Organic food in supermarkets

Edwardia · 10 October 2012 at 6:33PM

I low carb and went organic in March. My husband doesn't low carb but is enthusiastic about organic. We've been trying lots of things so if you've been wondering whether organic tastes any better here are some reviews.

IMO organic carrots definitely taste better if fresh, especially raw so I'd suggest looking for British. Organic mushrooms can taste really good but not necessarily better than locally grown mushrooms. Small organic cauliflowers used with an organic mature Cheddar make amazing cauliflower cheese. Abel & Cole's organic globe artichokes are way better than the tiny things you see sometimes in Tesco but not as good as French ones. Husband and I think organic green/runner beans are pretty tough. We prefer Birds Eye frozen peas/petit pois to Waitrose organic. There's no discernible difference in taste between organic and non-organic aubergines, bell peppers and romano peppers. Cucumber on the other hand is far better organic as are radishes. There doesn't seem to be any difference between organic and non-organic onions and shallots but some organic spring (salad) onions taste better.

OH says organic Weetabix definitely better than non organic and own brands. He also prefers Whole Earth organic cornflakes to either Sainsbury's Italian organic cornflakes or Kellogg's.

Generally, organic fresh milk tastes better than non-organic unless it;s fresh from a local dairy and please stay well clear of organic milk sold in Lidl. Moo organic UHT is great, better than most other non organic milks fresh or UHT.

Organic teabags from Tesco and Sainsbury's are not as good as Co-op 99 teabags, PG Tips or Sainsbury's Red Label.

Seeds of Change pasta/curry sauces are awesome. Suma tinned carrot and coriander soup is dire, Heinz organic cream of tomato soup tastes about the same.

Cloud Nine organic meatballs from Sainsbury's are really good. Tesco organic diced beef is really dire very tough and Sainsbury's not any better. Mince is mince be it organic or not and Waitrose British veal mince is non-organic but reared on non GMO feed and knocks spots off all beef mince, IMO. Sainsbury's does some very good very tender organic steak and some which isn't it's a bit hit and miss.

Laverstoke Park does great Black Pudding and buffalo burgers. Brescia organic Mozzarella is better than Laverstoke Park's. The lamb scrag in a stew is fantastic. Not sure about the sausages, some OK ones but nothing outstanding yet, not as good as wild boar sausages or Hoad's Korkers.

Duchy Originals from Waitrose organic unsmoked back bacon is fantastic and better than Sainsbury's (which costs the same). Both have nitrates to keep the bacon pink. Laverstoke Park organic unsmoked back bacon tastes great but looks grey. A cheaper alternative to organic back bacon is Helen Browning organic streaky which is very tasty. Organic bacon does taste way better.

Haven't found an organic ham without preservatives yet ! So we buy prosciutto which should be just pork legs and salt. There are usually offers around eg Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer but if not ASDA and Lidl are cheaper. Some can be frozen, see
packaging.

There are no baked beans but Heinz organic bajed beans though there are loads of organic baked beans out there.

Edwardia · 10 October 2012 at 8:09PM

Lamb chops.. Duchy Originals from Waitrose win this hands down no contest but Sainsbury's do give them a run for their money.

Chicken - Abel & Cole do fantastic organic chicken wings and drumsticks, Waitrose organic chicken thighs and drumsticks not bad ditto Sainsbury's but Daylesford are fantastic. All organic chicken tastes far better than non organic but you don't get as much meat.

Organic wholewheat pasta is a tad chewy according to OH but Sainsbury's and Tesco do organic white pasta as does Biona but none is as good as De Cecco. He likes Blue Dragon organic noodles but thinks they taste about the same as non-organic.

Husband likes Geo Organic tinned organic Bombay potatoes, Biona tinned Thai vegetable curry and Heinz organic cream of tomato soup.

His favourite sliced organic wholemeal bread is a farmhouse batch from Waitrose. He also lurves the fresh from the oven organic baguettes from Waitrose (99p) and fresh-baked organic baguettes from Tesco (80p)

Butter wise organic is not necessarily better. Waitrose organic is salted. Sainsbury's and Tesco aren't. They are OK and can be cheaper than non-organic brands. OH still prefers President unsalted French butter which is non-organic. He says Rachel's organic butter is dire. OH is liking organic Lurpak spreadable butter (Ocado).

Yogurt wise, we think Total (non-organic) is the best Greek and for plain natural organic live yogurt Yeo Valley is superb. Sainsbury's organic yoghurt comes second.

Yeo Valley organic soured cream is soo good I can eat it out of the pot, ditto Abel & Cole organic tzatziki, very very good. None of the houmous is as good as home-made and I've tried Abel & Cole, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Tesco.

Dr Karg's organic crackers have a tendency to disintegrate. Honeyrose organic cookies (big ones 99p each from Ocado) are good reports OH. Husband and mother are big fans of Respect organic carrot cake (Sainsbury's). Husband also likes Walker's organic shortbread fingers and as many of the Duchy Originals from Waitrose biscuits as he can get his hands on. McVitie's digestives taste better than Sainsbury's organic digestives. He loves the Heinz organic biscotti ( like Rich Tea but fingers) and the cheapest place to buy them atm is Lidl.

Chocolate Cheerios are organic in N America but not UK, you may find them on Amazon UK.

ASDA sells the cheapest organic extra virgin olive oil (2.48 for 500ml), Sainsbury's unfiltered is better and 2p dearer for 500ml. Cheapest at the moment is Tesco organic extra virgin on offer at £2 for 500ml.

If you like Kraft Dinner macaroni cheese or Kraft Cheesy Pasta, the organic version is on sale in N America now and available at Amazon UK.

Lidl sells cheap organic carrots and sometimes mushrooms. The organic Heirloom tomatoes at Lidl are great in salads or al dente in home made pasta sauces. They sometimes have organic pasta and Seeds of Change sauces.

Kallo organic stock cubes are better than any others, but pricey. Not as expensive as Heinz Cook at Home organic stock cubes which IMO aren't worth it.

Abel & Cole organic mayonnaise is superb as is Sainsbury's organic mayonnaise, both are better than the Tesco one.

Eggs.. this is tricky.. taste wise to me the Duchy Originals from Waitrose Organic Free Range Columbian Blacktail eggs are best, but they spread out too much in the pan, have too much white and don't sit up much. They are also rubbish to peel for hardboiled eggs. The Sainsbury's Woodland Free Range Organic eggs and the Tesco organic eggs taste worse than Happy Eggs. So though they are horribly expensive, Daylesford organic free range eggs are doing it for me right now.

I bought my mother Waitrose organic raisins and sultanas and Holland and Barrett organic mixed vine fruits and she says they were the best she's used - no clumping, no mineral oil smell, tasted great. I'm hoping for a fantastic Christmas pudding

That's all I can think ot right now..

pullenuk · 11 October 2012 at 2:16PM

Tip for those who moan that out-of-stock happens more on Organic food. Main reason is that less Organic food is grown against non-organic that goes to supermarkets. Joint main reason is that supermarkets need to sell all of their fresh stuff, its no good having two extra crates out the back if you can't sell the one on the shelf. Otherwise the price have to go up a lot to make the different.

Edwardia · 12 October 2012 at 10:58AM

I was in a huge Tesco yesterday. It had a big poster up saying more organic food from a to zucchini but underneath when you looked the only organic produce pn the racks was broccoli and mushrooms - this in a 24/7 store.

Tesco Extra Virgin organic olive oil 500ml on offer at £2 seen yesterday

Beckyy · 12 October 2012 at 12:34PM

Great thread

I will only buy organic dairy. I usually use Tesco, Asda are dire for organic things.

I buy organic meat for my OH, although sometimes have to settle for just free range breasts and organic breasts can be extortionate.

I do however, really struggle to get organic fruit and veg in budget and have to get no-organic a lot now, which is a shame.

I'm quite limited with the shops near me, have only ever been to waitrose once in my life when visiting family!

ps - kallo organic stock cubes were on offer in Tesco this week. Worked out very reasonable.

System · 12 October 2012 at 4:23PM

Things that I have found reasonably organic priced are:
organic milk, its a no brainer really, its only around 5p more expensive per pint

organic yoghurts, the Rachels organic and Yeo Valley ones are often on offer for 2 for £2 (big pots) which is a very good deal

Whole Earth organic peanut butter, often on offer and the best peanut butter there is (no added sugar too:) )

some organic cereals, nuts and seeds are reasonablly priced on Amazon

Thats all I pay for. I find other organic stuff - mainly meat is ridiculously expensive. And I just make sure I wash non organic fruit and veg thoroughly to get rid of the pesticides. And surely cooking meat must destroy some of the pesticides or whatever found in non organic meat.

Edwardia · 12 October 2012 at 5:42PM

Thanks Beckyy, it just came to me that I've been eating organic for eight months now and that we've tried a lot of stuff and it might help other people if I shared.

berbastrike - on the peanut butter, we buy Suma peanut butter which I found in my mother's local Budgens surprisingly. It doesn't have added sugar or salt and it isn't bulked out with palm oil or vegetable oil either. It's made by a co-operative, too.

Primarily, what you are doing, by eating organic is eliminating your exposure to chemical pesticides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers as well as genetically modified organisms and meat/poultry/products fed on GM feed. Organic isn't less fattening, it's not necessarily more nutritious and it doesn't necessarily taste better although a lot of it does.

It's quite difficult to find non-organic food which is additive free, it means reading all the labels, whereas if you pick organic off the shelves you know it won't have monosodium glutamate and hydrogenated vegetable oil in it or tartrazine, to name but three.

Green & Black's organic chocolate ice cream.. soo good, husband is seriously addicted to this. Normally 4.19 for 500ml, was recently on offer for £3 at Ocado and Budgens, now 2 for £5 to 15/10 at Tesco, reduced to 2.79 at Waitrose to 06/11 and on offer for £3 at Sainsbury's to 06/11.

TravellingAbuela · 13 October 2012 at 7:33AM

berbastrike wrote: »

some organic cereals, nuts and seeds are reasonablly priced on Amazon
.

Take a look at the pasta too, I have seen organic at the same price as non-organic on Amazon recently.

cherrypies · 13 October 2012 at 8:11AM

Organic milk is currently on offer in M&S .. 2 of the big 4 pinters for £3 which I think is very reasonable. Their organic product range seems to be increasing all the time and I'm a huge fan of their organic beef and lamb.

Peanut butter - I love Whole Earth organic... the crunchy one is fab plus it's not added sugar which is a bonus.

Edwardia · 14 October 2012 at 12:39PM

Don't have a Marks & Spencer where we live <sniffle> so I use the one near my mother's house in next county. Did find organic green tea with jasmine but that's about it, will have to keep my eyes peeled next visit.

Helen Browning organic streaky bacon - all I can say is eww. If you want to try seriously good organic bacon then buy either the Duchy Originals from Waitrose organic back bacon or the Sainsbury's SO organic back bacon (same price). The Tesco organic back bacon is nowhere near as good.

OH made a stew last night took several hours but was fantastic. Abel & Cole sells 1kg packs of Laverstoke Park organic beef bones for stock for 1.99 and 1kg organic lamb bones 1.99.

The good thing about them is that after OH had got the basic stock done for the stew he was able to remove the bones, let them cool down and then give them to the dog which kept him happily crunching all evening. Worth it just to buy for the dog as bones dearer than 1.99 round here !

Kirri · 15 October 2012 at 11:07AM

Ooh didn't realise there was an organic thread on here

Subscribed for updates.

Can't remember how long I've been eating organic but it was before I went veggie 12 years and back in the days I had to buy books to see where to find it and find out what was available! When was the big GM scandal in the media, anyone remember??

I do mix and match with other non organic food depending on what is available but I do study every single label when shopping!

New products I'm trying this month are Marriage's organic flour (usually use Waitrose organic for baking). Marriage's is UK and on offer in Ocado at the moment. Also got Daylesford org eggs to try (usually buy eggs locally or if in a shop would get Duchy) and Green's smoked cheddar (cheese is also on offer in Ocado).

Can really recommend Green & Black's chocolate especially the crispy milk! Also got Maya Gold and Cooking Choc for baking. I like the Yeo Valley organic butter, usually a bit cheaper than Rachel's but disappointed that hardly anywhere stocks the unsalted version though I can get it on Ocado. I love M&S but find them lacking in organic food. Rock's organic squashes are lovely, currently on offer in Ocado again. For a treat I love Whole Earth Cola but hard to get unless via a health shop type place, shame as used to be able to buy it in Waitrose. Love Biona products, wasn't mega keen on Seeds of Change pasta sauce as found them a bit salty? I like La Bio Idea (I think it's called) who do an organic vegan red pesto but I didn't realise it was vegan when I tried it!

Organic food in supermarkets

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