Ethical choices when shopping - how do you decide?

[Astrid]

Been wondering this for awhile and have been reminded to finally ask after reading the organic thread.

There are so many choices out there with regards to shopping. Organic, fair trade, free range, within 100 miles, trusted brand, additive free, cheapest etc So I wonder how do you decide what to buy, especially when some of those choices may be conflicting?

For example down here there is a local fruit juice/drink company. There is a big push now to buy local, which is great, but their juices contain additives and preservatives. So for my family these are an issue and I choose to buy a non local brand. Thinking now I should probably contact the juice company and give them feedback on that. As I would love to be able to do both.

We are a bit dubious on store brand products due to some business practices we have seen used by the big supermarkets when DH had his business, but sometimes the budget dictates.

So how do you choose?