Trying to kill fewer orangutans over Christmas

[EvenPhilip]

Well not just over Christmas obviously. As a family we are trying to avoid palm oil, amongst other things, my dd is very vocal about us becoming more ethical in our shopping. I can't say it is easy though sometimes, I've given up my beloved Twirls and now it would appear Twiglets won't be making an appearance at Christmas.
I see quite a few posts about Palm oil in certain threads but wonder just what people would realistically give up?
Once you really start looking at labels it's bloody everywhere.

In the 'taste test' things Good Housekeeping etc do, mince pies and Christmas puds from Iceland come out very well, and they've adopted some sort of palm oil free pledge. Not sure where to get mince meat without it though, as if I have time, I like to bake a couple of batches.

YY to it creeping in everywhere, unexpectedly. Was just looking at the ingredients of Ambrosia Custard as am contemplating making crumble today, and palm oil is an ingredient. Seems a bit unnecessary, but it is hard to escape from it now, despite how significant numbers of consumers have raised objections to it (clearly not enough yet to bother manufacturers, though, but hopefully in time).

I was stunned to find that it's one of the ingredients in the long awaited Greggs vegan sausage rolls! How many vegans want to eat palm oil!

Damn I love Oragutans and twirls. Is there any safe chocolate (that I should not eat anyway as am type 2 diabetic).

I really cannot see why it is used so much.

I've gone hardcore on palm oil. It's costing me a lot: I've stopped shopping in Lidl as most of their products have it (plus barely anything comes without plastic packaging) and now I shop in Sainsburys.
This week I didn't buy cheap Cadbury (never knew it had palm oil) and a lot of other chocolates went back on the shelves.
I haven't checked Christmas products yet so will have to see.
But I'm shocked at how many products (inc cosmetics) have palm oil in them.

This might be the first year I'll make mince pies. I'm crap at baking, usually.

Palm oil is next on my hitlist. Doesn't it have a bazillion different names? Is it relatively easy to spot on ingredient lists?

I have been boycotting palm oil for some time now and it's a nightmare - adding so much time to each online order or visit to a shop. I pretty much know now what to avoid but have to keep checking because more and more items include it. I was in Waitrose last week and so disappointed to see so many things included palm oil. Their redeeming feature is that they sell lemonade with sugar, and not revolting sweetener (also on my boycott list) which I can't find anywhere else. I'm stocking up in case it disappears.

I boycott palm for two reasons - obviously the orangutan habitat but also because it makes things taste so bloody awful.

I found the attached some time ago which you may find useful: drpongo.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/productpalmoillist2012flexweek.pdf It also includes a list of names used for palm oil.

It seems from what I read on here, people are still buying chocolate with palm in it, I wonder how our taste buds can be so vastly different because I find it inedible. I've given up on chocolate and now buy a caramel sea salt fudge instead.

I think it's easier to spot on food labels, but yes it does have a bazillion names.

@SilverySurfer thanks for that list.

Just told dh we won't be having mini cheddars at Christmas either.

Thanks for the list.

I’m pretty sure that no decent food has it. I mean it’s mostly for stabilising things with a long shelf life isn’t it?

I wouldn't argue over the no decent food has it, however what made me acutely aware of its presence was the thought of Christmas, where we sometimes eat stuff that we wouldn't ordinarily consume, such as Twiglets, Pringles etc.
I don't eat much chocolate but am partial to a Twirl at certain times.

I visited Durrell Zoo this summer, and in the orangutan keeper talk, we were told not to eschew palm oil entirely. Because then the areas already destroyed will lose value and further destruction (chasing the next profitable thing) will inevitable follow.

He said that the best thing to do is to only buy products which use sustainable palm oil. And to put pressure companies which do not pay attention to how they source palm oil, to mend their ways

Re: Greggs vegan sausage rolls, all their pastry contains palm oil. As does most other pastry used in ready made stuff, including Waitrose, the company that makes a fuss about plastic but not palm oil. Companies say these use sustainable palm oil as a smokescreen but it doesn't exist.

Bread, started making my own to avoid it, labels changed from palm oil to vegetable oils. Same with other products so if I see vegetable oils on food labelling I put it back because if they won't tell me what it is I don't want it.

I gave up chocolate until I found one with no palm oil, I also avoid pastry unless it states made with butter. I also gave up crackers and biscuits until I found some without it. Sainsburys seems to be the best for those.

My problem is soap and shampoo, I remember the days when soap was made with animal fat and not palm oil, and it was also a lot nicer to use, poor animals get used or killed either way.

It depends what you call decent food. Do you shop in Waitrose? Read the labels on the own brand pastry stuff.

Pay a bit more for palm oil free chocolate (not Green & Black as the company is owned by Kraft so not ethical anyway).

Check peanut butter labels, the better stuff doesn't contain it. Same with Nutella substitutes, you can find some without it.

As I said above - bread contains it, biscuits. I have been unable to find any custard without palm oil so bought a tin of powder that doesn't have it.

You have to read every label. Even Olivio spread is no longer olive oil spread, it contains palm oil.

I spend more time shopping because I read the ingredients on everything I pick up, and I put an awful lot back. Not as much as before because I know which stuff contains it and just boycott it automatically.

Anyone reading this but not convinced may find this of interest: list25.com/25-shocking-and-sad-facts-about-palm-oil/

I agree that all supermarket pastry now appears to contain palm oil so I have stopped buying ready made items with pastry. I was going to try Jus Roll pastry but it contains palm but then I discovered they do an all butter puff pastry which is palm free. So now I make all my own sausage rolls, pies etc. I also don't buy bread unless it has a list of ingredients I can check. That's the next thing I'll be making at home, until then I normally buy Tesco's home bake baguettes.

I know there is supposedly sustainable palm being grown but I'm not 100% convinced it's effectively monitored and I know vegans prefer palm to butter because of their beliefs but even if animal habitat were not being destroyed I still won't eat it because of taste/texture.

Yes I was going to say, don’t boycott palm oil completely but make sure you buy sustainable palm oil only

I found a sustainable palm solid soap in Tesco which I buy instead of shower gel in a plastic bottle.

It's not just in long life items though, it's in fresh hot dog rolls (the ones that go stale by the next day). I was scrutinising labels as we had a visiting child with a peanut allergy and really surprised to see there.

I also try an avoid palm oil and found it really hard to do last Christmas. Almost all ready-made mincemeat and and mice pies had it in. The only one I could find which didn't was Meridian and so I bought that and made my own.

M&S are supposed to be good on palm oil but when I went in there to look for chocolates without it last Christmas I couldn't find anything. However at Easter time I found that their hot cross buns didn't have it and were very tasty!

@lakeswimmer mice pies

Yum - with or without whiskers?

@Ethelswith Yes, Durrell have adjusted their stance on palm oil over the years. They used to be very anti palm oil in their talks but now are more moderate (in line with Bristol zoo which when we were there last had a very good display/demo about acreage used for different types of oils). As a PP mentioned Waitrose uses sustainable palm oil in its own brand products.

Bread????? I haven't checked bread.

I can confirm Sainsbury's All Butter Puff pastry had no palm oil in it (and as a result, it's really nice to munch on raw while pretending to make tarte tatin...)

For soap: I buy argan oil melt and pour soap base and add some essential oils to that. That's palm oil free ( but comes in plastic).