote: »

I would love to make my own kefir! How do you do it?:)
So far I never found kefir in supermarkets. Only in Polish or Easter European shops and I don't like this kefir!
About bread making, We don't eat much bread too, one loaf (500g flour) last us for 5 days.We use it mostly for hubby's luchbox he is glad that he invested in breadmaker :beer:
I usually use Waitrose Canadian strong bread flour, to be honest didn't try organic flour:o maybe I should do it in a future.

To make kefir you need kefir grains. They are called grains but are in fact little blob of symbiotic cultures of beneficial bacteria and live yeast. That is why kefir is properly a fermented milk, with far more good bacteria than yogurt both in quantity and variety. The grains look like little cauliflower florets, and grow in number so that you always have loads.

You cannot buy them but need someone to donate/sell them to you. I looked around for a long time then in one of the small, family owned health food shops I asked and the lady said she could get some for me and in a couple of day I had two small "grains". I now dried some as back up and just eat the surplus.

Making kefir is a lot easier than making yoghurt. It has a tangy, tart taste and is extremely refreshing. You need to avoid touching the grains with metal and with any water that has chlorine in it as what kills bad bacteria will kill good ones too.

Here are two sites that give you the long and short of it:
http://www.kefir.biz/ferm.htm
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html

vincenta

Quasar wrote: »

To make kefir you need kefir grains. They are called grains but are in fact little blob of symbiotic cultures of beneficial bacteria and live yeast. That is why kefir is properly a fermented milk, with far more good bacteria than yogurt both in quantity and variety. The grains look like little cauliflower florets, and grow in number so that you always have loads.

You cannot buy them but need someone to donate/sell them to you. I looked around for a long time then in one of the small, family owned health food shops I asked and the lady said she could get some for me and in a couple of day I had two small "grains". I now dried some as back up and just eat the surplus.

Making kefir is a lot easier than making yoghurt. It has a tangy, tart taste and is extremely refreshing. You need to avoid touching the grains with metal and with any water that has chlorine in it as what kills bad bacteria will kill good ones too.

Here are two sites that give you the long and short of it:
http://www.kefir.biz/ferm.htm
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html

Thank You! Very useful links, Kefir making with "grains" looks easy. Now I need to find some kefir grains! Not sure that there will be any luck to find grains in London but hopefully my parent and my hubby's parents who live abroad will come to visit us in spring. It is plenty time to ask them about kefir grain.My mother-in -Law is keen on those things like tea mushrooms:beer::A Maybe she fill find kefir grains for me:rotfl:

Quasar

vincenta wrote: »

Thank You! Very useful links, Kefir making with "grains" looks easy. Now I need to find some kefir grains! Not sure that there will be any luck to find grains in London but hopefully my parent and my hubby's parents who live abroad will come to visit us in spring. It is plenty time to ask them about kefir grain.My mother-in -Law is keen on those things like tea mushrooms:beer::A Maybe she fill find kefir grains for me:rotfl:

I've PMd you

Edwardia

Thanks Kirri and Quasar for the tips on using kale.

I have bought kefir in a Polish shop which was Czarnow brand and that's delicious but haven't liked any of the others I've tried.

As for tofu, Taifun do a fantastic organic basil tofu which you can find in Waitrose. Delicious.

vincenta

Edwardia wrote: »

Thanks Kirri and Quasar for the tips on using kale.

I have bought kefir in a Polish shop which was Czarnow brand and that's delicious but haven't liked any of the others I've tried.

As for tofu, Taifun do a fantastic organic basil tofu which you can find in Waitrose. Delicious.

Oh.I never tried Czarnow brand!

Edwardia

Long Crichel Bakery. Wimborne, Dorset www.longcrichelbakery.co.uk also available online via Abel & Cole www.abelandcole.co.uk

Daylesford Organics, London and Gloucestershire www.daylesfordorganics.com online and also available via Ocado www.ocado.com

Aston's Organic Bakery, London NW2 http://astonsbakery.wordpress.com

Judges Bakery, Hastings Old Town, E Sussex
http://judgesbakery.com

Honeyrose Bakery, London NW10 www.honeyrosebakery.com also available via Ocado

Respect Organics www.respectorganics.com
Available from Sainsbury's, Tesco, ASDA

Highgrove organic preserves www.highgroveshop.com also available from Fortnum and Mason instore and online www.fortnumandmason.com

Torfolk organic lingonberry jam and organic wholewheat bread from Totally Swedish. W1 and online www.totallyswedish.com

Vilmas organic sourdough crispbread online from www.atasteofsweden.co.uk

Wilkin & Sons Tiptree jams, marmalades and conserves (NB not all organic) www.tiptree.com available online from www.redmoped.co.uk and from supermarkets if stocked.

Tillman organic Swedish jams can be bought from Ocado or online at Scandinavian Kitchen www.scandikitchen.co.uk or instore in London W1

Waitrose sells a few own brand organic jams.

Some French organic Bio Jardin jams are available online from https://www.frenchclick.co.uk

Kirri

If doing bread, this is the one at Priory Farm, Reigate, also a shop in the town and they sell at farmer's markets around South London too.

http://www.chalkhillsbakery.com/

I don't buy jam - it's all made from the allotment so home made organic

Re the coffee, it was a coffee with whitener that had the E numbers in, I don't drink coffee myself so not sure who does organic ones, I tend to keep freebies here for guests.

RedLass

Thanks for the welcome :wave: I have been following the thread for a little while now with great interest.

A year ago I decided that we would try to move over to only organic meat and poultry. The real motivation for me is animal welfare, but the other benefits that come along with it are clear. I like knowing that the person who has reared the animals, cares about them while they are alive, and in the end, wants to deliver a quality product. I like that organically reared animals are far less pumped full of steroids and who knows what other drugs. And, I like that they are fed on much more natural and appropriate grains and feeds, and, maybe even grass! In the end, it is better for the animals, and it has to be better for me to. Quality and taste aside (and of course, I have found both of these far superior in organic, non-supermarket meat), if there are less chemicals in the animals, then I must be ingesting less of it all too.

I had picked up snippets of info about welfare standards from TV shows and the odd article, but when I bought the River Cottage Meat book I was shocked at the reality (and I'm sure if I continued research, I'd be further appalled, but to be honest, I am already convinced enough). I grew up in the city and moved to Suffolk after finishing university. I'd often drive by fields of pigs and piglets rolling around in mud and sheltering in tin huts. I just thought that's the way they were farmed. I didn't realise that this was the minority approach.

I'll admit, I have found it difficult, and we are still not all organic all of the time. I meal plan each week, so I should be able to take care of the "raw" materials, but I do struggle. If options are scarce, I will slip on Beef and Lamb, but I try to be very rigid about Chicken and Pork. Mainly because I read that they get the worst deal on non-organic farms. If I buy non-organic, I immediately feel guilty - the minute I even consider it because shop X doesn't have any and I don't want to drive across town to try another store. And when it comes to convenience foods, I find that the hardest of all. We don't eat many, I cook a lot of our meals from scratch, but things like... shop made pies. And chicken mini fillets that have been coated in a flavoured breadcrumb. I know I could make these myself, and they would probably be much tastier and healthier too, but I am no saint, and some days after work I want an easy night

I am especially annoyed with Tesco at the moment, which is historically the supermarket where we do our weekly shop. Throughout the year I have been buying organic whole chickens from there, either to roast, or to portion up (the price of ready portioned chicken breast makes my eyes water). About 4 weeks ago, I couldn't find one. And I have looked each week since, with no joy. I actually think they've stopped selling them. I checked along the rest of the chicken section, and the only organic offering I could find was a 30cm wide part of one shelf for chicken fillets. Instead, I've been buying Duchy's chickens from Waitrose.

One of my new years resolutions will be to check out some of the online shops you have all been talking about. Longwood Farm is about 25 minutes drive from me, which is ok for buying a month's worth of meat and freezing. But I also want to get those "convenience" items sorted too. As much as I would like to have the perfect healthy diet, sometimes a good ready made pie is all that will satisfy!

So this is me, trying, but must do better :wall: