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Eating more sustainably - pros and cons of Trader Joes vs. Whole Foods vs. Mom's Organic?
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Anonymous
| Anyone have an opinion? I'm looking forward to the Farmer's Markets, but I wanted good options for convenience meals, meat/fish, and dry goods... |
Anonymous
| Things to weigh off: packaging and sourcing. Trader Joe's tends to have horrid packaging but a lot of their stuff is cheaper, hence the lure. I've never shopped at Mom's Organic but I hear they have better bulk than Whole Foods and the store itself is super crunchy. The employees compost everything and the owner will send people out to DC public schools to talk to kids about sustainability. At any of the three, though, you have to pay attn to what it is you are buying. Dry goods I suspect will be similarly sourced/packaged at all 3 (unless bulk) so you might as well go w/cheapest (which I'd guess is Trader Joe's). Obviously buying an organic cuke triple wrapped in styrofoam and plastic wrap is the wrong choice (sigh, TJ's veggie abuse). |
Anonymous
| A couple more things: check *which* fish you are buying (read Bottomfeeder, look at Monterey Bay Aquarium fish guides). Meat you could source from a local farm (Polyface has drops in the local burbs) for cheaper than at the farmer's market, but either would be better than supermarket meat (even from those 3, although WF now claims to have true grass fed meat that's kinda local). |
Anonymous
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Why not buy your meat locally? I buy everything in bulk from a local farmer once a year for chicken and every 18 mos for beef.
I don't really think fish such as salmon, shrimp, tuna, ect. is really sustainable, so I would really just give up on actually thinking shopping at any of these stores, vs Costco for this makes a dent in sustainability. Sustainable would be trout, perch, and bass which can be found around here. |
Anonymous
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Of your three choices - WF, TJ & Mom's, I would think Mom's would be the best bet, in part b/c it's locally-owned and also b/c they have a ton of stuff in bulk. Not sure what their practices are re sustainability, other that what the PP said.
If you are otherwise considering sourcing your food locally/supporting local farms, there's a great dairy farm near Frederick, MD that delivers to DC and MD suburbs (not sure about VA). South Mountain Creamery. Locally-produced dairy, meat and eggs and the delivery charge is just $3.50 for your entire order. Prices are otherwise comparable to WF. You might also consider joining a CSA (Claggett Farm is really good) -- far more bang for your buck than going to farmers' markets. Probably too late for most CSAs for this year, though. |
Anonymous
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"The Future of Food" documentary http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food?c=News-and-Information/Documentary-and-Biography
It kinda sounds like a lot of the food supply will be frankenfoods. |
Anonymous
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I am a HUGE fan of MOMs!!
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Anonymous
| Thanks all - to the person who goes to a local farmer for meat and poultry - do you buy a whole cow? I assume you have a deep freezer? Is that the only way that purchasing from a farm makes sense? Which farm do you go to? I do get our dairy from South Mountain Creamery - but I wanted to see what people thought of the best options among the three for the other items. |
Anonymous
| Polyface buying clubs will let you buy a la carte. It is cheaper to buy in bulk but if you don't have storage space, you don't have to do it. I don't like South Mtn Creamery, fwiw. I don't like the taste of it, it's not organic, and my milk kept going bad (and my DH designated me as the 'taster' since it was my idea to get them to deliver -- eww!). Also, lots of the stuff you can order a la carte is not local or organic (like their sour cream - conventional, from PA). Just my personal rant. I wish there were a competitor for SMC that delivered. |
Anonymous
| Does South Mountain Creamery use growth hormones on their cows? Does anyone know? |
Anonymous
They're not organic, but they don't use growth hormones. Their milk doesn't keep as long as supermarket milk b/c it hasn't been ultra-pasturized (it is pasturized, though) and they don't use preservatives. Here's their FAQ: http://www.southmountaincreamery.com/pages.php?pageid=9 |
Anonymous
They do use herbicides on their fields. Herbicides are the pesticides that are most strongly associated with breast cancer in research to date. OP, Trader Joe's is known for poor sourcing of organic milk and I suspect that applies to some of their other organics as well. The overall profile of the store, in terms of sustainability, can't come close to that of MOM or Whole Foods. |
Anonymous
| OP here - does anyone know where to get organic pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized). I think that both Horizon and Organic Valley are ultra-pasteurized, and I for one, think it tastes different from regular pasteurized milk, plus it doesn't act the same way for certain uses. |
Anonymous
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11:31 here. Organic Valley does ultrapasturize but I believe the milk they sell to Whole Foods for their private label brand (365 Organic milk) is not ultrapasturized. So that's a good option if you want pasturized organic milk.
Horizon is basically a factory farm operation. It is certified organic, but it has all the other drawbacks of factory farming. |
Anonymous
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I'm thinking of moving to a small farming community and telecommuting to work.
That way I will know where my food comes from. |