09 Mar 2015

A question about : Organic food in supermarkets

I low carb and went organic in March. My husband doesn't low carb but is enthusiastic about organic. We've been trying lots of things so if you've been wondering whether organic tastes any better here are some reviews.

IMO organic carrots definitely taste better if fresh, especially raw so I'd suggest looking for British. Organic mushrooms can taste really good but not necessarily better than locally grown mushrooms. Small organic cauliflowers used with an organic mature Cheddar make amazing cauliflower cheese. Abel & Cole's organic globe artichokes are way better than the tiny things you see sometimes in Tesco but not as good as French ones. Husband and I think organic green/runner beans are pretty tough. We prefer Birds Eye frozen peas/petit pois to Waitrose organic. There's no discernible difference in taste between organic and non-organic aubergines, bell peppers and romano peppers. Cucumber on the other hand is far better organic as are radishes. There doesn't seem to be any difference between organic and non-organic onions and shallots but some organic spring (salad) onions taste better.

OH says organic Weetabix definitely better than non organic and own brands. He also prefers Whole Earth organic cornflakes to either Sainsbury's Italian organic cornflakes or Kellogg's.

Generally, organic fresh milk tastes better than non-organic unless it;s fresh from a local dairy and please stay well clear of organic milk sold in Lidl. Moo organic UHT is great, better than most other non organic milks fresh or UHT.

Organic teabags from Tesco and Sainsbury's are not as good as Co-op 99 teabags, PG Tips or Sainsbury's Red Label.

Seeds of Change pasta/curry sauces are awesome. Suma tinned carrot and coriander soup is dire, Heinz organic cream of tomato soup tastes about the same.

Cloud Nine organic meatballs from Sainsbury's are really good. Tesco organic diced beef is really dire very tough and Sainsbury's not any better. Mince is mince be it organic or not and Waitrose British veal mince is non-organic but reared on non GMO feed and knocks spots off all beef mince, IMO. Sainsbury's does some very good very tender organic steak and some which isn't it's a bit hit and miss.

Laverstoke Park does great Black Pudding and buffalo burgers. Brescia organic Mozzarella is better than Laverstoke Park's. The lamb scrag in a stew is fantastic. Not sure about the sausages, some OK ones but nothing outstanding yet, not as good as wild boar sausages or Hoad's Korkers.

Duchy Originals from Waitrose organic unsmoked back bacon is fantastic and better than Sainsbury's (which costs the same). Both have nitrates to keep the bacon pink. Laverstoke Park organic unsmoked back bacon tastes great but looks grey. A cheaper alternative to organic back bacon is Helen Browning organic streaky which is very tasty. Organic bacon does taste way better.

Haven't found an organic ham without preservatives yet ! So we buy prosciutto which should be just pork legs and salt. There are usually offers around eg Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer but if not ASDA and Lidl are cheaper. Some can be frozen, see
packaging.

There are no baked beans but Heinz organic bajed beans though there are loads of organic baked beans out there.

Best answers:

  • Lamb chops.. Duchy Originals from Waitrose win this hands down no contest but Sainsbury's do give them a run for their money.
    Chicken - Abel & Cole do fantastic organic chicken wings and drumsticks, Waitrose organic chicken thighs and drumsticks not bad ditto Sainsbury's but Daylesford are fantastic. All organic chicken tastes far better than non organic but you don't get as much meat.
    Organic wholewheat pasta is a tad chewy according to OH but Sainsbury's and Tesco do organic white pasta as does Biona but none is as good as De Cecco. He likes Blue Dragon organic noodles but thinks they taste about the same as non-organic.
    Husband likes Geo Organic tinned organic Bombay potatoes, Biona tinned Thai vegetable curry and Heinz organic cream of tomato soup.
    His favourite sliced organic wholemeal bread is a farmhouse batch from Waitrose. He also lurves the fresh from the oven organic baguettes from Waitrose (99p) and fresh-baked organic baguettes from Tesco (80p)
    Butter wise organic is not necessarily better. Waitrose organic is salted. Sainsbury's and Tesco aren't. They are OK and can be cheaper than non-organic brands. OH still prefers President unsalted French butter which is non-organic. He says Rachel's organic butter is dire. OH is liking organic Lurpak spreadable butter (Ocado).
    Yogurt wise, we think Total (non-organic) is the best Greek and for plain natural organic live yogurt Yeo Valley is superb. Sainsbury's organic yoghurt comes second.
    Yeo Valley organic soured cream is soo good I can eat it out of the pot, ditto Abel & Cole organic tzatziki, very very good. None of the houmous is as good as home-made and I've tried Abel & Cole, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Tesco.
    Dr Karg's organic crackers have a tendency to disintegrate. Honeyrose organic cookies (big ones 99p each from Ocado) are good reports OH. Husband and mother are big fans of Respect organic carrot cake (Sainsbury's). Husband also likes Walker's organic shortbread fingers and as many of the Duchy Originals from Waitrose biscuits as he can get his hands on. McVitie's digestives taste better than Sainsbury's organic digestives. He loves the Heinz organic biscotti ( like Rich Tea but fingers) and the cheapest place to buy them atm is Lidl.
    Chocolate Cheerios are organic in N America but not UK, you may find them on Amazon UK.
    ASDA sells the cheapest organic extra virgin olive oil (2.48 for 500ml), Sainsbury's unfiltered is better and 2p dearer for 500ml. Cheapest at the moment is Tesco organic extra virgin on offer at Ј2 for 500ml.
    If you like Kraft Dinner macaroni cheese or Kraft Cheesy Pasta, the organic version is on sale in N America now and available at Amazon UK.
    Lidl sells cheap organic carrots and sometimes mushrooms. The organic Heirloom tomatoes at Lidl are great in salads or al dente in home made pasta sauces. They sometimes have organic pasta and Seeds of Change sauces.
    Kallo organic stock cubes are better than any others, but pricey. Not as expensive as Heinz Cook at Home organic stock cubes which IMO aren't worth it.
    Abel & Cole organic mayonnaise is superb as is Sainsbury's organic mayonnaise, both are better than the Tesco one.
    Eggs.. this is tricky.. taste wise to me the Duchy Originals from Waitrose Organic Free Range Columbian Blacktail eggs are best, but they spread out too much in the pan, have too much white and don't sit up much. They are also rubbish to peel for hardboiled eggs. The Sainsbury's Woodland Free Range Organic eggs and the Tesco organic eggs taste worse than Happy Eggs. So though they are horribly expensive, Daylesford organic free range eggs are doing it for me right now.
    I bought my mother Waitrose organic raisins and sultanas and Holland and Barrett organic mixed vine fruits and she says they were the best she's used - no clumping, no mineral oil smell, tasted great. I'm hoping for a fantastic Christmas pudding
    That's all I can think ot right now..
  • Tip for those who moan that out-of-stock happens more on Organic food. Main reason is that less Organic food is grown against non-organic that goes to supermarkets. Joint main reason is that supermarkets need to sell all of their fresh stuff, its no good having two extra crates out the back if you can't sell the one on the shelf. Otherwise the price have to go up a lot to make the different.
  • I was in a huge Tesco yesterday. It had a big poster up saying more organic food from a to zucchini but underneath when you looked the only organic produce pn the racks was broccoli and mushrooms - this in a 24/7 store.
    Tesco Extra Virgin organic olive oil 500ml on offer at Ј2 seen yesterday
  • Great thread
    I will only buy organic dairy. I usually use Tesco, Asda are dire for organic things.
    I buy organic meat for my OH, although sometimes have to settle for just free range breasts and organic breasts can be extortionate.
    I do however, really struggle to get organic fruit and veg in budget and have to get no-organic a lot now, which is a shame.
    I'm quite limited with the shops near me, have only ever been to waitrose once in my life when visiting family!
    ps - kallo organic stock cubes were on offer in Tesco this week. Worked out very reasonable.
  • Things that I have found reasonably organic priced are:
    organic milk, its a no brainer really, its only around 5p more expensive per pint
    organic yoghurts, the Rachels organic and Yeo Valley ones are often on offer for 2 for Ј2 (big pots) which is a very good deal
    Whole Earth organic peanut butter, often on offer and the best peanut butter there is (no added sugar too )
    some organic cereals, nuts and seeds are reasonablly priced on Amazon
    Thats all I pay for. I find other organic stuff - mainly meat is ridiculously expensive. And I just make sure I wash non organic fruit and veg thoroughly to get rid of the pesticides. And surely cooking meat must destroy some of the pesticides or whatever found in non organic meat.
  • Thanks Beckyy, it just came to me that I've been eating organic for eight months now and that we've tried a lot of stuff and it might help other people if I shared.
    berbastrike - on the peanut butter, we buy Suma peanut butter which I found in my mother's local Budgens surprisingly. It doesn't have added sugar or salt and it isn't bulked out with palm oil or vegetable oil either. It's made by a co-operative, too.
    Primarily, what you are doing, by eating organic is eliminating your exposure to chemical pesticides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers as well as genetically modified organisms and meat/poultry/products fed on GM feed. Organic isn't less fattening, it's not necessarily more nutritious and it doesn't necessarily taste better although a lot of it does.
    It's quite difficult to find non-organic food which is additive free, it means reading all the labels, whereas if you pick organic off the shelves you know it won't have monosodium glutamate and hydrogenated vegetable oil in it or tartrazine, to name but three.
    Green & Black's organic chocolate ice cream.. soo good, husband is seriously addicted to this. Normally 4.19 for 500ml, was recently on offer for Ј3 at Ocado and Budgens, now 2 for Ј5 to 15/10 at Tesco, reduced to 2.79 at Waitrose to 06/11 and on offer for Ј3 at Sainsbury's to 06/11.
  • Organic milk is currently on offer in M&S .. 2 of the big 4 pinters for Ј3 which I think is very reasonable. Their organic product range seems to be increasing all the time and I'm a huge fan of their organic beef and lamb.
    Peanut butter - I love Whole Earth organic... the crunchy one is fab plus it's not added sugar which is a bonus.
  • Don't have a Marks & Spencer where we live so I use the one near my mother's house in next county. Did find organic green tea with jasmine but that's about it, will have to keep my eyes peeled next visit.
    Helen Browning organic streaky bacon - all I can say is eww. If you want to try seriously good organic bacon then buy either the Duchy Originals from Waitrose organic back bacon or the Sainsbury's SO organic back bacon (same price). The Tesco organic back bacon is nowhere near as good.
    OH made a stew last night took several hours but was fantastic. Abel & Cole sells 1kg packs of Laverstoke Park organic beef bones for stock for 1.99 and 1kg organic lamb bones 1.99.
    The good thing about them is that after OH had got the basic stock done for the stew he was able to remove the bones, let them cool down and then give them to the dog which kept him happily crunching all evening. Worth it just to buy for the dog as bones dearer than 1.99 round here !
  • Ooh didn't realise there was an organic thread on here
    Subscribed for updates.
    Can't remember how long I've been eating organic but it was before I went veggie 12 years and back in the days I had to buy books to see where to find it and find out what was available! When was the big GM scandal in the media, anyone remember??
    I do mix and match with other non organic food depending on what is available but I do study every single label when shopping!
    New products I'm trying this month are Marriage's organic flour (usually use Waitrose organic for baking). Marriage's is UK and on offer in Ocado at the moment. Also got Daylesford org eggs to try (usually buy eggs locally or if in a shop would get Duchy) and Green's smoked cheddar (cheese is also on offer in Ocado).
    Can really recommend Green & Black's chocolate especially the crispy milk! Also got Maya Gold and Cooking Choc for baking. I like the Yeo Valley organic butter, usually a bit cheaper than Rachel's but disappointed that hardly anywhere stocks the unsalted version though I can get it on Ocado. I love M&S but find them lacking in organic food. Rock's organic squashes are lovely, currently on offer in Ocado again. For a treat I love Whole Earth Cola but hard to get unless via a health shop type place, shame as used to be able to buy it in Waitrose. Love Biona products, wasn't mega keen on Seeds of Change pasta sauce as found them a bit salty? I like La Bio Idea (I think it's called) who do an organic vegan red pesto but I didn't realise it was vegan when I tried it!
  • I buy all my organic fruit and veg from tesco's - got loads of organic beetroot when it was reduced to a pound I was going to try the seeds of change sauces but might not bother now.
  • Allo Kirri My first subscriber gosh I'm all overcome. Haven't had much Biona stuff myself yet, OH takes tins to work eg Thai vegetable curry and seems to like them but not the baked beans.
    Mackie's of Scotland organic luxury dairy ice cream.. well it does taste of cream but less creamy than the non-organic Kelly's of Cornwall clotted cream ice cream - which is awesome. If you like Mackie's and will eat non organic that's on offer at Lidl from Thursday 100% extra free. Ice cream eating husband was disappointed with the Mackie's organic so that's not the vanilla we'll be having with the Christmas pud !
    tigercubx your Tesco must be a good one for organic veg both the ones I've attempted to use for veg are 24/7 Tesco Extras and have barely anything.
  • Hasn't Kelly's got something in it unnatural wise? Seem to remember picking it up and putting it back?? Have tried it before though. Had Mackie's this summer (competition win!) was nice but I've gone over to Swedish Glace mostly which is a soya ice cream and tastes more creamy than dairy weirdly! Vegan leanings and organic don't always go together, it's sometimes one or the other I choose from. I prefer Green & Black's for dairy ice cream.
    Tigercubx, might still be worth trying the SOC, it might just be me, I don't tend to like many pasta sauces in jars due to the slightly un fresh taste? I used to like Tideford sauces, fresh in Waitrose but more so when I ate meat. Will try the Biona Tuscan sauce though next time I try a jar sauce.
    Found another site when looking up something earlier, Farm Direct I think it was called, looks quite good but only seems to deliver around North London
  • Yup I think Kelly's does have nasties so we don't buy it now but it tastes better than the Mackies organic, think I'm going to try the Green & Black's vanilla next.
    I haven't found the Seeds of Change sauces salty tigercubx but they all do taste a bit too sweet to me. As I have diabetes though I avoid anything sweet so my tastebuds are maybe more sugar sensitive. Using the Seeds of Change organic Mediterranean vegetable sauce is cheaper than making my own. I haven't tried the Biona jar sauces yet.
    Foodari Direct delivers all over London but AFAIK none of it is organic, ditto Natoora which used to have wholly French/European produce and went into partnership with a UK company. Natoora stuff is available from Ocado but again I don't think it's organic.
    We do buy non-organic stuff if it doesn't have additives, colourings etc. That doesn't increase the food pool by much though as even goat's milk yogurt seems to contain modified maize starch these days
  • ^ Guess it can be cheaper to buy the pasta sauce, in previous years I've had enough home grown tomatoes to make my own but this year was awful and would be expensive to buy the same amount to make it.
    Small suppliers are often the next best thing for fairly natural food - I shop a lot at farmer's markets, health shops and farm shops etc as well and whilst not always organic it's a lot more natural food - tend to find the large, commercial supermarket suppliers are the ones to add nasties to prolong or cheapen the food..
  • My local farmers' market was paved over to make way for a piece of artwork !
    Fresh food never lasts as long as supermarket food, I guess it's the overchilling. Buy carrots in Tesco on a hot day and the bag has condensation before you get to the car and next day they're all black n mouldy
  • Hope you can a replacement market, that is shocking! There are more springing up all over the place near me.
    I gave up buying bagged carrots, couldn't use them before going mouldy - god knows how the supermarkets store them, they always seem so wet in the shops. I do have my own growing but they are rather large and multi pronged this year!! I prefer if buying the Waitrose organic with tops as at least know they are fresh. Morrisons ones are dire.
    Re sauces, anyone wanting Indian/Thai type sauces, Geo Organics are very nice and reasonably priced. Not sure how easy they are to get on the high street, I get mine in an independent health shop.
    Disappointed the Simply Delicious mayo's seem to have increased in size, they are now far too big for me to use up and much more expensive because of the size increase Loved their garlic one but now need to find an alternative smaller one. Haven't been overly impressed with any others I've had from the main supermarkets.
  • Now I'm the opposite on the organic mayo Kirri, I want bigger jars but I'm a bit of a mayo addict My favourites are Abel & Cole and Sainsbury's so far. The Sainsbos one is perfect with organic globe artichokes mmm.
    I bought some Old Bay Seasoning from American Sweets and I've been too nervous to look at the ingredients in case it has nasties, it being American !
    It's great in a marinade of organic olive oil, organic lemon juice, ground black pepper, and strips of organic red bell pepper. I use the marinade on organic chicken wings - the best I've tried so far have been Abel & Cole and Daylesford.
    Moy Park organic breaded chicken fingers from Abel & Cole.. kinda bland, presume they are aiming for kids. Could be a good dip item though.
  • Apples used to be ,like the most chemically sprayed fruit a few decades back;I know they still are regarded this way in the USA ,but cant find much info on european produce ;anyone have any info or link ?
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