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...

awww - can't I???? I'm sure I could get a good price for him

"For Sale - one 21 month old boy, very lively, wakes early, throws tantrums, climbs over ALL furniture, beats up older children and then says "Hiya" afterwards - all serious offers accepted - proceeds go towards organic fruit and veg box"

So from that list organic appears to be approx. double the cost....give or take. Why does it cost more to leave out the chemicals??? I would probably buy more organic if there wasn't such a price variation. I always get free range eggs - and they are at a premium too.

whatabout home grown qoq? (runs for cover )

I have always fancied having an allotment and living off the land a la Good Life, but unfortunately it takes up alot of time. Time and money are two things I am constantly short of!

Depends on where you go, Boots. If you have a local farmer's market, it can work out to be the same as non-organic from a supermarket.

Also, we've cut a lot of the meat out of our diets in order to buy quality food. Pulses are cheap. Quinoa is also cheap. So is porridge.

We only have meat about 2x/week.

vick - oops forgot to put that in the for sale ad

"boy also pulls up all plants and flowers from own garden as well as those he can reach of the neighbours garden - although he does them present them to you as flowers "

supermarket chains are the offenders for price hikes on organic ranges, the devils.

I'd LOVE to do homegrown, but we live in a 2nd floor flat w/a car park for a garden. And at £500/month rent this is about as cheap as it gets for a two-bed in the city.

As for allotments, we're on the list. But it's a lllloooonnnggg one b/c this city is about 60% tenement flats. 4-5 years the council tells me, to get an allotment.

blooming 'eck - where's this farmers market Expat??? our monthly one is more expensive than the supermarket organic stuff!

PMSL QoQ!

he's lovely really

It's in Edinburgh. Weekly on Saturdays. I get enough organic veg to last us an entire fortnight - and we only eat meat 2x/week - for about a tenner. I go for a lot of root veg - potatoes are a big fav around here!

We also eat many lentils.

Then I see an organic pig farmer, Ballencrieff, and buy some of his bacon trimmings for 68p a packet to flavour veggie soups, casseroles, etc.

bummer - bit far from me (although my brother might deliver post to you - he's a postie up there )

we've cut down to 3/4 meat meals a week (often a whole large chicken divided between 2 meals) but trying to convert a Zimbabwean to a virtually vegetarian diet is like trying to get blood out of a stone.......not to mention the fact the too many pulses in the week makes for a rather stinky household

Expat - agree that this is only true if you shop entirely at the supermarket. We have a fruit & veg box scheme that I am going to join which is about £10/wk. Don't know how much it contains though & whether will last the week. Also don't know what I shall do when faced with a celeriac for the first time!

I love pulses, but unfortunately they don't particularly love me! DH thinks they are the spawn of the devil - might be something to do with the effect they have on me though! (Worst experience was having a veggie bean currie and then being on an exhibition stand all the next day - the agony!!!) Do you buy organic pulses too???

lol - boots - that's the same in this house - I'm not too bad with them, and DH only suffers a bit............but the boys especially DS2's nappies - OMG - the problem is that he LOVES them - nearly as much as chicken

Adding cider vinegar to the water in which the beans are cooked helps to neutralise the nitrogen in them. So they won't give you wind.

Yep, you can buy organic pulses.

DH loves meat, too, but we're not able to afford much of it.

expat - it's not so much about 'loving' meat - it's a part of the staple diet. Bit like telling us Brits not to eat the humble potato!

DH has unfortunately had to make some changes to his diet in the interest of economy after we lost our tax credits. He's gotten used to it, though!

Much cheaper as well!

I'm gonna write 'The Accidental Vegetarian'.

DH has too - he used to have meat 7 times a week, then 6, now 3/4 (well this week we "splashed" out - bought a pack of 20 sausages - spread over 3 meals, bangers asnd mash, home made pizza, and sausage casserole, a whole chicken - roast chicken and chicken buritos and some beef mince for spag bol).

He's also got a pretty sensitive stomach (can't eat spicey foods at all or he gets a REALLY bad stomach and as well as spending the night, and half of the next day in the bathroom he's in agony ) so that kind of limits what I can cook (if it was just me and boys I'd go mad with the spicey stuff LOL).

and cutting out meat to a Zimbabwean really is like cutting out Potatoes to an English man

Was chatting to my SIL about budgeting the other day and she was saying how they had £30 a week to spend on ALL the supermarket shopping (including nappies and stuff) for 5 months. When I mentioned vegegitarian meals she was stunned - coudln't believe I'd cut meat out of some of DH's meals. For those 5 months they still had meat 7 meals a week!

The Farmers market here is only monthly and pretty small anyway. The next nearest is also monthly but has no parking nearby, so I don't know how you're meant to get your goodies to the car! There are no box schemes round here, as I discovered recently.

I'll tell you something else that annoys me with supermarkets. Why do you have to pay extra for a tomato that tastes like a tomato??? It really bugs me that I have to buy lines like 'Taste the Difference' to get something with a flavour. And while I'm ranting - our local supermarket stocks organic milk in such small quantities that if you're not there between 11.30 and 11.45am it's sold out. When my friend suggested to the manager they ordered larger quantities he looked at her as if she's just flown down from the moon.

QOQ, I think we're going to be living in Africa soon so I'm going to need some tips re food!!

suedonim..just two of the many reasons why I avoid supermarkets!

my gripe with UK supermarkets is the VAST UNNECESSARY AMOUNTS OF PLASTIC they wrap around all fruit and veg, and anything else..........Really gets my goat. Ckildren will not know that carrots and potatoes grow in soil, or that there are seasons for vegetables and fruit.............could go on and on with this one