Do you buy organic foods?

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Our target actually has a lot of organic offerings.

 

[MIGrandma]

Have any of your organic eaters watched as organic grains are being harvested?

I wouldn't care to eat weeds with my cereal or grains.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Some

 

[Luv2CtheMouse]

Yes, we do. Although I have read many articles stating that they are not are good for us as we think. Some of the food items have been tested against non-organic and have been found to still have high levels of chemicals.

 

[Tiggeroo]

We get our milk from Oberweis. Not sure if they are in your area, they are mostly in the Midwest. They deliver fresh, hormone free milk to you in glass bottles (which improves taste). Plus I love the nostalgia of having a milkman. We get our hormone free eggs from them, too.

We lived in Illinois for a couple of years. One of the things we miss the most is Oberweiss. We used to get a delivery and treat ourselves to what is truly the best ice cream I ever had. Their skim milk does not taste fat free either.

 

[stargazer2892]

We buy farmers market fruits and veggies for all of us. For DS we buy I guess it's organic but hormone free milk and yogurt which is the important one to me. He stays with my mom 2 days a week and she doesn't buy anything so we try to limit at much as we can at home. I figure any amount is better then nothing. We also try not buy things that are sweetened with corn syrup that that shouldn't need any sugar, like bread and pasta sauce.

 

[LJSquishy]

We have made a slow transition to mostly all certified organic produce and dairy. We're slowly trying to transition over to better meat now. We had to do it over a period of time due to the cost difference.

I feel that dairy is one of the most important items to buy organic. Just keep in mind, just because it says Certified Organic does NOT mean the animals were humanely treated! I buy local dairy products that are humanely treated. Costco's organic dairy/eggs do not qualify in my book. I pay about $5.65 for a gallon of Organic (humanely treated) milk. We drink less milk to help with the price difference, but oh my gosh it tastes so much better than regular milk...so creamy (even the 1%)! Organic butter is pricey but we hardly use butter...maybe one stick every month or two.

I buy as much organic produce as I can because it honestly is not that expensive and it tastes better than non-organic. Nutritionally, it may or may not be any healthier but I refuse to buy GMO food whenever possible. I buy a few things at Walmart for convenience, but overall I just shop at our local healthy markets (Huckleberry's, and Main Market Co-op). Sometimes the organic produce is even cheaper than non-organic. Yay!

I currently buy meat/poultry that is hormone & antibiotic-free. That's the best I can do right now with our budget, but I'm slowly trying to start making the switch to grass-fed and pastured meats. Again, just because it's certified Organic does not mean the animals were humanely treated. It's important to purchase pastured eggs (cage-free & free-range does not mean pastured!), poultry, and other meats. Buying local is your best option for getting the most humanely treated meats. Costco does sell Organic chicken breasts and whole chickens but I question how they were treated. How an animal is treated during its life is more important to me than whether or not the feed it ate was certified organic or not.

 

[Acklander]

Have any of your organic eaters watched as organic grains are being harvested?

I wouldn't care to eat weeds with my cereal or grains.

Think I'd rather have a few weeds than the GMO crap.

 

[ellone]

Have any of your organic eaters watched as organic grains are being harvested?

I wouldn't care to eat weeds with my cereal or grains.

Those weeds are probably healthier than GMO corn so I don't mind some mixed in.

 

[Sam81]

Gifted family here. You have to be 100% certain of the standards used to classify something as organic. USDA organic and Mexico organic are too very different items.

You must also verify the type of farming used for any vegetables. They may not use pesticides, but if they rely strictly on rain water it could be polluted.

 

[tvguy]

I don't seek out organic products, but many of the items I buy are organic. A lot of growers here have gone all organic, but only a portion of their crop is certified as organic. The rest is sold at a lower price with no claims of being organic.

 

[Dax]

We switched to all organic milk about 2yrs ago. We were buying Horizon's brand, but recently switched to Organic Valley milk as its pasture raised, humanely raised cows. I can no longer drink non organic milk...I can tell the difference. Since I got pregnant, I go through a gallon of milk in about 2 days...

We also tend to stick with Whole Foods or our local meat mart for meats. Grass fed, hormone free stuff. Also tastes better.

We have been switching to less and less HFCS and GMO foods. Nature's Path is my favorite brand of food, and all of it is no-GMO. When Emma is ready for it, we will be making our own baby food, or sticking to the organic stuff. We also have been looking for organic formula, since the other stuff is made with corn syrup or HFCS, but mostly momma will be providing the early stuff..

 

[ellone]

I don't worry about the health aspects of GMOs much but I still avoid GM foods as much as possible because they have led to the huge, almost unbelievable jump in the use of RoundUp over so many millions of acres of farmland. Even if GMO corn is nutritionally identical to conventional corn, I don't want to be supporting a product that enables farmers to douse whole fields with such a highly toxic chemical.

Monsanto claimed that GMO corn would reduce the amount of Roundup used by farmers, but it has actually increased since the weeds are getting resistant to it. Also the yields of GMO corn are lower than their non-GMO counterparts (so the claims that GMO corn will feed the world are false).

 

[momto3gr8boys]

We buy mostly organic, and I also try to avoid most packaged foods...dinner is always made from whole foods. I'm working on the other meal and snacks.

 

[mombrontrent]

I buy alot of organic food but not all. I don't eat meat, dairy or eggs. I eat alot of fruits and veggies and try to buy the majority organic. I buy organic grains, spices, tofu, almond and soy milk. I find Costco is a great place for organic foods. I can find alot of organic snack food there for lunches as well.

 

[North of Mouse]

We avoid "organic" food wherever possible, seeing it as somewhat of a scam.
We are often amused by the fervour with which some people support their "organic" food buying and were not surprised to see more than one survey that indicated that said people were less likely to be helpful and even be judgemental towards other people!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-LESS-likely-helpful-people-study-claims.html
http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/05/18/11737146-does-organic-food-turn-people-into-jerks?lite

As ever, ymmv.

ford family

You are so right! A family member in a state far from me was inquiring about raising free range chickens, eggs, beef, etc. You would not believe the prices people are willing to pay to get *organic* foods when they are no different than the regular foods/produce. For instance, chicken can be penned for a long time, then have a door opened for part of a day to the open grass,etc. then closed up again, but they are considered *free range* and sold as such! They seldom venture out of their cages as they aren't used to it, *but* they have the opportunity, and a few do venture out occasionally! By the way, our family member declined on a large scale to play their game, and sells to local people that trust them.

It's different on some smaller farms where you may know the owner and buy direct. But in stores, you really do not know, but it makes a lot of people feel better anyway while paying higher prices.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I buy all organic dairy, organic cereal, some organic fruits/vegetables and hormone free poultry. We don't eat much meat at home. I make fish once a week, sometimes there's a reference to farmed, sometimes not, I have no idea what's supposed to be better with that.

 

[bookgirl]

Only if whatever thing I'm buying only comes in organic.

iShelf stable individual milks- My local walmart carries Horizon's 1% unflavored. It's organic. I don't buy it because it's organic, I buy it because it's easy for trips and lunches, it's not vanilla or chocolate flavored, and it's as close to fat free as I can get.

Annies- I love their snack mix (well actually I like a few of her items) which is organic. The fact that it is processed is more relevant than whether the original ingredients are organic so a waste to pay more for it, but I love that particular item for it's seasonings/taste, and so I buy it.

Produce-often I will go in to buy fruit or veg and the one that looks the best or is the variety I want is organic so that's what I buy. My sprouts carries loose spinach but only in organics, or the granny smith unorganic apples look bruised but the organics are nice and firm so I buy the organic.

I do buy hormone free milk because the brand I like is hormone free. I'm really picky about my milk and some brands taste better. I like both the store brand from Walmart and Target but hate the brand at Walgreens. Out of the two local dairys, I love one and hate the other. Go Figure?


I do not seek out organics. I am not convinced that it's going to 'pay off' in the long run. I'm usually more interested in things like no HFCS, or grass fed, or Low Fat, or Whole Grain.

 

[Janepod]

All organic (other than Pop Tarts and Cheerios.)

My supermarket is part of a small local chain that carries a lot of produce, meat and chicken from local farms. E.g., the milk we buy is from Arethusa Farms. Locally caught fish and shellfish, that sort of thing.

It works for us.