Full of common sense as usual, Mallika. I pretty much do what you do. And often buy based on special offers etc. I get quite a lot of organic vegetables from Lidl as they are cheaper than Waitrose. The other thing I do is ask a lot of questions, particularly to the stall holders at the farmers market. The organic stall is getting prohibitively expensive for me - I use it for products I can't buy elsewhere. But there are other stalls which aren't certified organic but tell me that they do stick to organic principles. So, for example I know a particular fruit/veg farm uses no herbicides or oil based fertilisers, just pheromone traps on the cherry trees. That the chickens from the chicken and egg stall are reared in a silvopastoral system (the ideal, I think) and aren't fed soy. I'm sure the Soil Association would prefer they certified, but they talk a lot about red tape/cost and just don't think it is worth it. It is going back to trust, I think.
That's a great point Catherine about trust, and I would agree with you. When I sold spices we sold organic as standard without certification or marketing it as such. Costs were an issue but also we were worried about appearing prohibitively expensive. Lidl is a lot cheaper for organic but then I worry about what that means for farmers. It's not easy, is it?
Very nice article on going with ORGANIC! Yes I too look out good deals on ORGANIC veggies or other stuff. Like your recipes on pies. Going to pick your book very soon "MASALA". All the best.
Full of common sense as usual, Mallika. I pretty much do what you do. And often buy based on special offers etc. I get quite a lot of organic vegetables from Lidl as they are cheaper than Waitrose. The other thing I do is ask a lot of questions, particularly to the stall holders at the farmers market. The organic stall is getting prohibitively expensive for me - I use it for products I can't buy elsewhere. But there are other stalls which aren't certified organic but tell me that they do stick to organic principles. So, for example I know a particular fruit/veg farm uses no herbicides or oil based fertilisers, just pheromone traps on the cherry trees. That the chickens from the chicken and egg stall are reared in a silvopastoral system (the ideal, I think) and aren't fed soy. I'm sure the Soil Association would prefer they certified, but they talk a lot about red tape/cost and just don't think it is worth it. It is going back to trust, I think.
That's a great point Catherine about trust, and I would agree with you. When I sold spices we sold organic as standard without certification or marketing it as such. Costs were an issue but also we were worried about appearing prohibitively expensive. Lidl is a lot cheaper for organic but then I worry about what that means for farmers. It's not easy, is it?
Very nice article on going with ORGANIC! Yes I too look out good deals on ORGANIC veggies or other stuff. Like your recipes on pies. Going to pick your book very soon "MASALA". All the best.
Great to hear, thanks for the lovely feedback