Where To Buy Organic Food-Part One

Where do I buy organic food? This was something I asked myself over and over and it’s not as easy as you would like to think! Sure most, if not all, supermarkets do their range of organic food but I had to ask myself “is it really organic?”

The answer that I came upon was yes and no. Supermarket brand organic food is organic insofar as they have gone to every length that they can to assure the product lives up to the title and meets certifiers strict rules and regulations however, side line factors are out of their control. To break it down is like this (let’s use a cow as an example):- cow is reared in an organic and free range environment, eats organic grass every day and is happy. But then winter comes. Uh-oh! How do they feed Ms Cow in very bad weather conditions? Well, it gets given feed as a supplement. Here kicks the ‘side line factor’. Is that feed/ meal organic? It isn’t always. And so Supermarkets say for the most part their organic label is what it says it is but now and again it might be a little less so as they cannot guarantee the contents of the feed/ meal.

So where do you buy organic food? Here is a list of places I found, what they sell along with who I’ve tried:-

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Supermarkets
ASDA	A bit of a range here including milk, meat and cupboard supplies.	I have to admit I have only bought their milk as from having shopped here in my non-organic days I was put off with the quality of their food. Thus, I am not tempted to shop here more than what I need.
Sainsbury	Quite a good range of organic products. Can get milk, eggs, cheese, meat, tobacco, frozen food and cupboard supplies.	I shop here the most now. I like the range of organic food they have and have a good number of deals too.
Tesco	Fairly good range of fresh produce and cupboard supplies.	I mostly shop here if I have to rather than need. I don’t like how they seem to have the mentality of “organic means money” so finding deals are few and far between.
Co-Op	Bigger stores tend to have a good range of ‘outside branded’ organic produce. Co-Op themselves don’t have their own brand of organic produce to date (2011).	Convenience is what takes me in. We all need that emergency bag of sugar etc. What I do like about Co-Op is that though they are not organic (dare I say yet) they do have a reduced pesticides policy and where they can get away with using a natural alternative to crop spraying (for example, burning tobacco leaves), they will. Also a member of Freedom Foods.
Marks and Spencer	Not just good for posh food! They have a selection of fresh and cupboard organics.	Not as many organic products as I'd have hoped. And this is having looked around a big store. Very pricey. For example: Organic Semi-Skimmed Milk is 4 Pints(2.27L) is Buy 2 for £4.50. Where as is in Sainsbury or ASDA its 2 for £3
Waitrose	Biggest selection of organic, free-from and reduced chemical products.	I have to admit in all honestly I’ve not shopped here yet specifically for organic food so could not really speak on the quality or prices.