Organic Food - Do you buy it?

[35andThriving]

If so, do you buy all organic, or just certain things?

Just wondering really. Have been considering switching to organic food to a degree, as thinking it must be more environmentally friendly.

I am on quite a small budget so a bit restricted. I just wondered what most people did.

Do you feel that it is important that certain products are organic? What do you personally prioritise?

Personally I prioritise fruit and veg where you eat the skin, plus eggs and milk. Eggs mainly because the DC and I eat quite a lot of them, we don't eat loads of meat. If you look up the "dirty dozen" it tells you which produce retains the most pesticides. Usually though I just end up buying whatever organic stuff that's available and ordinary versions of everything else.

eggs, dairy, meat I buy mistly organic.
mainly for tge animal welfare aspect.

organic agriculture uses a lot more water/energy to produce less product, it's unfortunately not as easy as 'organic is better'. nutritionally there is o difference between organic and conventional.

plus there are links between organic and outright quackery

interesting article

A few things but always organic chicken, as the non-organic are fed on GM modified soy

I prioritise animal products for organic - dairy, eggs and meat. Combination of animal welfare and antibiotic use.

Always eggs , milk , yogurt , cottage cheese , some other cheeses, salmon fruit and veg . We don’t eat meat .
Frequently other groceries, porridge , rice , etc . Duchy brand and others .

We always have organic milk, eggs, and organic salad/ veg (ie things you don't peel).

I find organic veg rots in half the time and is tiny. And at 3 times the price, I can’t justify it. We don’t eat much meat so always buy organic for that. One pack of mince every fortnight, and a couple of chicken breasts a week or two.

I used to get organic milk but switched to soya.

Organic eggs.

No, none.

I particularly buy Yeo Valley dairy products because their bull calves are not slaughtered at birth. They are raised for beef. Not all dairy herds keep their bull calves. I can't afford to buy everything organic, but also get eggs, most of my veg, some fruit and occasionally meat. If I could afford it, we'd have more.

I prioritise dairy and, when I can afford it, eggs. Mainly due to living conditions and worries about antibiotic resistance: I've read that non-organic cattle can be 'preemptively' treated with antibiotics (which is contributing to global antibiotic resistance, which will put us back in the dark ages), whereas organic cattle can only be treated with antibiotics when they are actually sick.

We don't eat much meat, which does help. I try to buy meat from a butcher where I know the farms the meat comes from (i.e. I know it's had a good life). I do buy organic whole chickens, having watched a horrible programme about what constitutes 'free range', but we don't eat much chicken as a consequence.

I do buy an organic fruit & veg box every week, but have only done this since we had more disposable income (it was cheaper than buying individual items in the supermarket). I wouldn't hesitate to cut this if we dropped income, albeit it's with Riverford and I like a) the way they treat their employees, b) the produce is amazing quality (supermarket organic can indeed be small and not nice, c) their commitment to as much low carbon / local as possible. It takes a lot of the effort out in the supermarket, trying to ensure low food miles etc.

I don't worry about organic in fast food, or prepared supermarket food; personally I think as long as you are doing the best with what you have then don't sweat the rest.

@redcandlelight This is why I like Riverford and switched to them from buying supermarket organic food. The newsletters we receive often talk about these issues (e.g. UK heated greenhouses are much worse than shipping tomatoes from Spain). I like the fact they really think about what they grow, where they grow it and what they import, and as a company also change their methods if something isn't working or they realise something isn't as ethical as previously thought.

Thanks, everybody.

No, not since I bought organic milk a couple of times and it went off quite soon after opening. If I lived in the US I'd definitely buy organic meat, but I don't think it's necessary in the UK at the moment - don't know how Brexit might impact that but I'll deal with that if/when something changes..

We try to buy higher welfare meat and dairy but not organic produce. There's a lot of myths around organic produce, including that pesticides aren't used. This Scientific American article is interesting, even though it's a few years old now it's still relevant

There is nothing "humane" about buying and consuming dairy, meat and eggs, organic or not. I don't eat any of those things but I am always amazed when people say they buy organic for animal welfare reasons but have no qualms about the animal dying, being forcefully impregnated or having their young taken away from them so humans can steal their milk. It literally makes no sense.

I buy organic (and local) where possible because it tastes better. The animals in particular have not been given any growth hormones or antibiotics which results in slower natural growth.
The meat tastes miles better.
I don’t eat any meat that isn’t organic at home and usually eat veggie when I’m out and can’t be sure. We eat a lot of meat, usually buy from our brilliant butcher who is renowned for his suppliers!

Thanks very much.