Grocery Shopping: When Budget vs Ethics

You gotta do what ya gotta do chicky.

time factor doesnt help when you work full time so sometimes markets are out of the question. You could start a small vegy garden, even if its just some parsely and chives to start with and build on that. I found that the kids love picking their own tomatoes from the garden so not only are getting something organic they are seeing were the food comes from and saving me $$$ and its Aussie grown :dance:
Eggs - we are fortunate enough to live near egg farms so we can get direct. We also source out the local produce farms and buy direct from them.
Nestles....as much as i dont like them my kids love their milo's so were I do my bit in other ways I have to lean in such a way for them.

As Ange said...atleast your thinking about it and giving a toss babe.

Budget wins here, too, although like LadyZaidie & Marydean - I cannot skimp on eggs, that's the only thing though. Otherwise it's all down to cost.

Like some of the others have said, I think just being aware is the biggest thing of all, there will be a time when you might be able to do differently, or educate someone else...
... in fact I have been educated just reading this thread, I am now off to learn what Nestle is all about...(I'm sure there is a thread on here somewhere but I've never read it...)

ETA - ok, found it :( gawd that is a big list of stuff to avoid. Good to know though.

I know I am coming in a bit late, but this has always been a dilemma of mine and a frustration. Nothing annoys me more than the budget hints that recommend the cheaper brands as "there is no difference", well of course there is a difference. I am glad to know that there are other out there that also feel the same way.

I do what I can, I always spend way to much though. I really need to meal plan, but that can be hard when relying on garden veg. I often have to work in reverse, see what is coming in from the garden and work it out from there.

budget wins out here too.

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I have a real thing about homebrand products and the supermarkets pushing small business out of the market. Soon we wont have a choice. :rolleyes: So i try, if i can, to avoid homebrand products. I wouldn't let me family starve though if that's all i could afford.

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Just an FYI, The home brand is bought from the original maker and put in a different packet. eg, home brand bread is actually tiptop. and 2 minute noodles are san remo.

I also go straight to the egg farm for my eggs, they are bigger, stronger and cheaper and taste better. I would love chooks but DH is not keen.

It is often done at a much reduced price to the supplier, which often hurts the smaller guy who supplies them. It also reduces competition, often I have seen a brand disappear only to have a homebrand put in its place. Also we have known of one case where both Coles and then Safeway put the pressure on a small supplier to either rebrand as store brand or not be sold at all. The small supplier had put a lot of time and money into building their brand, only to have it destroyed in the name of homebrands. In that case we were hurt directly as we used to do some of their deliveries when we had the delivery busines.

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Just my experience here, but budget wins out.
Id love to be able to buy Australian made, fair trade, organic all the time, but ATM its just impossible.
We all do the best we can, and your family has to come first. In our case this means buying the most and best we can afford within our budget.

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I totally agree. IF and I stress IF there are markdown free range eggs, by golly they're mine! I'll use them first mind.

But I try and get the best bang for my buck that I can when shopping, as we are on an extreeeeeeemly tight budget

I used to go to the Chandler Markets, but now my payday is a few days before the weekend I work :( I'm now in the process of trying to stretch out what I have and saving my grocery shopping til my off weekend.. which is this weekend.. hmm can I do it?

We are also on a tight budget here, so its a bit of both here. There are some things like eggs that I like to get freerange.

I am also very aware of what we have in our cupboards/fridge so I dont waste products (I used to throw out so much food esp fruit and veggies). Meal planning is great when it comes to this.

Dp and I have just moved to a rural area which has a farmers marker once a month, and the first time we went we stocked up on fruit and veg, only to find out later that its actually NOT local produce and they buy it all in like the supermarkets do!! I was so annoyed.

We now have a compost and our veggie garden, use bicarb and vinegar these days, and we will be getting chooks soon.. yippe cant wait :)

We do what works for us and our family, ideally I would like to be even more ethical in my choices but its not possible at the moment.

whats this about Nestle?

Budget is my first priority but I do tend to avoid shopping at the 2 largest grocery shops where possible. I prefer Aldi because a lot of their products are from Australian companies, we support local businesses like the butcher and baker and health shop. We go to the markets every 2 weeks for fruit and veg.

On the top of free range eggs. In most cases there is not a lot of difference between cage and free range eggs in the larger eggs farms. Free range hens do get some out door time but they are locked up at night often in high density conditions, they are still fed the same feed that often contains insecticides and gmo grains. My father works for a trucking company that carts the feed for these chickens and he has seen first hand that free range chooks aren't that much better off.

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Just an FYI, The home brand is bought from the original maker and put in a different packet. eg, home brand bread is actually tiptop. and 2 minute noodles are san remo.

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I know that the product is the same Ali, i don't have an issue with the quality. It is the fact they screw the producers down, get the product for nothing and the end result is that the supermarket makes a better profit on someone elses product and the producer loses out.


My friends sells fruit to a big supermarket chain. In order to keep the contract with them they were pretty much forced (read: bullied) to sell them fruit for their own homebrand label at a price which was hardly profitable. They had no choice as the supermarket said they would stop buying their product all together if they didn't agree. The bigger the supermarkets get the more power they have. If they can push everyone out of the market and sell just their homebrand products then we will have no choice, and they will be able to dictate a price of their choice.

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I would love chooks but DH is not keen.

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I want them too! DH would be into it, I think. And we have a huge yard, so it would be possible ... we have dogs and a cat, so would need to have a separate part of the yard for them, but I think it would be completely doable ... but no idea how!! or what kind of cost would be involved ...

Peanutter, TBH, all chooks need is a covered place to roost, where they cant be attacked by other critters.
You could lock them in your garden shed at night if you wanted too, if you could teach them where roost, then you could just put straw or woodshavings undertheir perch which you would clean out once a week. Bales of both are about $10 ea.
A bag of good quality food will set you back about $20 and last you 2-3 months for 3 chooks.
Chooks, you can buy from most produce stores for under $20 each or go direct to a breeder and buy a heritage breed that looks prettier and lays for longer (but prolly wont give you an egg a day- maybe 4-5 per week, but times 3 chooks is still over 1 doz per week) for $30-$50 per bird
If your yard is secure and you can fence off the vege patch and anything else you hold sacred/or is a bit fragile, then they can just freerange all day.
If you need to buy a pen/chicken tractor, expect to pay a minimum of $200 and a good one for $5-600. if you have a handy hubby, I can direct you to a great site.
Chooks are pretty easy...

a tractor?? why would I need a tractor??

mostly sounds good, but we actually don't have a garden shed ... but I've seen kits at Bunnings, which look like they'd be pretty user-friendly to construct ... the fence would be a bit trickier - unfortunately, DH and my "handy person" limit is Ikea furniture ... but we're pretty determined, and aren't afraid of hard work!!

will have to discuss ... I've got a couple of weeks off in May-June ... maybe a project would be good!