How far do you take organic???

[bootsmonkey]

Just curious really. I have spent a few days with my brothers family and am amazed at the extent my SIL takes the organic line. I can understand meat and vegetables, no problem. (although to me knowing the origin and sourcing locally/in season are just as important as the organic stamp) But oil, vinegar (surely that's just something that has gone off??)wheatabix, ketchup, baby bath, deoderant??? How far do you take it and how much extra would you consider it acceptable to pay?? I am not proud and buy the store's own brand whenever possible (needs must and all that) but try to buy meat from the local butcher - not organic, but local 'happy' meat. Trying to work out if I am just jealous or she is barking and has more money than sense!!

Over to you...

In principal I would love to buy everything organic, but it is so much more expensive,so for me it is not possible. The one thing I always buy organic is milk, as I read somewhere once that if you can only afford to buy one thing organic it should be milk, due the high levels of antibiotics and crap in non organic milk. I buy fruit and veg and meat from local butchers/green grocers as opposed to Supermarket.

I'm more interested in it being local produce than organic - wheres the benefit in organic apples from NZ?! We get organic meat and fish from local farmers and make our own bread using organic flour (cos I have allergies).

Other than that we're pretty much normal consumers, just trying to use less of things rather than waste too much. Never heard of organic deodorant!

I always wonder about these people who bang on about it but then will eat at restaurants without a thought as to where the meat etc has come from.

i always buy organic dairy produce and fairtrade bananas and coffee. other things if we can afford it.

We do buy organic if it is available and we can afford it. I would guess that 90% of what we eat is organic (yes, including ketchup!) My feeling is that if it is available why not have the best? I know if it is organic then it will contain no GMOs and only a permitted list of additives. I would like to see all produce all over the world being grown by organic methods and feel this is my bit towards that becoming a reality one day. However each to their own!

Organic ketchup does taste rank though...

I try to buy organic meat, dairy products and veg, and other bits here and there. Agree though that local produce is just as important - organic but flown halfway around the world seems a bit pointless from an environmental pov...

Milk - yes, good point. Should do this myself really.

I think it is a bit of a control freakery thing really. Her DS has natural yoghurt as a treat for pudding and wasn't allowed chocolate till he was gone two. Admirable really, but consequently he goes bonkers at the slightest hint of sugar.

Fairtrade bananas - that is one thing I definately do. Strangely not coffee though. No reason why. I may have to review my shopping habits!

Not trying to be contentious, but does organic necessarily mean best?? How can organic vinegar really be that different from non- organic?? What about wine??

Bootsmonkey...I think I may be your SIL

I expect you are right about the control freak thing. We all have our little hobby horses. I think it is hard as people do tend to think you are being snobby if you bang on about organic stuff.

I have no idea why / if organic vinegar is better! Another reason I like to buy it is that organic complanies tend to be ethical and progressive in other areas and I like to support them. I expect some of it is a ripoff, but I still like to try. LOL @ the ketchup thing - I don't like the stuff - poor long-suffering dp has to eat it, I will ask him if he minds when I see him tonight.

I would think organic wine would be worth buying, though. Grapes are one of the worst fruits for absorbing pesticides, so I would reckon you would get a big dose in with your Cabernet whatever.

Milk and fair trade Bananas is as far as I go.

Are fair trade nanas organic? my local asda and sainsburys only do normal and fair trade so should I be looking for organic fair trade?

• QueenOfQuotes makes mental note to get more sleep after misreading this thread title as "how long do you take to orgasm"

It's supposed to be worthwhile buying organic sugar as that's one of the most sprayed crops. I must admit that I am a bit of a sucker for anything that says organic on it - and quite keen to explore natural (although not necessarily organic) toiletries and cleaning products.

One thing I don't buy I'm afraid is organic cotton clothes as they're SO expensive, but I have read that spraying cotton accounts for something like 30% of the world's pesticides.

LOL Queen of Quotes!!! Hee hee.

we have just gone down the organic route and are definately sticking to organic veg, the taste is so much better, we buy our meat from local butchers and get fruit,veg from organic delivery box scheme, i must admit if we could afford to we would buy most things organic but presently not able to do that, i think supporting local farmers and small businesses is important and we try to do this

Also take on board the point about sugar & cotton - I am willing to be educated here!! However, I shall not be buying organic cotton knickers for the family as I just can't afford it either! I think that there is a happy medium as with life and that supporting local producers offering seasonal produce is preferable to me than flying out of season organic fruit & veg half way round the world. If money were no object my shopping habits would probably consolidate down that line.

Right am off to organise my organic box scheme from the local farm

we also buy what we can, according to budget. Our children get through gallons (and i mean gallons) of ketchup, so we get organic because ts such a significant part of their diet.

I read that organic ketchup was even higher in lycopene than non-organic, which accounts for the darker colour.

Also read that organc milk has less oestrogen in it than non-organic, which is better as oestrogen is thought to contribute to breast cancer.

As far as i know, this is all correct, but if anyone knows differently?

I also have a question about organic chicken versus free range chicken.

just because a chicken is organic doesnt necc. mean is was free range, so if you had to choose one over the other, which one would it be? Hmmmm.

I buy some organic stuff but sometimes it's hard tro know what's best - local non-organic onions or Romanian 'organic' ones, with airmiles?? I buy organic milk, and carrots as I understand that carrots are the veg that retain the most pesticides etc. I also buy other things if the price is okay. Tesco's organic bread is very reasonably priced. A problem I have found with trying to buy organic is that it often has short UseBy dates - presumably as there is a slower turnover.

But I have a scientist friend who thinks the whole organic thing is nonsense. She says everything is made up of chemicals, natural doesn't necessarily mean safe and that food is produced using less chemicals than years ago anyway. So, who knows!!

Are we talking about Heinz organic ketchup? I switched a month or so ago and both my ds's like it.

In fact I've just done a taste test, as still have some ordinary Heinz ketchup and I really could't taste a significant difference

its the heinz organic kethcup that we buy and we prefer the taste.

The amazing thing about this thread is that it just shows how much more educted we all are about our food (although I agree that there are alot of myths to be dealt with)

I also buy fruit and veg with lower airmiles and have been educating my children about this too.

We have a large laminted world map on the wall at home and when we get back from shopping we stick our apple and banana stickers on the country that they came from - good fun.

with regards to fair trade bananas - have tried these but all those that come in plastic bags, seem to be really hard and i have trouble getting them to ripen.

would just like to ad that not everyone is clued up about food. Ihave friend that gives her dd a fruit winder and a glass of sunny delight and thinks that her child is gettng 2 of her portions of 5 a day!

I'm not sure about the airmiles thing........only buying produce that's been produced 'close to home' just doesn't feel right to me - regardless of enviromental impact.

We buy almost all of our food from local sources. Most of it, however, is also organic. We just go to a farmer's market and take it from there. We do buy organic milk, however, as it has more Omega-3s.