Organic food in supermarkets

Almo

Edwardia wrote: »

When I started this thread I never expected it to get to more than 40 pages long or to get more than 22,000 views. So I didn't make my first post a Where To Start Guide.

That means every now and then, a post like this.

You don't have to be an organitarian (yup it's a word according to the Urban Dictionary and means a person who eats only organic food).

You might have seen organic food in Home Bargains and are kind enough to let us know - Quasar even found organic food in Costcutter. Or if you've bought yellow-stickered organic food, we'd love to know what you thought, good or bad.

Some people choose organic fruit and vegetables when they can, because they are worried about pesticides and prioritise thin skinned delicate fruit and veg which don't get peeled, to eat organic. If you do a search on the thread there are videos which explain all that...and you can always ask questions, we don't bite

As the thread progresses, you'll find the organic, wild and additive free offers I've found be they from Lidl, Approved Food, Abel & Cole, ASDA, Waitrose, One Stop, Poundland, Sainsbury's, Tesco, 99p Stores, Co-op, Morrisons, Riverford, Ocado or Costcutter. People add others they see in between these.

In Germany and USA Aldi does organic ranges. In the USA, Walmart, Target and Safeway for example all have organic ranges. In France, they even have organic supermarkets. Finding organic food in the UK can be difficult but this thread aims to track it down and review

I choose organic dairy and that has now become largely non-negotiable for me. I recently tried raw milk for the first time but the producer is not certified organic. There is another supplier who is organic but much further away, way too far to go unless we were passing for another reason. I am now in two minds as to whether to go for raw but not organic milk or duchy originals non-homogenised. Hmm.

I try for organic meat and veg but realistically cannot afford to buy these all the time. I keep an eye out for specials and yellow stickers, freeze what I can and make sensible choices the rest of the time.

I was eating primal for quite some time but a recent overseas move (back to the UK) has seen me fall off the wagon a little bit and I'm trying to climb back on.

Edwardia

Hi Almo welcome to the thread :wave:and a primal person too

Re: your milk dilemma.. my mother lives in the country and buys non-organic raw milk from her local farm dairy (which I think she's lucky to have). It's illegal to sell raw milk in shops and Selfridges, which has a raw milk vending machine, is being prosecuted In California (you can watch the videos on YouTube) the LAPD sent in SWAT teams to health food stores to remove it !

Duchy Originals from Waitrose is not the only UNhomogenised organic milk out there. Calon Wen is a co-operative of 25 family farms in Wales and their unhomogenised organic milk is available from Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Spar, Tesco and Waitrose. I've had their milk from Ocado and prefer it to Riverford milk. www.calonwen-cymru.com and their cheese, tshirts, mugs etc from http://www.oddgods.co.uk/categories.asp?cID=65&c=201753

Riverford milk (packaged as such) is also UNhomogenised from the Wash and Norton farms. Milk from farms labelled Acorn Dairy may not be (IMO info was ambiguous) www.riverford.co.uk

Abel & Cole milk is UNhomogenised from Berkeley Farm in Wiltshire and this is my first choice with Calon Wen second.
www.abelandcole.co.uk

Those are the ones I know of ATM, hope that helps.

Being in the UK and experiencing Spring next month could be a kick start.. organic lamb is superb. I wouldn't recommend the Sainsbury's SO organic diced beef on offer 3 for $10 ATM unless you have a slow cooker as some lumps were really tough

frugal_shopper_2

Edwardia wrote: »

frugal_shopper that's horrendous, especially using the organo-phosphate nerve agent on sweetcorn ! I don't think I'd want to buy his organic garlic just in case..eww..

And if you have names, dates, places for those organic growers please shop them. Glyphosate is the base of Roundup eww, Mind you I once went out with some Roundup in mistake for bugkiller in the dark. Did every plant in my garden. Realised my mistake, emailed a friend in California, spent four hours hosing my garden down.. and only lost the seedlings. Decided not to use chemicals after that !

I don't shop at the garlic farm, it was his choice to break the law & there will always be a possibility he may choose to do so again. Plenty of other producers about.
Chemicals are something I have never seen the point of, using them wrecks the soil, if you look after the soil you shouldn't need them. Things like weeding may be more labour intensive when you are not spraying but it generates an awful lot of material to compost so you can put humus & nutrients back into the ground.
The organic producers in question have been investigated before but suspecting something & being able to prove it are two very different things. Naming & shaming is not possible until things are proved definitively.

Kirri wrote: »

The Garlic Farm have never been organic though afaik, illegal pesticide use in the past if they use pesticides etc anyway is bad but not as though they misled organic shoppers in particular. How did you find out about the organic producers ^ buying glyphosate?

Mersley farm was just the first place that sprang to mind when I thought about proven chemical misuse because it was such a serious breach of the rules & people happen to of put all the pieces together in one place on another forum giving detailed information about that particular case which saved me a lot of typing. I know they are not certified organic but the point is that individual farmers do not always stick to the rules, that applies to organic farmers as well as conventional farmers.
I am in a rural area & know a lot of farmers, used to manage a few acres myself until I had to give it up due to a combination of health problems & various issues resulting from us turning down a contract from a supermarket who were very determined to get contracts with local producers to help get their planning applications through. When you see people you know have organic certification buying 20L containers of glyphosate at the local farmers co-op & paying cash rather than putting it on their account it stands out as an unusual purchase.

Edwardia

It does look dodgy but they would probably say it was for their garden !

I'm a great believer in mulch

Edwardia

Big Barn
http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/discounts/

Abel & Cole
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/offers

Riverford
http://www.riverford.co.uk/shop/specials/

frugal_shopper_2

Edwardia wrote: »

It does look dodgy but they would probably say it was for their garden !

They would have to be a little more creative than that, the product in question is only licensed for agricultural use & the person applying it would need to hold valid PA1 & PA6 NPTC qualifications.

Edwardia

It seems that these days people need a bit of paper to do anything,.. driving a fork lift, using a chain saw, building some fencing..

Looked on Big Barn and found a farm down my mother's lane that sells organic. Hoping this is not the farmer she upset by feeding the badgers which have a sett in her garden. :eek::o

Bought OH a mug and chopping board for work from the Calon Wen products website

Kirri

^ How lucky to have badgers! I'd boycott any farmer who was annoyed at that..

I've ordered from Riverford to try the box a second time, different box this week, the Med Veg plus did sneak a sourdough loaf in as strictly a one off to try it some more eggs and a small fruit bag.

Want to try Abel & Cole but as I'm out part of Fri and I didn't know what time they delivered I went for Riverford again. Hope to try A&C next week - they are a good rival to Ocado for me as they seem to have most of what I want and mostly cheaper!!

Edwardia

There are dairy farmers there who aren't keen on badgers, The main visitor is a whopper - surprised he can get in the sett !

OH is into his sourdough, I think he'd do anything for a Gail's Bread olive sourdough from Ocado.

Have ordered a small fruitbag from Riverford for Friday for OH he loves them unless American apples.

My favourite A&C things are the eggs, milk. globe artichokes, A&C mature Cheddar, fennel, YV yogurts. For OH that would be the cheese scones from The Authentic Bread Co,

Riverford,, OH would do anything for their ham and leek tarts and the Flour Power City Bakery ciabatta and pain de campagne. I like the aubergines, mushrooms, fennel and tomatoes. Haven't tried Riverford eggs cos mixed weight I think.

Ocado..oh just too many...

Shopping with my mother Thursday..

alfsmum

I was just checking out the primal diet site and there was a banner offering a 3rd Riverford veg box free. Assume this will be for new customers only but might help someone who is thinking of trying them http://www.livestrong.com/article/222538-primal-diet/