How many of you choose organic over normal foodstuffs?

[Fio2]

I am quite amazed at how much organic stuff people buy on here, with repect to looking at what your child ate yesterday thread. I have to say I buy no or very little organic foods (not that I can get hold of any!) and if mumsnet represents a 'typical' population how come the variety of organic foods is so minimal? And how do you all afford to buy organic milk? My kids drink nearly a full six pinter a day between them (is this excessive? )

Is organic milk more expensive than normal? If so only a little I think.

I buy organic where I can as I figure that it's better than pesticide covered veggies or meat full of antibiotics and steroids.

However if you followed me around shopping you would see me standing for hours torn between tiny piece of organic free range chicken breast for £8 and 4 big plump juicy breats of non organic poor chickens locked in cages for their whole lives etc for £2.99. Tis a quandry

Fio2 - 6 pints a DAY???

The only Organic stuff we get is vegetables. A local farm delivers a big net full every fortnight for £10. I thought it was well worth it. However, I'm probably going to stop it as the veggies don't keep very well, especially the potatoes so I end up binning them and buying non-organic ones. And the carrots usually go to the rabbit!

I can't buy normal milk any more after reading about the (gulp) mucus content (bleagggghhhhh)

yes 6 pints aday, I would be better off buying a cow but I dont think it would fit in my courtyard (or yard CD)

snigger

Always buy organic meat, and we're especialy fussy about chicken (it's a taste thing). Sometimes buy organic veg etc. but also but "taste the difference" stuff, especially tomatoes and peppers.

TBH I'm amzed by how much organic food is available in the supermarkets. But I don't quite see the point of organic oven chips, and personally hate organic tea...

nah

I avoi dit

organic schmanic

mind you I walways wonder if organic nuuggets atre less crap than normal ones!

MInd you an organice roast chicken is much nicer.

I dont force them to drink milk, they just do! LOL they yogurts aswell ...gawd feel paranoid now

All (most)DS's milk, yog, eggs, meat, and fish is organic (tho' I didn't say so on the thread), and some fruit and veg...depends on what is available, cheap and nearest in Tesco and how recently I read one of 'those' articles!

I am concerned and yukked out by what is fed battery farmed animals so make a special effort to avoid it.

I buy organic milk, yogs/from frais, butter as standard. Sometimes cheese depending on where I am shopping.
I buy organic chicken but mostly no-organic other meat because I buy from a local producer and he is not classifed as totally organic but the prodcue is fresh and hasn't travelled half way around the UK or Europe.
Sometimes organic veg sometimes not - I do try and stick to seasonl veg and local producers - so am guided by what is on offer.

I did try organic other stuff - some with success some without.
Organic weetabix (made by weetabix) did not go down very well with mine. A shame because they eat packs and packs of it. I live in an area of intensive arable agriculture and in fact my garden butts up to a wheat field and I am not very impressed with what they spray the crops with!!
I buy organic bread and bread flour for this reason also.

I buy Organic fruit and veg boxes and enough meat and fish, milk and bread to last 4 of us for the week days from here .

I have a two week circulating order which comes to around £56 per week. That gets us loads and loads of veg and fruit, fish cakes, fish pie mix , eggs, trout fillets, gammon steaks, sausages, lamb neck fillets, minced beef. Mince, fish cakes and eggs come every week everything else is rotated over the fortnight.

On top of this I then shop locally for weekend food but only the protein bit, the veg and fruit keep us going for the full week. I also need to buy kidney beans, tinned toms, fruit squash, rice and pasta - all organic (usually another £20-30 a week).

So it is quite expensive but that is mostly due to being extravegant at the weekend more than with the cost of the weekday meals.

BTW - we are a family of 4.

organic milk, cheese, jars, and anything else I can get my hands on - although organic veges can be v hard to come by around her and the quality and choice is nahjah. I don't think I've seen organic meat in a supermarket here (nw germany) - only at 'all organic' outlets which is v inconvenient. I know it is a completely different story back home in Sydney and it is one of the things I am looking forward to!

I read a great book called: My Year of Meat. It is fiction and funny and a good read, but really makes you think about the steroids and hormones that cows are pumped with (esp in USA).

I buy organic everything if I can and with certain things won't buy it if there isn't an organic version (all meat for example, ditto soft fruit like strawberries). Just because it's organic doesn't mean it's good though in the case of processed stuff: it can still have tons of crap in it, just organic crap

Organic meat, fish (eg salmon and trout), dairy and vegetables grown in soil are my top priorities, but basically we try and strike a balance between organic produce and locally sourced, responsibly-farmed English produce. So I'd buy accredited, traceable, non-organic English pork at Borough Market over Danish organic pork from Tescos.
And as we live on the Kent borders we tend to get Kentish soft fruit and scrub the bejasus out it rather than pay ££££ to have stuff flown in from Argentina...
We also don't bother with organic processed foods. Organic tonic water ffs!
We are not well off by a lot of Mumsnetter standards, Fio2 (basing my views on all the lovely holidays, cars and clothes under frequent discussion ), but we make other economies to fund a food and drink bill of around £110 a week. I appreciate we're lucky to have that choice at all. And I don't have your milk bill!
It helps that we are in the Ocado delivery zone as there is not much organic stuff in our local shops either.

I also try and buy everything organic if possible. Some fruits I can't usually get, eg blueberries, which dd loves, so I get non-organic. Everything ellse - meat, fish, bread etc. - organic if available. I used to buy organic before dd as well.

as much organic as poss. definitely milk and meat. sucks that it is more expensive (so much more). but worth it imo. however, if i was full time in countryside, would definitely take locally produced over organic anyday (providing the farmer was good about pesticides etc). paying money for the organic label doesn't always mean that the food is better imo...

Fio - I hardly buy any organic. Do get those Yeo Valley yoghurts now but meat is extortionate. Did have a Green & Blacks Hot Chocolate last night though - does that count?

organic weetabix? really? I'd never even noticed they did that!

I was a real organic sceptic - thought it was a waste of money until I bought an organic leg of lamb the other day and couldn't believe how much better it tasted than the non-organic one.

Its the same with salmon - the wild, non-farmed salmon is even a different colour to the weird, bright pinky/orange farmed version and I find I now cannot eat the farmed stuff (it even smells different to wild salmon). Problem is that is costs easily twice as much.

marialuisa surely the point of organic oven chips is the same as the point of all organic food - to avoid eating food contaminated with pesticides and drugs!

argh, even you stuff and nonsense non-believers in organic (this is you cod) PLEASE DO NOT EAT FARMED SALMON...it is evil, will be the new bse and is terrible terrible to the environment...don't do it arghhhh (not that i feel strongly about this at all or anything )

hi cd

Yes, but they're still going to be full of other nasties aren't they CD?

Don't like oven chips myself, prefer to go for the really unhealthy homemade option, deep fried in olive oil!