Organic food in supermarkets

Kirri

^ Just had a nose, I've never seen people swapping eggs but if I buy eggs in supermarkets which is rare I only tend to get them in Waitrose and hopefully Waitrose shoppers wouldn't swap eggs..! (I don't like buying eggs from supermarkets like Morrisons/Tesco that insist on stocking battery eggs either). I like the Riverford eggs so far.

Have put in a Riverford salad box order this week.
Have placed first order from A&C for other items ie dairy, Ecover, pasta etc to try it. The 99p delivery charge is cheaper than the bus fare/petrol to Waitrose!

Noticed A&C buy in veg but Riverford own/work closely with farms so think I will stick to Riverford for veg and use A&C for other stuff.

Didn't like the Riverford bananas (went from too green to too ripe without going yellow?) and the toms went from very hard to overripe/rotting. But rest of stuff was very good.

Quasar

Just seen a new butcher in one of my local roads, selling naturalfarms.co.uk meat. I think it might be worth a visit.

blueyellowred

Loads of reduced organic vegetables in Waitrose today - parsnips, onions, cabbage, sweet potatoes.

Also bough some more YS organic stuff from M&S for research purposes
Packet of 2 organic Hass Avocados - £0.80(seems to be default price on reduced stuff there since New Year, used to be £0.50 for bigger items and £0.10 for small/single items), will let you know how good they are when they ripen some more.

Organic Mature Cheddar from UK farm(Brue Valley farm near Glastonbury) - £0.80 every packet,approx 250gr, was £11.99 per kg before reduction. Quite nice, so defo will be buying again.

rufydoofyM

sarah222 wrote: »

I would like to say I recently bought some organic basmati rice instead of normal brand and OMG what a difference. Now I know that sounds a little weird (well does to me) I think fruit, veg obviously seem to taste the difference but rice? Usually covered in something else ie curry, chilli whatever but to see the difference and taste ther difference I was amazed it was fab. It has made me even more convinced to try other things now and not just the wonderful veg etc :-) happy days

We got the same surprise when we tried Sainsburys organic long grain rice a while back. Both the taste and texture are far better than the non organic. We were shocked at how much difference there was in such a basic ingredient. Trouble is we still have a few kilos of standard to use and I keep putting it off for the organic.

rufydoofyM

Abel and Cole delivery came today. On the back of the last receipt there was a £5 off a £10 spend on ready made organic food so I added the following to my normal order,
1 x small pork pie £2.95
1 x individual steak and ale pie £3.65
1 x individual chicken and leek pie £3.65

Tried the steak and ale pie between us tonight but not impressed. The pastry was nice but the filling was dry and oh got a big bit of gristle in his half. Not sure about the taste either. We prefer a pie with gravy inside and considering the price we expected better. Will report on the others as and when.

Although we love A and C I have found that when I've had to call customer services regarding quality of veg a couple of times and broken eggs on another occasion they have not been as helpful as they appear to be when other customers post on their fb page. So any queries or complaints will be posted there in future.

Have found a code for 3rd box free and will be trying out Riverford soon. Spoke to them today and they assured me all their milk is unhomogenised even though it doesn't actually say this on their website for the acorn dairy.
With A and C on Tuesday, Riverford on Friday and Ocado once a fortnight we're are sorted

gailey_2

Been lidls today got

organic free fair trade bananas £

pack 6organic onions 69p.

sure edwardia said they do ilk and cheese so maybe the extending range.

Mines quite small one will check out larger lidls in near future.

rufydoofyM

Body shop organic range is working with the glitch. add 2 dreams body wash @ £1 then add 2 items you want then the code from the home page and all you should pay is £2 for the body wash and 2.99 for postage:D

Bargain if you see this in time. Its on the grabbit board

jenniewb

Kirri wrote: »

^ Just had a nose, I've never seen people swapping eggs but if I buy eggs in supermarkets which is rare I only tend to get them in Waitrose and hopefully Waitrose shoppers wouldn't swap eggs..! (I don't like buying eggs from supermarkets like Morrisons/Tesco that insist on stocking battery eggs either). I like the Riverford eggs so far.

Have put in a Riverford salad box order this week.
Have placed first order from A&C for other items ie dairy, Ecover, pasta etc to try it. The 99p delivery charge is cheaper than the bus fare/petrol to Waitrose!

Noticed A&C buy in veg but Riverford own/work closely with farms so think I will stick to Riverford for veg and use A&C for other stuff.

Didn't like the Riverford bananas (went from too green to too ripe without going yellow?) and the toms went from very hard to overripe/rotting. But rest of stuff was very good.

Just on a side note (sorry, should explain: long time lurker to this thread!)

I stopped buying eggs a while back when the set-top hob I had broke. I've gone through about one every other year and have given up wasting more time on replacing it, so now don't have a hob, just a microwave.

I tried heating an egg up in one of those Lakeland egg-microwave things but the eggs just explode and the mess takes ages to peel from all corners of the microwave. As a result, I don't eat eggs now as I don't have a way to cook them.

Is there a way to cook eggs? Microwaves seem to explode them, I have considered leaving them inside the kettle but this seems like a very expensive way to cook an egg!

I worry slightly because my diet is already very limited.

Almo

Edwardia wrote: »

I think the education system has to take some of the blame. Not all schools have kitchens anymore and cooking might be an elective rather than compulsory.

If your parents didn't learn how to cook, they are unlikely to be interested in good food and if they aren't then it's likely that their children won't be either. So unless they pick up some tips from school or relative, then they are unlikely to be interested in food.

My uncle's first wife was a terrible cook. Their eldest son liked spending time with his aunt (my mother) and she got him cooking and he ended up doing the cooking at home as a teenager.

Another influence is environment. In France, kids go to ecole maternelle from 2.5-6 years old and they may get a three course school lunch. French people seem far nore interested in food and there are other nationalities too who have big food cultures.

In the UK it seems like people are too lazy to learn languages and therefore we tend to look across the pond to the USA. I can't say that fast food places and Starbucks really contribute anything to our food knowledge.

Unrelated link to a post with offers on the Green Board
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4457203

You'll have to excuse me, I have a terrible tendency to just pop in and out of threads. Wanted to reply to this.

I think society in general is so far removed from food at it's most real that they just cannot cope with the headlines and advice that comes out and become paralysed between whether they should be focusing most on organic vs local vs sustainable vs seasonal vs supporting independent producers vs low fat vs low carb vs five a day vs nine a day vs avoiding sweeteners etc etc, and they just give up. Of course, a little research would tell them that a lot of those things go hand in hand and others may have been discredited (low fat, for example) but it just becomes too much.

I know it took me a lot of reading to settle on the way I would like to eat, and even then I can't say hand on heart that I eat that way the whole time or understand absolutely everything I read on my travels around the web.

I do hope the horse meat thing will prompt a change in attitudes and send people back to at least getting to know the people who are selling their food.

alfsmum

Riverford box has just arrived and all veg & small fruit bag look fine although tomatoes may have to be cooked rather than used in salads as they look a bit dry (if a tomato can look dry). The lettuces are massive at the moment and so much better value and fresher than pre-washed bags. Got some organic Little Gem from Ocado the other day but wasn't impressed by quality or quantity.

Also trying a Hobbs House small rye sourdough from Riverford this week so will report back on that. Usually love their bread. Planning to have a go at my own sourdough soon.

Poor driver looked frozen, said the cold was in his bones today. I was wearing 2 jumpers when I answered the door!