Organic Food vs "standard" food

[Trillian]

Dont' get me wrong, I agree completely with what you are suggesting and I would love to see an era of farming that uses no chemical - it costs us thousands of dollars each year to buy the stuff and some of it smells that bad that you know it can't be good to have long term exposure, but I just can't see it being feasible world wide kwim? Personally I do only buy in season produce because that's when it is the best and the kids are starting to understand why I walk straight past the strawberries and watermelons atm but it will take a long time to change that mindset that's for sure. I have always been in disagreement with come crops being gown in areas where if it weren't for irrigation, then they just couldn't grow there. I have a huge issue with the big cotton growers to the north as they are the ones largely responsible for the rape of the river systems as they divert the natural water flow of rivers and dam all the run off that should naturally run into them. I live in the MIA and have an issue with growing rice in this area as without irrigation it just can't be grown as the natural rainfall isn't high enough (and having that opinion has gotten me into some interesting discussions let me tell you!). I am all for R&D being done into disease resistant crops, but the Govt is in the process of closing all the ag stations where all that research is done, so while ever you have a govt that it anti-farming (on a state level and to a certain degree a federal one) our hands are tied.

[LimeSlice]

I actually bought Organic SR flour (woolies brand) the other day - I was astounded at the checkout to find it was actually only a $1 more than the other stuff - and given how exxy flour is becoming these days I dont understand why you would buy non-organic flour when you can get the god stuff so cheap!
The Woolies Organic Pasta is also priced well.

I've been quite impressed with the amount of organic store products available in the last few months.

I went to get the chook for dinner tonight before though - went to Lenards and this is how the conversation went:

40-something Shop Assistant: "Hi, how can I help you?"
Me: " Hi... Do you guys actually do whole chooks?"
Assistant: "Yes we do. I can go and get you one if you like."
Me: "I do not suppose they are free-range and orgainc?"
Assistant: "Ah no I don't think so. They are only $9.90 though"
Me: " Ah I see. Thanks I think I will go to Coles and get a Mt Barker chook"
Assitant: "Ours are bigger than the Mt Barkers and much cheaper you know"




I now have a gorgeous 1.8kg chook for $16 And I know it will taste good because it had a good life.

[Phteven]

I went to get the chook for dinner tonight before though - went to Lenards and this is how the conversation went:

40-something Shop Assistant: "Hi, how can I help you?"
Me: " Hi... Do you guys actually do whole chooks?"
Assistant: "Yes we do. I can go and get you one if you like."
Me: "I do not suppose they are free-range and orgainc?"
Assistant: "Ah no I don't think so. They are only $9.90 though"
Me: " Ah I see. Thanks I think I will go to Coles and get a Mt Barker chook"
Assitant: "Ours are bigger than the Mt Barkers and much cheaper you know"




I now have a gorgeous 1.8kg chook for $16 And I know it will taste good because it had a good life.

*sigh* what is the obsession with the gigantic chook? If you really want more chicken you can cook two!!

Farmer's markets are great. We have one nearby but I have class on saturday morning so I can't go. Maybe I should try the organic market at Flemington.

[thepixie]

K some of the non-certified organic stuff from our local farmers market is also delish. I have a rule - I never buy fruit, veges or meat from the supermarket. Not just because it tastes like cardboard but because I don't agree with the way they treat farmers and producers. If I can't get what I need from the markets I buy from the greengrocers or the butchers. Lots of good ones in our area!

[Kitt3n]

pixie - yeah we buy from them too, i was just comparing an apple from the supermarket to the apples from - well you know where! the difference is amazing

farmers markets are also great, there are a few of those around here too. its rare that we get fruit from the supermarket but sometimes you just have to.

tril - i'd love to plant trees - but we are in a unit and its just a no go. If and when we win lotto we will have a lovely edible garden, that is a dream of ours! its true what you say too - from the tree - oh remember my grandads figs - d'lish!!!!

As for chicken, that is the one meat that I will not eat unless it is organic, free range. I don't eat pork unless I am sure of where the pigs have been raised (but that is another topic)

flowerchild, i agree so much with so many of your points. we get all uppity if our Strawberries are not in the supermarket all the time! so so true. Kids of today probably have no idea of the seasons that fruit is at its best - its just always there in the supermarket! I could buy some watermelon right now if I wanted to

[AngelPunks]

I love shopping at the farmers market every wednesday in the CBD, my F&V is always yummy and fresh (usually picked in the last few days), the meat is yummy (I usually buy organic) - the good thing about the farmers market is that you can chat to the people who actually grow the stuff!!!!!!! It also seems to last longer (I throw it in my fridgesmart containers and it is fresh for AGES!).

[Inertia]

... but because I don't agree with the way they treat farmers and producers.

We got some awesome fresh off the stalk Corn at xmas. Dad does a lot of computer work for people and he went to fix this guys computer. Gave him a couple of bags full of corn ears. He went through and picked the best stuff off because..... a supermarket company had bought the crop worth and told him to plow it under...

Utterly gobsmacked I was - but the corn was delish!

[Trillian]

K some of the non-certified organic stuff from our local farmers market is also delish. I have a rule - I never buy fruit, veges or meat from the supermarket. Not just because it tastes like cardboard but because I don't agree with the way they treat farmers and producers. If I can't get what I need from the markets I buy from the greengrocers or the butchers. Lots of good ones in our area!

That's a whole other thread right there! I loathe how we are constantly screwed over - we boycott all Westons branded foods as they stitched us up a few years ago over a load of wheat - 35ton it was - that we sold to their melb factory and when the truck got there they called and said they would not pay the agreed amount because it was full of weevils (like fricken hell it was - it had been treated and kept in a fully sealed silo and was tested before it was sold and found to be weevil free) and our hands were tied because it would have cost us more money to get the truck to turn around and come home than we lost on the sale. But what could you do? It was their word against ours and the truck was sitting in their yard - they knew we wouldn't say turn the truck around and go home.

[MamaPan]

sherie - what an awful story. i will boycott them too!

[Bathsheba]

I also live in hope that consumers will demand more organic foods so farmers can have greater incentive to adjust their methods. I agree with FlowerChild that the expectation of foods being available all year round has got to change. People need to apply "absence makes the heart grown fonder" to foods. How sweeter a peach tastes after not having one for 9 months of the year? I think A LOT sweeter! We have also put in a vegie patch because there are so many foods like carrots that are soooo simple to grow in your own backyard and taste sooo much better than the tasteless supermarket variety. I think that too many people are putting the responsibility on producing food onto farmers when growing a bit themselves isn't really that hard. I remember as a kid that hardly anyone bought lemons... nearly everyone had a lemon tree in their backyard... or knew somebody who could give them a lemon if needed. Bring back the community spirit and a lot of the worlds' food shortage and quality issues could start to be solved. People are far too detached from the food growing process That's contributing to a wasteful mindset and other food abuses. I don't understand why here in Australia we have become so detached where in many European countries people are still connected to the food production process... rural France especially seems to be a great example of this. They are rejecting the mass production processes which lead to lesser quality so why can't we? They truly seem to value quality over quantity and I think it shows also in the fact that they don't seem to have the obesity problem that we in Australia have.... it's all connected. Just my thoughts.

[Astrid]

How are we going to increase the demand for organic food when there is such a push towards savings. A lot of the cheaper brands are not organic and are also of unknown ethical origin. If you buy a store brand, what do you know about the company that supplied that food and their practices? (this reminds me of a thread I have been meaning to start)

[Bathsheba]

The temptation of savings: from my experience when it comes to food, once I have tasted a superior product I find it very hard to go "back" to the cheaper inferior product... more so than say stationery, clothes, toiletries etc. I can think of at least 10 foods that I now eat regularly despite them being significantly more expensive than what I had before... here's 3:

Bread: before i had tasted Phillipas I thought all bread was pretty much the same. Phillipas loaves cost up to $8 each... but I would rather eat less of hers and taste something truly delicious (appreciating every mouthful than mindlessly consume just another slice of some standard supermarket bread... well, on the weekend anyhow ) I think Phillipas uses organic flours and ingredients too although I could be wrong.

Yogurt: expensive organic yogurt is a totally different product to the stuff they try to call yogurt eg Nestle's which IMO is just sugar, milk and thickeners. We now eat Jalna as a staple... not cheap but i can't bear the thought of my kids eating the other rubbish. There are also other favourites that we buy less regularly but think the extra $ is worth it.

Chicken: a corn fed free range chicken is smaller than your standard battery supermarket chicken and it's often twice the price but once you've had the real thing it's very hard not to taste the bleachy excuse for a chicken that most supermarkets sell. If I'm going to go to all the effort to make a Coq Au Vin it's only going to be a free ranger from now on.

[Kitt3n]

If you buy a store brand, what do you know about the company that supplied that food and their practices? (this reminds me of a thread I have been meaning to start)

anything which has a parent company of monsanto or nestle we pretty much steer right away from

[Inertia]

How are we going to increase the demand for organic food when there is such a push towards savings. A lot of the cheaper brands are not organic and are also of unknown ethical origin. If you buy a store brand, what do you know about the company that supplied that food and their practices? (this reminds me of a thread I have been meaning to start)

Half the problem is in this mentality. When DH and I decided to go raw, we expected exactly this to happen. Granted the first shop "stock up" slogged the budget a bit and we spent $500 that fortnight rather than the usual $400. Since then we have been spending $300 a fortnight - and we are even buying better quality meat and 'cuts'.

I do pay more for my eggs - I know this. We get 30 free range for $8.50 rather than 12 battery for $2.50, but despite this, our bill went down.

This is because my cupboard and fridge stocks actually do more than one meal - where as a jar of pasta sauce cost me $3ish and only did half a meal. I make my own pasta sauce now for $1 a jar. I make my own cheese sauce and it works out a bit more expensive, but it tastes better because we can afford a high quality matured tasty.

I would love to move closer to the country for this as we still have to tolerate things like homogenised milk and processed honey because we dont have local suppliers. I was thinking about checking out the morrisset mega market though. If I could eliminate the last of those jars and bottles, it would be perfect - and I still have $100 per fortnight to do it with too!