The first steps !

[Ravenknight]

Hello ,
Would really appreciate any pointers in the right direction , regarding buying organic food..
I am looking for an alternative to my normal unhealthy supermarket shop , I want to start to buy organic , also cut out the packaging and being a family of 5 at a fair price..
Would appreciate any comments on the best and cheapest place to buy organic food.....
I know you can get veg delivered , but I prefer to choose on the spot.
Where have all the green grocers gone ?

[oldjerry]

Hello RavenKnight,welcome to ish,I'm going to say something now that goes against everything you've ever heard,and may well get me a fair bit of flak.
'Organic' food is a marketing exercise.The soil Association(who have hijacked and effectively copyrighted the term organic) is a charity in name only,and is effectively a marketing tool for the large supermarkets.Most of the 'Organic' stuff on their shelves has run up more food miles than Gregg Wallace in a space shuttle (god how I wish).
Small local food producers,who cant afford the THOUSANDS of pounds it takes to be registered 'organic' with the SA,as a rule use little or no pesticides/herbicides not least because they cost too much.Buy LOCAL,if you live in a city,look for small butchers,especially those in the rare breeds meat scheme.Look for farmers markets,WI markets,get an allotment.

Most of all, sorry about the rant,stick with us,most people are nicer than me!! Best Wishes.

[Milims]

Where are you? Have you asked around for local organic suppliers or looked on t'interweb? I know I found it really difficult to find a decent local supplier who delivered. In the meantime why not make a start introducing a few products, such as milk and carrots into your regular supermarket shop and once you are used to including those go for a couple more. I've found that simply by being more conscious about what we eat I actually buy less cr*p and have therefore managed to cut the shopping bill and include many organic products. You might also want to think about whether or not it's more important for you to buy organic or British/local produce. I buy a lot of organic for health reasons - we try to reduce the amount of "chemical stuff" as much as we can due to my partners condition - but I frequently question the wisdom of buying organic potatoes grown in Egypt against non-organic grown in this country.
I've also found that by reading the ingredients on any given product and then finding out what the are has really simplified my shopping - if the list is longer than about 5 ingredients I avoid it - they are probably nasty!

[Steve Hanson]

I agree with "old Jerry" he is exactly right.

One other idea you might try get down to your local allotments and ask around to see if anyone there is willing to sell you some of your veg. There are usually plenty of good old boys who have been gardening the right way since before the term organic was invented, they get good returns on their investment of time and would probably enjoy being paid appropriately for their efforts.

We only sell to our neighbours here and it pays for all of our new seed and a couple of fruit trees each year, and there’s still enough left over to have an evening out on our neighbours.

[Ravenknight]

Thanks everyone for your honest opinions ,
I live in Sussex , and there is a Farm shop about 3 miles away , so maybe the answer is to buy Local (organic )...from this Farm shop...
Just means breaking up the shopping trip to buy other shopping items needed, using more petrol but abit closer than organic Potatoes from Egypt ....at least this cuts out the packaging and food miles and has an instant impact..... also I would imagine the veg would be healthier containing more nutrients than veg that has travelled miles and miles.......
Oh the politics !

[Green Aura]

Have a look at the Farm Shop but beware! Back down in Manc our local farm shop sold oranges, lemons, avocados and various other items all imported just the same as in any supermarket. I suppose I should have had a sneaky suspicion - selling veg was obviously a sideline - it was a beef farm

I would always buy local, or fairtrade, over organic these days. I agree with OJ but in addition to that different countries have their own organic standards which allow a greater or fewer number of chemicals with no standardisation. So you could be paying a premium for organic goods grown using all sorts of things you wouldn't use growing your own.

I take your point about increasing your own mileage finding all these places. Maybe you could do it slowly adding the butcher, greengrocer etc until you have a reasonable route.

[oldjerry]

3 miles?? .......... on ya bike!!!

[Ravenknight]

Yeh , I know 3miles , believe me i cycle everywhere , ave done for the last 18 yrs ! the farm is one of those difficult locations to get to , sharp turn off a busy dual carriageway
Just thought I,d pick your brains from a bigginers point of view , I shop for a family of 5 and was trying to find the bestway to shop in one quick swoop to the supermarket.......but I would shop to two different places if that was the best way to go...
thanks all though for your opinions.......

[TheGoodEarth]

Get all your bulky run of the mill stuff (i.e. washing powder, cans, bottled juices, dried goods etc) online and delivered to your door. Then take the trip to the farm shop for your fresh dairy, meat and veg. They probably have a nice coffee shop as well.

[Ravenknight]

Yes good idea , get the bulk delivered , then shop for the rest , thanks TheGoodEarth , makes sense.....

[Milims]

For stuff like flour, we buy from Doves: http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/ in bulk. It may seem like a big outlay all at once but if you add up the cost of petrol to buy the equivalent from the supermarket and all the other stuff you ALWAYS end up buying whilst there ( ) it works out cheaper and you are less likely to run out!

[phil55494]

If you don't have to go organic then don't. While I don't quite think it the con that OldJerry thinks it is, it's not the be all and end all. I think buying local and seasonal is better. If you can get local, seasonal fruit and veg at the farm shop then go for it.

[Susie]

I agree that it's better to focus on buying local and seasonal. We've been trying to not buy as much supermarket stuff, and this is what I do (but you may not have these options):

Buy from the market - I'm not sure how local it all is, although they tell me which things are local and quite a lot of it is. If you have a market anywhere near I'd give it a go because the quality is 100% better with ours (it's not organic though).
Have a veg box - I know what you mean about liking to pick it yourself, but I find with mine I get things I always need (like onions and potatoes) and then I can choose the rest if I want, and I supplement with stuff from the market. I find mine convenient because I always know I've got enough being delivered to make a meal out of.
Health food shop - we have a wholefood co-operative in quite an odd place (sounds painful ha ha) which I had no idea was there until someone told me - you might have something similar?

You do have to make more trips (or go to more than one place in the same trip) but it's not any more trouble overall if you're organised (not that I'm organised but, you know, you may be ;-) ). We had to get more from the supermarket this week because we had a bathroom fitted and my normal routine had fallen by the wayside, and I really noticed a difference in the quality :-(.

[Ravenknight]

Agreed phil55494 ! Also thanks Susie good points too , Market sounds a good place to check out , makes sense..
What I intend to do is get my bulk delivered from the supermarket , free up some time and try both the farm shop and the market , see what seems best.. Also when you say veg box , do you mean these companys that deliver to your door....
You know what its like , sometimes theres so little time and before you know it , your back at the Supermarket....also if I get my bulk delivered from the supermarket I won,t be tempted to walk up every isle and buy all the junk food

[oldjerry]

If you don't have to go organic then don't. While I don't quite think it the con that OldJerry thinks it is, it's not the be all and end all. I think buying local and seasonal is better. If you can get local, seasonal fruit and veg at the farm shop then go for it.

It's a con in as much as the term 'Organic' canonly be used if you're registered and approved by the soil association.This is financially beyond many small scale producers(any how why the hell should I pay these leeches to tell me to grow food and keep livestock the same way Both me and my dad before me have always done it.)As a result 'organic' producers are overwhelmingly large scale,and by definition their product is trucked or flown huge distances,as a result those with sufficient income think they are doing their children some good at a huge cost to the enviroment said kids will have to live in.Meanwhile those with insufficient income are given something of fictional value to aspire to and feel guilty about.(isn't that the essence of marketing?)
It's all about adding value to a basic commodity.....food.By buying local seasonal food wherever possible,you're buying into local community.