Do you eat organic food?

[Aubrey]

Just seeing where the #s are on this. Seems popular here.

[Tap]

I say 'as much as I can afford' but, it is more than that. There are certain foods I prioritize, and certain foods that I don't. I don't buy organic or non-organic produce items, if they are from out of the country except for a few foods that are not possible to buy locally.

 

I would rather buy a local, vine ripened, non-organic zucchini that and organic one shipped in from Chile.

 

I do watch where food originates and priories that more than organic. I also watch the ingredients. Organic food isn't necessarily healthier, so the fact that something is 'organic' in labeling, really isn't enough for me.

[Frankie]

It's just far too expensive for my budget.

 

I just cannot see paying $8 for a gallon of milk.

 

I do try to pick up some organic vegetables, but I have yet to see organic meat in my grocery stores.

 

If prices were more competitive, I would buy more.

[Melissa in Australia]

we grow nearly all our own food, so it is organic. though the heat wave at the moment has all but burnt the garden to a crisp.

[LaxMom]

I said no matter what, but that's not exactly accurate - there are some things that just aren't readily available organic. As Tap pointed out, I will buy local produce that may not be organic over organic that has been flown around the world, and some things don't make the cut for hunting down organic, like chocolate chips. They're just not a high-frequency food.

 

Also, our meat, dairy and eggs are local and not certified, but they are raised organically and humanely.

 

I would disagree with organic not being healthier, though. In addition to the agri-additives you're not being exposed to, plants grown in natural conditions produce more of their active constituents than those grown in artificial conditions. Beef that is entirely pastured is lower in fat than it's feed lot counterpart - I believe the statistics for a T-bone steak, as stated in "King Corn" were 9 gm saturated fat in a feed lot steak, versus 1.3 in a grass finished.

 

I also think that the rising incidence of widespread food-borne illness has a lot to do with monoculture farming. You don't have to be a microbiologist to figure out that if you kill everything in a field, then douse it with fertilizer, you have essentially created a large petri dish, in which any rogue bacteria can slip and thrive, and eventually be integrated into the very structure of the plants. (Think the spinach outbreak of E. Coli a few years ago.) Soil naturally rich in organisms doesn't have this problem, or at least, not nearly as often.

Edited February 7, 2009 by MyCrazyHouse

[Haiku]

We eat almost exclusively organic food. We are not wealthy, but I cook from scratch and buy in bulk and we make sacrifices in other areas to buy organic. I wholeheartedly believe in the health benefits, not only to my family but to the earth and to the agricultural workers.

 

I have never jumped on the local food train. Being grown locally doesn't impress me if it's still pesticide laden. I will buy the organic Chilean produce over the chemically laced local one every time. My hope is that local (and broadly American) producers will realize that people are more interested in organic than in local and will start producing more local organics, which I will then happily purchase.

 

Tara

[Quiver0f10]

I do the best I can, but it's not near what I'd like to be feeding my family. We just can't afford more right now.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Quiver0f10

[kewb]

I chose as much as I could afford but it more than that,but not all. I prioritize.

 

I am a bit of a locovore when it makes sense and I try to stick to seasonal produce.

[Plaid Dad]

We emphasize locally grown food in our diet. Most of the local producers use organic methods whether or not they can afford certification, but given the choice between a trucked-in organic apple and a locally grown low-spray one, we'll choose local every time.

[Erica in PA]

No, it's too expensive, and frankly, I'm not convinced of the health benefits. If I were very wealthy I might buy organic, but as it stands, I don't fret at night that we don't have the money to do so now.

[sheryl]

Yes, as much as possible. And, trying to stay away from those packaged "things". :D

[littlebug42]

I do as much as I can. I try to concentrate on the meat which I get from a local farmer along with chickens and eggs from my brother. My children also drink raw milk from the same local farmer although it is too expensive for me to drink as well. Soft bodied fruits as well are on the organic list but I will not purchase non-organic fruits/veggies from outside the US. I do have to say that I buy more organic foods for my children than I do for myself and that is how I manage to get it in the budget right now. As our financial situation improves over the next few years, I plan to increase the amount that I buy, specifically from the local organic farmers.

[Firefly]

I chose option #1-- but I am sometimes limited by availability here. More and more organic choices are becoming a mainstay, but some things are still hard to find. And when I can (which is often!) I grow my own organic fruit & veggies.

[Tap]

I would disagree with organic not being healthier, though. .

 

Just to clarify, I don't agree that everything organic is better than non-organic just because of labeling. I do agree that most produce is better if organic. Even you agree about local vine ripe vs shipped from around the world organic.

 

What I am thinking of here is a box of quick serve oatmeal that is labeled 'organic'. Just because it is 'organic' doesn't mean that the other ingredients are quality nor that they are healthy. A box of traditional oats, organic or not, cooked and sweetened naturally will be more nutritious in my book.

 

If you go down the frozen food and canned/boxed aisles in the store, you will find all kinds of chemical laden, preservative laced...'organic' food.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Tap, tap, tap

[Mommyof4ks]

I say 'as much as I can afford' but, it is more than that. There are certain foods I prioritize, and certain foods that I don't. I don't buy organic or non-organic produce items, if they are from out of the country except for a few foods that are not possible to buy locally.

 

I would rather buy a local, vine ripened, non-organic zucchini that and organic one shipped in from Chile.

 

I do watch where food originates and priories that more than organic. I also watch the ingredients. Organic food isn't necessarily healthier, so the fact that something is 'organic' in labeling, really isn't enough for me.

 

This is my general philosophy on the subject also. I had to laugh at an organic juice at a local market, because it contained 6% fruit juice and the second ingredient was sugar (1st was water), organic sugar is still sugar. There are many non-organic foods that are just as healthy or more so than organic in the processed food arena (cereals, applesauce, juice, so on) at least in my experience. We always buy organic meat and milk.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Every food that enters our home is organic. We try to stay away from all overly processed foods organic or not. We have a high cancer rate in my family and my father has been struggling with Parkinson's for 11 years now. So, I will buy organic over local any day. I don't care how far it comes. I do not want the farming chemicals in my or my family's diet. I try to stay away from green house grown foods unless I have spoken with the farmer to make sure that they are adding minerals back into their soil.

 

When we eat out, we pick places that make their food fresh from locally grown farms and or organic foods.

 

We do do pizza once in a while. Although, I am getting very good at making our own.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Every food that enters our home is organic. We try to stay away from all overly processed foods organic or not. We have a high cancer rate in my family and my father has been struggling with Parkinson's for 11 years now. So, I will buy organic over local any day. I don't care how far it comes. I do not want the farming chemicals in my or my family's diet. I try to stay away from green house grown foods unless I have spoken with the farmer to make sure that they are adding minerals back into their soil.

 

When we eat out, we pick places that make their food fresh from locally grown farms and or organic foods.

 

We do do pizza once in a while. Although, I am getting very good at making our own.

 

Oh, I forgot a little something. If I can't afford to pay for organic, we just remove it from our diet or try to make it on our own. Like those lovely boxes of over prices organic crackers.:tongue_smilie:

[LaxMom]

Just to clarify, I don't agree that everything organic is better than non-organic just because of labeling. I do agree that most produce is better if organic. Even you agree about local vine ripe vs shipped from around the world organic.

 

What I am thinking of here is a box of quick serve oatmeal that is labeled 'orgainic'. Just because it is 'orgainic' doesn't mean that the other ingredients are quality nor that they are healthy. A box of traditional oats, organic or not, cooked and sweetened naturally will be more nutritious in my book.

 

If you go down the frozen food and canned/boxed aisles in the store, you will find all kinds of chemical laden, preservative laced...'organic' food.

 

Oh, yeah, you're right. I don't tend to think in terms of packaged items. I generally only buy what my kids refer to as "ingredients". (As in, "there's no FOOD, only INGREDIENTS!") Sorry. I was really thinking along the lines of, well, ingredients, I guess.

 

Are there that many organic processed options out there now? I rarely grocery shop in a proper store, so I have no idea what's popping up. (Oh, except my personal favorite, the organic "pop-tart". :ack2:) On the other hand, if you're eating that dreck, at least the organic version doesn't also contain suspicious chemicals.

 

And, yes, I absolutely agree that local vine-ripe (even low-spray) is better than around-the-world organic. (Though my CSA farmer and I go round and round about this.)

Edited February 7, 2009 by MyCrazyHouse

[lionfamily1999]

I didn't pick any of them. Some of what we eat is organic and some isn't. It's not a matter of money, it's more that I don't really care enough about it to completely change our diets. We live in a rural area, so most of our veggies and fruits are locally grown. They do not bear the 'organic' label, but I know the fields they come from. The same goes for our meat. I know the farmer, my kids wave to the cows and once in a blue moon we get an invite to go visit the pigs and chickens. Again, no 'organic' label, but they're all free range, healthy, non-hormone eating animals.

 

Where's the other when you need it?

[Mom2GirlsTX]

I try and buy local if at all possible. I think their are small, local farmers whose produce/products are far healthier than a huge corporation that has labelled its product as "organic". 23 years ago my husband and I joined the organic gardening lifestyle, and organic seemed to mean alot more then than it does now that huge corporations label what they want organic. I think if you can buy local grown, even non organic, is better for you than the majority of items being shipped from certain countries overseas.

[Stacy in NJ]

No, I'm not convinced that there's all that much benefit to choosing organic over good quality standard produce. We do buy much of our fruits and veggies from local growers during growing season. Here in Jersey, I can get wonderful stuff at our farmers market.

[happyWImom]

we grow nearly all our own food, so it is organic. though the heat wave at the moment has all but burnt the garden to a crisp.

 

Melissa:

 

You are sooo lucky to be able to grow most of your own food!

 

I keep wishing we lived somewhere that we could at least grow stuff in the fall! If we had the money, I would love to have a greenhouse.

 

Certain things, I make sure we get organic-milk, strawberries, apples-a lot of thin skinned fruit. And we try and buy all-natural when we can, not always "organic".

[Daisy]

Organic doesn't have to break the bank.

 

We participate in an locally organic grown farmer's co-op. I get all my weekly produce (veggies & fruit) for $30. I'd spend more than that on veggies/fruit at the convential grocery store. I can also get organic grains, nuts, and juice from my co-op.

 

We buy organic dairy products but we only buy 3 gallons of milk a month. Water won't kill you.

 

The only thing I have a hard time paying organic for is meat. It's just sooo incredibly expensive. If I can't get organic, I buy free range, no antibiotics, etc. whatever I can afford.

 

Oh, and we have our own garden also.

 

I like being able to pick up a container and read a list of 7 ingredients. If it starts throwing all these weird names at me, I'm not buying it!

[Gretchen in NJ]

We only buy grass fed beef, pastured pork, free range chicken, and wild caught seafood.

[Jill- OK]

I say 'as much as I can afford' but, it is more than that. There are certain foods I prioritize, and certain foods that I don't. I don't buy organic or non-organic produce items, if they are from out of the country except for a few foods that are not possible to buy locally.

 

Same here. Some things I believe are important to buy organic...some, not so much.

 

I also prefer local, when possible, and try not to buy foreign produce, even if it's organic.

[elizabeth]

Kidding but um not really. I eat reprehensible amounts of sweets because I like them and I take Elavil for chronic pain and it seems to make me desire nothing but sugar. It is not a pretty picture but I feel fine. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables with only Kosher meat due to Dh preferences but do not eat organic. However, when our neighbors put up their summer veggie stands with sweet corn, okra and tomatoes we are certainly pleased to eat their goods with much appreciation .

[Rosie_0801]

I usually buy organic when it's available and we can afford it. I don't think only about the health benefits to us, but also to the growers. I wrote an essay on this at uni and confess to being rather shocked to find out that 20% of male workers on Caribbean banana plantations are sterile due to the prolonged exposure to chemicals. In those places, one's children are one's superannuation. So who's going to be looking after those guys in their old age? That's not something I want to contribute to more than I have to. Organics is a global issue, it's not just about our own personal health. Anyway, we can't make 100% ethical choices about everything, so we have to prioritise.

 

Rosie

[Tammyla]

I try very hard to purchase local crops, dairy, eggs and so on. They are a lot cheaper than the grocery store and very often organic.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I'm the same as several others. I voted "no matter what" but actually I place a strong emphasis on organic but I will buy conventional if I must. I, too, prefer local but happily that's mostly organic. Sadly, it's only in season and I still want (need?) produce all year around.

[Carpe Diem]

What made my skeptical husband agree was the taste difference in the fruit and veggies. We tried a banana and at first I didn't like it because it tasted TOO much like a banana. Of course, now we like our bananas to taste like bananas. We couldn't believe that a potato tasted better, too. If there was a difference in taste we figured the claims that it has more nutrition must be true.

 

We won't buy fruits and veggies from a conventional store. The few times we have we always kick ourselves later because the taste is inferior.

 

We buy our veggies, eggs and meat from a CSA. I love it. The meat even tastes so much better.

 

When I have to cook for a houseful of guests who could care less about organics I might select some food items from the conventional store. Generally, we have bulk amounts of organic foods. Things like organic ketchup I buy by the case and they aren't much more than say Heinz but do taste better.

 

I struggle with dairy. It is hard to put down the cash for organic milk. When it is on sale I buy it. I buy RGbh free milk from a local supplier. I know it probably has other bad stuff in it. When organic butter is on sale I buy several and freeze them.

[Laurel]

Anything I cannot get locally, I buy organic. (Olive oil, some spices, milk, chocolate, and a few other things.) I buy as much as I can local. Beef is certified organic, and other meats are naturally raised. Produce and dairy and eggs are not certified, but are organic methods. I trust my local farmers, who are happy to have me come visit their farms, much more than a simple "organic" label.

 

I'm the same as several others. I voted "no matter what" but actually I place a strong emphasis on organic but I will buy conventional if I must. I, too, prefer local but happily that's mostly organic. Sadly, it's only in season and I still want (need?) produce all year around.

 

We are lucky in that we can find some local fresh produce this winter. A farmer friend has some carrots that were left in the ground, and there is a greenhouse with tomatoes, and the occasional pepper or cucumber, and we've gotten lettuce or baby spinach on and off. We have sweet potatoes and various squashes in the root cellar. And my freezer is full of frozen fruits and some veggies, while my pantry has jars of jams and tomato sauce and pickled peppers and beans. We barely have to do any shopping in the winter.

[Moni]

Yes.

 

...hmm...no matter what?....

 

That's a lot of "what's" to consider..

[sroweks]

We have been in the process of changing over to an organic (nonGMO) diet and adding sprouts as well. We can't afford to buy everything outright, so we are finding ways to make it work (e.g., buying in bulk, from scratch, etc.)

 

Lots of GMO information on the web, including videos on YouTube. I found a free Non-GMO shopping guide (a PDF download) at http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm if anyone is interested.

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm somewhere in between "as much as I can afford" and "no, but I'd like to." We do buy some organic foods, and some things that we buy for other reasons (like the vegan thing) just happen to be organic. We "could" afford to do more, but I just can't bring myself to pay some of those prices. I buy organic fruits and veggies when it's easy and not too much more expensive than "conventional."

[Jean in Wisc]

We grow our own and raise our own as much as we can. The food we feed our animals is not grown organically, and the crops on our farm are not organic. My garden is mostly organic. I figure if I know what we are eating because we raised it ourselves, I'm not going to pay anyone for organic stuff--although much of the bulk foods I buy (wheat berries,for example) ends up being organic because of where I buy it.

 

I figure we are doing fine.

Jean

[Janna]

I said "as much as I can afford", which isn't much these days. However, I will say that my perspective of organic labeling is changing. It's discouraging to see products labeled "organic" on the list of recalled items from Peanut Corporation of America. It seems to me that the labeling was falsified if it's the same peanuts as a conventional brand that was tainted.:glare: So, *shrug*, I dunno anymore.

[Guest Katia]

No, it's too expensive, and frankly, I'm not convinced of the health benefits. If I were very wealthy I might buy organic, but as it stands, I don't fret at night that we don't have the money to do so now.

 

Yep. My sentiments exactly.

 

That's not to say that we don't eat locally grown food, because we do. We can't grow food here where we live, but many friends give us stuff and we buy at the Farmer's Market, local honey and often buy local grain-fed beef.

 

But I don't stress over not purchasing organic. It's way, waayyy too expensive.

[Peek a Boo]

I didn't pick any of them. Some of what we eat is organic and some isn't. It's not a matter of money, it's more that I don't really care enough about it to completely change our diets.

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Where's the other when you need it?

 

 

this is us too :)