Cube mk2 and WIR

[starboyhull]

Hi guys.....I decided to do a test today and instead of just willynilly walking down each isle picking up the cheapest, best looking, most advertised products I decided that I would go "organic" just to see if he products are any better and the price difference.....

 

I will add another post shortly to show the differences in price from the organic to the nearest equivelant.......

 

I must have way too much time on my hands on a Friday night lol I will have a glass of wine though

 

Not sure that this is the right place to post such a thread, so feel free to move it......

[Mrs Blue Sky]

Blimey you're brave! Have another glass of wine before you get your till receipt out...

 

I reckon organic shopping adds on easily 25%. The only way we can afford decent meat is to only eat it twice a week - I can get 4 meals out of a chicken now

 

I'll be really interested to see your results.

[starboyhull]

Right then all done........

 

I have create a webpage for you to have a look at......SHould be at all interested lol

 

http://www.2-source.com/chickens/organic.htm

 

There was a few items which I couldnt find in sainsburys.....Strong flour, cooked meats.....Which I was quite surprised there wasnt a lot more that I couldnt find......All in all it was interesting doing the experiment although as you can see there is quite a big cost difference.......I tried to match the products like for like, brand for brand.........

 

Anyway that gave us something to do on a quiet Friday afternoon

[Martin B]

[Laura & CTB]

Oh gosh that's blooming scary

 

......................this is the week I've decided to go organic, get my first veggie box delivery on Wednesday and have ordered chicken breasts x 2, ham joint and sausages as well - nearly £50 altogether!

 

Hope it all tastes nice

 

Thanks for the comparison though - very interesting reading!!

[Egluntyne]

An extra 25% plus puts organic shopping out of the reach of many people.

 

Supermarket organic veg often look a bit past it to be honest.

 

A veg box scheme is expensive but at least the produce in my experience is decent.

[Cate in NZ]

I'm approximately 50% organic, but I think the way to do it is to change your shopping/ cooking habits. I couldn't afford even the limited changes we've made if I still shopped in my old way, ie at the supermarkets. Instead I go for veggie boxes, and growing my own wherever possible, and buy cheaper cuts of meat from my butcher instead of the supermarket. Cooked long and slow cheap cuts have so much more flavour. I plan menus in advance now, and write shopping lists which I stick to, that cuts down on the impulse buys in the supermarket. We're not veggie, but I do make a lot more veggie meals as well, cuts down on costs. That said I go through an awful lot of bacon.............. son can't live without his meat, so every veggie meal I make ends up with a rasher or 2 of bacon for him. Even curry

It's a really interesting experiment though, and enlightening too. I'll be interested to see how you get on

Thanks for posting it.

[starboyhull]

I was looking at a company that does organic veg boxes, but when I compared to tescos they where more expensive....Although not sure how they compare with sainsburys........I only went to sainsbuys to see exactly how much "organic" produce I could buy........I was pleased with how much they stock, I doubt very much I could have bought half of that in Asda or some of the other places.......

[Guest]

Supermarket organic veg often look a bit past it to be honest.

 

I've said it here before, and I will say it again - never, NEVER buy loose produce from a supermarket, unless you see someone bringing the box out and putting it straight on the shelf - always pay the extra 10/20p and buy pre-packed DATED produce. Especially loose organic stuff.

[starboyhull]

It really was just an experiment to see the differences after chatting about hellmans mayo earlier.....I doubt very much we could actually afford to buy like this with every shop.......But I will definately try much harder with meat and egg containing products....Its amasing what keeping chickens does for you.... lol

 

Our sainsburys is on the outskirts of one of hulls nicer villages, I dont think the produce stays on their shelves very long.....I wanted carrots and they had run out, quite surprised that the organic carrot section was slightly bigger than the normal section........

 

Overall a good test, the shop did take quite a big longer than usual although I guess next time I will know what packaging to look out for......

[One Man Banned]

Gosh

 

Did you have to total that lot up!!

 

We try to buy Organic on everything we buy - and yes it can get pricey. We're lucky that we have enough disposable income, but if we had a few kids running around it would be out of the question.

 

We try not to buy much veg from the supermarket and get a veg box each week from Riverford. We had tried to use Able & Cole but found most of their stuff went past it's best in a couple of days. Riverford has been fine so far (2 months)

 

if there was an emoticon for a gulp, please insert it here!

 

A

xx

[starboyhull]

I used excel, been the IT geek I am lol

 

Its more the fact that I dont think its worth paying almost double, just a bit tight really I think lol Although if we think the food is that much better I will just order it and let him pay for it

 

Have to get him to up my house keeping

[One Man Banned]

It wasn't that you used Excel (it's my fav thing for work)

 

I meant did you have to show me just how much we spend

 

I let Joe do the weekly shop (well he only gets bored on his Monday's off ) and besides, I got in with a list but still come out with double what was (not) on the list

 

A

xx

[starboyhull]

Ahh sorry, bit slow tonight......Think it must be the wine

 

If I let Andy do the shopping I dread to think what rubbish we would have.....Hes not very domesticated like that lol Think its also a good job he doesnt come on here either.......I would be in trouble for talking about him

[Olly]

ouch! it's scary when you see that total, isn't it! I shop mainly at Waitrose which has a good range of organic foods, and I get a veggie box once a week from Everybody Organic - its very good, but I couldn't get through it on my own, so I share it with a friend. I don't buy everything organic, but try and get the foods I eat most of from that range.

 

Buying organic is only half the story - of course it doesn't necessarily taste any different to non-organic food, but it's been farmed in a way that doesn't damage the environment. I'm also conscious of food miles though, and so I will try and buy seasonal - and local - produce if it's available. Waitrose is very good for this, again.

 

I buy organic meat if I can, but again I'll choose local free-range produce above organic if there's a choice. Don't forget that achieving organic status requires high standards, and a farm may be on its way there, but not able to label its stuff as 'organic'.

 

Sorry chookiehen, I have to disagree! Please don't buy packaged food - more waste, and you can't always see inside the packaging, I've bought wrapped fruit and then found it was mouldy. I rely on look, smell and feel to tell me if something is fresh or not and that's much easier to do if it is not wrapped in layers of plastic, which then needs to be disposed of.

 

Isn't this about our expectations? meat iIS expensive to produce, if it's to be done properly - I'd rather eat good meat once a week, than eat non free-range chicken. Vegetables ARE k"Ooops, word censored!"bly, deformed and different sizes, at least that's how they grow in my garden! sorry, bit of a soapbox here, but I know so many otherwise intelligent people who have no idea where food comes from, when it's in season, or how it gets to the supermarket!

[One Man Banned]

Must be something in the name

 

I do seem to come back with lots of clothes, cds, dvd's............

 

I remembered the wine earlier, but forgot the milk

 

A

xx

[starboyhull]

Must be (say no more)

 

Least you have the priorities right lol you can get milk anytime......

 

 

Although im the bad one with cd's.........Usually a load of rubbish but keeps me quiet (blasting out)

[Helly Welly]

We buy everything we can organic from Tesco, but fruit and veg comes in a veg box from River Nene who have been excellent. I don't find it much more expensive, though i have cut back on meat and started buying a whole chicken and getting four meals out of it, instead of buying separate cuts of chicken.

 

We buy the local choice milk from Tesco, as food miles are also extremely important, but sugar we buy Fairtrade.

 

I know that people struggle to afford organic, but our shopping bill hasn't risen, it just takes more imagination. Also, if farmers are to get a fair price, food needs to cost more. We are too used to cheap food which isn't valued anymore which is one reason why people are fatter nowadays. If a greater value and importance wwas placed on food, we'd all be better off.

[starboyhull]

Our usual shopping place is now tesco's but its a bit further to get to (on a Friday afternoon).....I think you right though, people expect cheap food, but thats all we are getting, its not very good quality and I think we do need to invest more in higher quality food......

 

I will admit I am not good with meat on the bone, which would be a lot cheaper to buy and potenially better meat, but I just cant stand messing about with bones......

 

The organic veg that we can get delivered is from a solar powered milk float type thing......Which is obviosuly much better for the environment, I will give them a try and see what their seasonal box is like........

[Cinnamon]

What a fantastic thread - thanks so much for starting it & for all your hard work pricing the Organic produce against the usual produce

 

Do let us know if it tastes any better too, won't you

You guys like your ice-cream, then?

 

I am buying more Organic than I used to, but always look at the price for comparison & decide then & there whether to pay the extra for the Organic version or not.

 

I always buy Organic meat now & milk too (or the Local choice one) , but having a growing family (my girls now eat as much as us!) its not always within our reach to buy everything Organic,much as we would like to.

 

A veggie box doen't appeal to me as I like to plan our weekly meals in advance then buy the produce I need, rather than get the produce then cook what I have to to use it up.

[hillfamily]

 

We try not to buy much veg from the supermarket and get a veg box each week from Riverford. We had tried to use Able & Cole but found most of their stuff went past it's best in a couple of days. Riverford has been fine so far (2 months)

 

That's interesting.........i thought it was just me. I used to get a box from Abel & Cole but had the same problem. Have been thinking about trying Riverford

 

We try to buy organic where ever possible and am also starting to investigate local farm shops and markets to see what they have offer.

[Lesley]

Sorry chookiehen, I have to disagree! Please don't buy packaged food - more waste, and you can't always see inside the packaging, I've bought wrapped fruit and then found it was mouldy. I rely on look, smell and feel to tell me if something is fresh or not and that's much easier to do if it is not wrapped in layers of plastic, which then needs to be disposed of.

 

Olly - I think you'll find that Chookihen is speaking from experience from within the supermarket. I would normally say the same - I deplore all the overpackaging - but I'd rather know that the extra money I'm spending on a food being Organic is actually being spent on an organically produced item.

 

I tend to shop mainly at the Farmers' Market , the local Farm Shops and the Co-op. We are lucky enough to be able to grow a lot of the fruit and veg we eat (and of course, the meat now as well). I've been buying mostly organic for as long as I can remember - even as a single parent on a very low income. I don't compare prices these days - if I have enough money on my card or in my purse, I'll buy something. It's really interesting to see the comparisons - the ice cream prices were an eye-opener I'll carry on making my own!

[Charlottechicken]

Ooh yes Karl and Andy, you will have to let us know if you have now been spurred on to try and make or produce your own foodstuffs. The list is interesting, as some of the prices are fairly similar, but the totals are very different. Would an ice cream maker now be on someone's Christmas list

 

I agree that all foodstuffs involving animals are too cheap, we get what we pay for, don't we?

 

I would like to start a campaign for correct portion size, and the banning of artificial sweeteners . Portion sizes are out of control, now people expect them to be large and think it is OK to eat too much, eating less saves your health and your money , and I hate the way every bottle of fizzy drink has aspartame or some other similar product in it. I don't drink fizzy drinks as a rule but treats are now out too Why mask flavours with sweeteners?

 

Let's get back to real food

[Lindsay]

Couldn't agree more Claire! What happened to 'real food'?? I suppose it's pretty much like everything else in this world that humans have messed about with .... we're now paying for it with our health and damage to the environment! (Oops ... soapbox time again!!!)

 

I've enjoyed reading this thread, as we have been trying to change our shopping/eating habits over the last few months. I now get an organic box from River Nene, which I have found to be excellent quality so far (I have had problems in the past with other schemes, with mouldy fruit etc). We have tried to make small changes, over a period of time, which has really started to work for us. We now appreciate the smaller amount of meat we eat, as it's good quality and has been ethically reared.

 

It's so great to know that other people, like the folks on this forum, are experimenting with the way they shop etc. and starting to challenge the supermarkets. I get disheartened when I stop and think that a large section of the population still has no idea (or interest) in knowing where their food comes from and all they want is cheap, cheap and more cheap food!!! Arrgh!! We're up against it Omleteers!!

[starboyhull]

I'm glad the thread has been of interest.......We actually dont eat a lot of ice-cream......more of a treat......(going to justify it now) Andy doesnt like chocolate and Im not keep on the raspberry ones so we have to have 2 tubs of it

 

Be nice to see restaurants using more "real food" too.......So many places you eat out now is just "plastic" food, we now cook for friends more and more as at least I know whats in the food where as eating out I dread to think where its come from or whats in it........

 

We will deffinately be changing what we buy, I think meat will be the big thing we change.....Keeping hens has really made me think about it,......