Food snobbery

[Feckingfeck]

DM always buys "good eggs" I mean nearly £4 a box from Waitrose. I ate one. Wasn't really too impressed- I mean not sure what I could hope for from an egg really?!

What things do you insist on buying branded?

Are there things you simply wont skimp or get own brands of?

AIBU to think any free range egg is just the same as the next?

I tend to buy Burford Browns or Organic eggs because the welfare standards for hens producing normal free range eggs are terrible. They’re just packed into a barn and they don’t really have access to an outside space because they can’t get past all the other hens. It’s a bit annoying that where my mum is in Yorkshire, the Co-op sell local free range eggs far cheaper than Burford Browns.

I buy organic milk too because my son has always drunk loads and I’d rather minimise any risks (I’m aware that some people think that milk is the work of the devil but I don’t think I do).

I also prefer proper sourdough bread rather than normal bread with a bit of sourdough added. They’ve changed the labelling now so it has to say ‘with sourdough’ instead of ‘sourdough’. I hate that people can’t see through all the marketing and misleading wording. I’ve been substituted Warburton’s 20 percent sourdough this week and I’m not happy!!

I also only buy the posh tomatoes because I don’t even see the standard tomatoes as food and wouldn’t eat them….they’re tasteless and mushy and I don’t see the point of them.

I’m not a snob - I shop at Aldi a lot of the time but I’m fussy about food which I don’t think is a bad thing.

Just baked bread from a actual bakery, cannot beat it. If I have to then warburtons bread. But can definitely tell the difference in the cutprice cheap bread. Tried at someone's house never again. Also named washing powder and toliet roll, I cam tell the difference immediately.

I've got 4 hens. You can buy certain type of feed for them that makes the yolks more yellow in colour, but I'm certain the colour doesn't affect the taste. I think he's just swayed by the lovely colour. Happy, well looked after hens generally make lovely tasting eggs (regardless of colour).

Farm fresh eggs that are sold by the roadside by the chicken owner. Delicious! 🍳
We like posh sausages from the butchers. With lots of unusual flavours such as pork and mustard, pork and marmite, beef and chilli etc.

I love a nice rich yolk as much as the next person - bought some eggs recently which had the weirdest pale yellow yolks (despite not being cheap) and they were so unappealing - but you are kidding yourself if you think that people are fooled in to thinking something is a good egg just on the basis of yolk colour.

Use a lot of eggs here, and it is increasingly difficult (recent free range issues aside) to find an egg that has a good coloured plump yolk and whites that aren't watery. I have also now found myself on the good old Burford Browns after so many disappointments elsewhere.

I am not 'brand loyal', in that I'm perfectly happy to try other varieties and have some non-branded stuff that I prefer and plenty that I have no great preference and just tend to buy what's on offer. I don't buy rubbish food though.

Not always, last lot I bought tasted of fish! According to FIL it's what they feed the chickens with.🤢

I'm not a food snob, but I will only buy Warburton's crumpets. The own brand ones are rubbish.

I also don't like cheap coca cola or ketchup. Anything else, though, I'm more than happy to buy own brand.

Living miles from a supermarket during lockdown I decided to buy as locally as possible, I can get free range eggs, locally produced sausages, bacon, pork, beef, lamb within 3 miles . Locally produced milk and dairy products are from 4 miles away and fruit and veg boxes from the village store.
I am comfortable with eating less meat and sourcing ethically and locally produced produce, even if it costs a little more the flavour is incomparable with some supermarket items.

M&S 35p baked beans piss all over £1 Heinz. There I’ve said it, the secrets out!

I choose food on it's welfare, production standards and for health. If I am in a position to do so, I would prefer to keep doing it. If there's an apocalypse, I will 'eat to survive'.

I also think it is reverse snobbery to call someone stuck up for choosing higher quality or decent welfare food. Perhaps born of a vague discomfort or fear.
It can also be a class thing (or social group), as the only people who have ever given me crap about my food choices have tended to be 'no nonsense' working class folk. This isn't so much a criticism as bald honesty, however I am aware that this is frowned upon on MN. Social groups have different priorities, it isn't rocket science.

I wouldn't pay £4 for eggs though as I get excellent organic eggs form M&S for much less.
Meat is my bugbear. I only like high quality so basically eat a lot less of it.

Mutti chopped tomatoes, farm store tomatoes, organic eggs and milk are my weaknesses.

For some reason I had it in my head that Clarence Court eggs were part of Prince Charles' food range so refused to buy them. Once I found I was mistaken I started buying them. Love those Burford Browns.

Over the years, I’ve found many unbranded things taste just as good as the expensive branded stuff (lots better), this is across the board.
There are few exceptions of course.
I buy the best meat/fish we can afford. We eat it 3/4 times a week so that’s the one thing we spend more on.

Tescos baked beans are nicer then Heinz imo.

Loads of supermarket cereals are brilliant and alot cheaper. Same with bread, jams, cheese, butter etc.

I am loyal to Yorkshire Tea though and dh will only drink ‘that posh coffee’

Maille honey mustard
Wilkins Tiptree ketchup
Mezzetta jalapenos

Nothing organic, as organic farming is one of the main causes of global warming.

I think this. I think a carrot is a carrot regardless of where I buy it from.

MIL is the same she buys from occado. I say let's go to aldi or lidl same things and a lot cheaper. Why would I want to eat that crap. Its horrible quality

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER We've lived in Copenhagen last 19 months and you are correct- meat and eggs here are not good!! We end up buying French chicken and French minced lamb and I do an order from Abigails and buy Irish sausages and bacon ( you can't get UK) veg and fruit though are terrific

I only buy branded coffee and oatly barista that I put into coffee. Other than this, I am not too concerned and I know that Lidl and Asda own products are also very good. I just don't like lidl coffee that much and never found any oat milk better than oatly. I tried loads.

In what way?

I don't think its snobbery to have preferences in food.....I think it gets to snobbery when its all " I'd just DIE without my pink himalayan salt crystals"

She's not wrong. I've bought the cheap eggs recently and they don't have such good flavour. Also the whites have a different texture - a but more rubbery.

I'm a snob about coffee. Instant coffee isn't coffee.

Free range but it’s because I’ve seen on tv caged and barn hens and I feel sorry for them. Poor little mites.
slowly going off pork having seen an episode of casualty where a woman had eaten an infected pigs ear and got a tape worm.. graphic and nasty

Yield/harvest using organic farming methods are low compared to farming using chemical fertilisers. Therefore more land needs to be cultivated to produce food using organic farming. This leads to cutting down trees and other vegetation to clear land for farming - trees and plants that would otherwise store carbon dioxide. Of course there are some benefits of organic farming too but cons seem to outweigh pros.

A good recent example is the current political crisis in Sri Lanka, and one reason why people started revolting is food shortage. Sri Lankan government banned chemical fertilisers last year and it led to a shortage in food production because yield is low in organic farming.

Tomatoes. Vine tomatoes that are actually red taste much nicer than pale orange wishy washy ones. I tried Gousto and Hello Fresh boxes and the tomatoes in them are shite.

She is right, the orange yolk is much nicer. There is a big difference baking with orange yolk.