STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I buy whatever I can organic and hormone free.  I started doing it for the environmental issues, but I'm now convinced that it is tastier and healthier.

I despise Whole Foods.  I think that place is marking organics up WAY more than necessary and they are perpetuating the myth that organic/hormone free has to cost more.  Trader Joe's has tons of organic stuff priced much less than Whole Foods.  Also, and I realize this isn't an option for everyone, but local Farmer's Markets usually have organic produce and hormone free meat at prices similar to the regular grocery store.

luckylily wrote:

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I buy whatever I can organic and hormone free. I started doing it for the environmental issues, but I'm now convinced that it is tastier and healthier.

I despise Whole Foods. I think that place is marking organics up WAY more than necessary and they are perpetuating the myth that organic/hormone free has to cost more. Trader Joe's has tons of organic stuff priced much less than Whole Foods. Also, and I realize this isn't an option for everyone, but local Farmer's Markets usually have organic produce and hormone free meat at prices similar to the regular grocery store.

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Whole Foods is freaking expensive! But, it's the only place I know of around here to get most of this stuff. The farmer's markets in my city are sparse and only in the summer, but I do go to them when I can. Trader Joe's sounds awesome, I was reading the post about it in the food section, but there's not one around here :(

My husband and I raise cattle and every year we keep a calf to feed it out and then have it cut up into cuts of meat that we prefer.  We do not use any horomones and I feel good knowing exactly what I am eating and where it has come from.  It also saves a lot of money on grocery bills. 

I do not buy organic fruits and vegetables for 2 reasons: 
1.  When things are grown organically, that is more insects that chew on and deficate on the things I am eating.   EPA has such a rigorous testing procedure before new chemicals, insecticides, etc. are released that I believe that what is produced here in the US is safe. 
2.  The shear expense of them.  I know they cost more to produce, but I am just not willing to shell out the extra cash.  
I do think that buying organic and horomone free meats and milk is probably not all that bad of an idea, but I don't buy them either.  I think that maybe a lot of the cancers and other diseases we are seeing could be related to all the extra horomones we ingest now days that generations before us did not. 

As a cotton farmer, I believe organic cotton is a bit of a stretch.  Cotton is extremely hard to grow and if you are not ingesting it, then I don't see a lot of point in the organic-ness (is that a word?)   However, that is not to say that I don't respect everyone's opinions in what they choose to buy.  That is part of what makes America a great place - the selection and availability of consumer goods. 

i love Whole Foods too.  I always refer to it as "Whole Paycheck" because I never walk out of there with less than $50 spent.

I do not buy organic fruits and vegetables for 2 reasons: 
1.  When things are grown organically, that is more insects that chew on and deficate on the things I am eating.   EPA has such a rigorous testing procedure before new chemicals, insecticides, etc. are released that I believe that what is produced here in the US is safe. 

I understand you not caring about the pestisides and such but it is scary to me that you would actually BELIEVE that statement.  Do you know how many toxic chemicals and pestisides have been banned after YEARS of use and finally someone says "whops! this is dangerous"  Everyone has the right to choose but be smart about it.  No one is looking out for you, you have to look out for your own health and safety. 

The only things I always buy organic are salad greens and milk. 

The process of being certified organic is a long and very expensive one, and therefore prohibitive for many small companies, even if they are indeed organic.  Also, most things only have to be a certain percentage organic to be able to use the label (I don't remember the exact percentage, but the fact that they only need to be X% made the whole certification thing seem pretty moot to me).  Mr. Elle had an article about it, I'll see if he can find it again and I'll post the link.

Anyway, because of where we live alot of the produce that ends up in our stores is from locally owned places, which are much less likely to use chemicals than larger national brands.  So in that respect local can be better than organic anyway, and heck local might even be organic even if you don't know it!

ETA:  BTW, the article also pointed out that all chicken in the US is hormone free - that's regulated by the government.  Also, the guidelines for what can qualify as 'free-range' chicken are ridiculous - they only have to have access to the outside (which can be 3x3 pen full of dung!) and there is no time requirements that the outside access needs to be provided.  They could literally walk around and open the doors on the cages for 2 seconds and call them 'free range' ....

-- Edited by Elle at 19:10, 2007-02-06

boobaby wrote:

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I'm a vegetarian because I love animals (I also love leather and suede, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite, I know).

But I buy all dairy and eggs from organic companies because I believe the animals are treated more humanely. I also buy as much organic vegetables and staples like bread, etc. as I possibly can. I try to buy local when I can.

In my neighborhood, there is a little organic shop that for $15, you can buy a produce box. My brother used to do this, but you didn't get to pick and choose. Sometimes it was weird stuff that you wouldn't normally buy. I think it was fun for him, planning meals, learning new recipes, etc. It was an affordable way to buy local and organic.

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i'm kinda the same way.  i only eat seafood and don't drink milk (soy milk instead) and i try to buy local when i can.  i also make sure that i buy cage free eggs.  i do most of my shopping at TJ's or the farmer's market, so i guess that is more organic than Jewel but in all honesty, i eat out a couple days a week and i don't care if the place is organic or not. 

i only really eat Whole Food's salad bar.   

Sibeski wrote:

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There isn't anything I buy because it's specifically organic.  I do go to Whole Foods when we are feeling food crazy- Buffalo or Ostrich crazy .  I have a really hard time with Organic's, I think it's the marketing that get's to me.  Fat-free foods aren't necassarily good for you, but you see that BIG fat-free sign and go for it.  Even it's filled w/ HFCS and partially hydrogenated oils.
Organics and not pesticide or insecticide free.  The chemicals used on them are certified by the USDA as organic.  That is the distinction between organic and non-organic.

AbsolutPrep1981 wrote:
I understand you not caring about the pestisides and such but it is scary to me that you would actually BELIEVE that statement.  Do you know how many toxic chemicals and pestisides have been banned after YEARS of use and finally someone says "whops! this is dangerous"  Everyone has the right to choose but be smart about it.  No one is looking out for you, you have to look out for your own health and safety. 

Bingo!!  How do we know that the "organic's" of today aren't going to be the DDT of the 2020's.  We don't.
We just started the process of converting our wine grapes to organic raisins.  Want to know why?  Cash-Money!  It's all in the marketing.  For 3 years we willonly use certified "organic" products on our vineyard, done. We'll be organic and we will be using insecticides. But- we'll be making a lot more money.


-- Edited by Sibeski at 17:56, 2007-02-07

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Sibeski --
I don't think that the point AbsoutePrep was making is that was questioning the safety of organic food.  She is questioning the safety of pesticides.  Her point was that just b/c the government test chemicals/pesticides and deems them "safe" today, it does not mean that they won't cause health or environmental problems --  the actual real world effects of the chemicals won't be seem for years. 

I can say will a large degree of certainty that organic food will probably never we revealed to be a health risk of any kind, much less one to the degree of DDT.

I read a book, Diet for a Poisioned Planet, which is kind of dated now, but it broke foods down into red light (only eat organic), yellow light, and green light (non-organic is okay) foods in respect to how much pesitcide residue you consume with each food. 

Peanuts and raisins/grapes, and most dairy products were the most pestcide laden and impt to avoid.

I try to buy as much organic as i can afford -- peanut butter (trader joe's is cheap), soymilk, yogurt, eggs, tofu, fruits and veggies depending on what looks good, how expensive it is, and if the conventional alternative safe, natural hormone free meats, no farm raised fish, bread.

I shopping at whole foods, but i can never get out of there spending less than $100.  and while some stuff they have is really expensive, i've compared prices and sometimes they are the same or less than stop and shop. (for ex. big container of organic stoneyfield yogurt -- $4 at stop and shop, $3 at whole foods).  also, their 365 brand is pretty resonably priced.  the juice, milk, butter and cheese (non-organic) are about the same as other brands and even though it's not organic, it's hormone free.