Ethical choices when shopping - how do you decide?

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?

Interesting question!

Usually I go quality, then business and price. I'll pay more if I know its not loaded with additives. I'll choose Australian/local before overseas brands assuming to Aussie brands aren't packed with additives. I'll pay a little extra to buy Aussie, but if the overseas brand is better, and cheaper, then 2 out of 3...

So if I was choosing a juice, I'll choose the ones that a healthiest, least preservatives etc, rate them on the brand/business, so local brands would be preferable within the 'healithest' group, then choose whichever is cheapest.

Except on milk, flour, sugar, pasta, rice... thats all supermarket brand as we eat so much of it that we can't afford to go buy the organic local etc ones that are sometimes up to $5 more expensive :o I'd love to always support local and organic but I'd also like to be able to eat more than 3 times a week! LOL!

Our meat and vege is local from the butcher/grocer, vege is often organic when it isn't toooo much more expensive.


ETA: I shop online, which makes comparing brands and products a lot easier. If theres one i don't know, I just google.

For the moment - totally budget driven unfortunately, which means nothing organic :(

It will change once we sell this house and get ourselves in a better position financially though.

Ours is more like yours - we are as additive and preservative free as we can get so that takes priority.

As I said in the other thread, we don't buy George Weston Foods owned brands, so that's Tip Top, Burgen, KR smallgoods, golden crumpets etc. I buy Australian Fresh juice, it is one of the more exxie ones but I know it has no added preservatives, sugar or water in it even though it isn't Aust owned. I only buy it every now and then as we are not big juice drinkers in this house so the cost isn't prohibitive. I never buy 'own brand' items as I have an issue with them forcing out other products to stock their own, inferior products. I do buy IGA branded stuff however as they are australian owned and made - usually just stuff like flour and sugar etc. Sometimes price dictates, sometimes taste does and sometimes it is an ethical stance like not buying from GWF.

there is a very comprehensive list here Australian owned supermarket guide - Today Tonight (link at bottom of page) and there is a lot on there that I didn't realise was Aussie owned and made, but was stuff that I brought anyway kwim?

I must admit I don't concisously think ethically when doing my grocery shopping - usually my order of tick boxes is price, taste then ethical.

Except for eggs and chicken... they are my things that no matter what I have to have free range

I can be whimsical about this. I agree, so often priorities seem to be in conflict. However on the whole I buy things which:

1. First priority is that it's a company I trust not to actually damage health. I don't trust J & J for instance so I don't buy their products. Also Nestle damages the health of millions of children all over the world so I do feel guilty buying products from them. I bought a bag of Allens lollies today and when i got it home i saw the Nestle logo on the back :doh: I don't usually buy lollies so wasn't in the know about this connection.

2. Second priority is the environment: food miles, packaging etc. Animal welfare etc. I generally stick to free range eggs. Equal to this is quality. I find that there is a correlation of quality and a companies "care factor" so usually this isn't hard to choose between.

3. Third priority is cost. We go through phases where our budget is tighter which means i tend to stick to the tried and true instead of experimenting... like I said in the other thread on organic food: I do find it hard to "go back" once I know that there is something pricey but high quality. I like fair trade chocolate and will stock up when it's on special. I am prepared to wait until some expensive things are cheaper... I'm flexible.

4. and then there are other factors like making sure we aren't eating the same foods week after week. I try hard to make sure we don't get in ruts which are unhealthy and increase risk if the foods you eat have limited nutritional value. We don't eat red meat so i have to make sure we include tempeh/tofu proteins as well for example... and to reinforce that variety is a good thing with our kids. This is really important... I see alot of families who eat the same thing week after week end up with weight issues... which I think means that their bodies must be craving a missing nutrient but they are just eating more of the same old stuff. (But that's another thread!)

I'm starting to go OT but essentially I find it hard to stick to rigid disciplined rules when it comes to grocery shopping but at least I vary my purchases so if I am making a poor choice one week at least I'm not making it every week.

I also think accumulating the knowledge to shop wisely (according to your priorities) takes time to establish... it would be hard to start a regime over night... I think most peoples buying habits evolve over time. I just hope I am evolving into a being a more environmentally/health conscious/politically correct/responsible buyer... I think I am compared to say 10 years ago.... and BB has played a large role in my education.

First consideration for us is always food miles/environmental concerns. Canned food just does my head in when it comes to that - raw material mined in WA, shipped to Japan for pressing, back to Oz for being made into cans, then to wherever it's going to be filled, then back to Oz for sale. So, do you buy the organic beans that have come from Italy, or the non-organic ones that haven't travelled so far??? Can't handle it, so generally don't buy cans.

Next for us is the ethical concern; fair trade (free trade is actually the opposite!) or organic or drought-tolerant, or whatever.

Then we look at the packaging, and the sustainability level of that - paper/aluminium over plastic, large quantities over small, and never ever anything individually wrapped.

Price comes in pretty late into the equation. If something's on special we might buy a few.

Then we chuck it all on the bike trailer and ride home!

Hmm. In no particular order here are the things I look for.
1. no Nestle!! (BTW I was wondering the other day - do any people who use formula boycott Nestle because of their business practices in the 3rd World? maybe that's another thread lol)
2. Organic. If there is an organic option I get it whether it is a staple like flour or something more exotic.
3. fair trade - we always buy the fair trade organic coffee and chocolate
4. additives - I always take my little yellow list. I don't bother with Aldi anymore because everything has additives.
5. Local and Australian - I almost never buy imported fruit and veges. I get bottled Australian garlic instead of the Chinese stuff. DH begged for cherries on Sunday do I got him a handful of American ones but generally I won't touch them. I buy limes from Fiji and NZ.
6. I like to buy woolmark wool.
7. Freerange. I try to only buy freerange chicken and eggs but I do have the odd Oporto's burger - if only they weren't so yummy *waaagh*
8. We tend to only buy the TNCC lollies. They use beef gelatine and only natural colours and flavours.
9. Recycled packaging and recyclable packaging.


DH hates shopping with me because of all my little shopping quirks but I tend to know what brands are ok and buy the same ones over and over again - it's only when he comes with me and wants something different that the label reading starts lol.

BTW - It's worth rechecking labels every now and then. I was horrified last week when I realised that the ice-cream I bought had changed its formula but then I found the new Weis icecream which is yummy and relatively natural and QLD based so I was happy again.

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Hmm. In no particular order here are the things I look for.
1. no Nestle!! (BTW I was wondering the other day - do any people who use formula boycott Nestle because of their business practices in the 3rd World? maybe that's another thread lol)

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Yep that would be me. I do think it's ironic, possibly even hypocritical, but yes, the less I have to buy from them the better. Although I do not use Nestle-owned abm anymore, I use Karicare, which is just as bad as it was originally formuated by Truby King! :rolleyes: You're damned if you do and damned if you don't LOL

I don't think it's at all hypocritical. Just because you need to use formula doesn't mean that you need to buy from a company that has demonstrated that it puts human lives below its bottom line - thee are other companies that make formula that haven't used the same tactics as Nestle.

You're right, you don't have to use that one in particular, but I sure as eggs didn't know what they get up to in third world countries when I first started having to buy it, let alone many others who use it. It's not exactly something they like to advertise ;)

TBcompletelyH - I'm pretty hopeless and have got a lot to learn.

I guess I'm a fan of fresh, healthy food so cook a lot from scratch. I'm also on a bit of a "how much do we actually need to live on" bent so that means buying from the market. I haven't though really questioned them about where their meat/veggies are transported from.

I occasionally buy organic - have noticed a taste difference with meat, not so much with veggies and occasionally with fruit. So out of all those I'd be most likely to go organic meat BUT I'm not sure there's an organic butcher at the market.

I'm one of those people who loves food but doesn't really like shopping. By the time I've pored over recipe books/mags, worked out what we're eating on what day and what I can recycle into sandwiches, made a shopping list ... I'm a bit over it and send DP to do the actual shopping. UNLESS I turn it into my "how much can we save by shopping at the market" game and then I'm up for it.

Like I said, lot to learn. Usually food quality and cost are my prime considerations.

Might be a good idea to move this to the new ethical section.

We go (not in any particular order)

1. Palm oil free (severe environmental destuction especially orangutan habitat) - usually listed as vegetable oil, palm oil, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium lauryl palmate. Different to the palm used for palm sugar.
2. Animal welfare - animal testing, animal products (very small amounts of animal products used)
3. Local products over non-local products
4. Low processing over highly processed
5. Organic over non-organic (when we can afford it)
6. Fair-trade - forgot that one.

I also try to avoid companies that mislead in their marketing and advertising, legal or not.

:redface: changed "free" to "fair" in my sentence about liking FAIR trade chocolate!

Astrid, we usually buy Sungold milk not just for the locally owned part but coz its the best tasting milk, as for their juices, I buy it for myself but my kids drink water, they get 1 glass of cordial a day and then water the rest of the day then strawberry milk with tea.

I dont really think etically either, I go for taste & comfort

We rarely buy Sungold, really not happy with WCB did with the farmers down here.

As I said in the organic thread, I DO.NOT.BUY. fruit, veges or meat from the supermarket because of the way supermarket chains treat farmers and producers. As far as companies go I'm a bit clueless but we aren't really buying much in the way of food from the supermarket these days.

All our fresh food comes from the farmers' market
We have a dude, Johnno, who grows on his property not too far away. His food is all organic, and comes straight from the source, no middle man involved. We buy whatever he's got first, then "fill in the gaps" from a Cambodian market gardener at the same market, whose produce is SO fresh, but maybe not organic.
We go without a shopping list, and just buy whatever looks amazing. It forces us to be more creative in the kitchen, and ensures that we are getting a variety of fresh foods in season.

P.S. Bath, I didn't mean to make you feel bad about the free/fair trade thing! I used to mix them up ALL the time too!

LOL snuggly... I actually disagree with a lot of the Free trade laws and policies in the world... I knew the difference... like you said they are often totally opposite concepts that's why I was embarrassed... not because of your reminder darl :)

I buy most often from either farmers' markets, or for coffee etc, I'll buy from the local organic shop or the fairtrade shop. And cause they are local to me, I walk and negate some of the food miles.

I also keep a booklet of ethical choices in my handbag if I do go into coles or woolies etc.

Firstly, we do not buy products that contain animal products or are tested on animals.

I also try to buy organic. We shop at our local farmers market on a weekly basis, for fruit and veg. Some is organic, some isn't organic but may be 'spray free'. We have a small vegie garden at home with herbs, tomatoes, beans, capsicums, green leafys.

Sometimes it is hard to weigh up all the ethical considerations, like SB said - overseas & organic vs non-organic and local. And I do have my own 'most despised' companies, like Nestle and Gillette. I do aim to buy fair trade choc, but i have succumbed to buying Lindt on occasion:redface:

I was also a bit dismayed to discover that some of my MCN are made in China. I had naively assumed that they were made in Aus as the companies were based in Aus. I had assumed that they were home-based businesses :redface: I love how the companies say something like 'made with love in ...' or 'ethically made in ...' What about the transport miles!?

I also buy the least toxic variety of things, eg. 'natural' toothpaste (I know, I know, I should just use bi-carb like I used to), bicarb and vinegar for cleaning, etc.