Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Organic worries me. I'm all about the old fashioned way. I won't buy organic.

The old fashioned way is organic

exactly

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MOM's is so much cheaper.

I haven't found that at all.

Me either. Some items actually cost more at Moms than WF.

According to recent data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control CDC), people who eat organic and “natural” foods are eight times as likely as the rest of the population to be attacked by a deadly new strain of E. coli bacteria (0157: H7). This new E. coli is attacking tens of thousands of people per year, all over the world. It is causing permanent liver and kidney damage in many of its victims. The CDC recorded 2,471 confirmed cases of E. coli 0157: H7 in 1996 and estimated that it is causing at least 250 deaths per year in the United States alone.

Consumers of organic food are also more likely to be attacked by a relatively new, more virulent strain of the infamous salmonella bacteria. Salmonella was America’s biggest food-borne death risk until the new E. coli O157 came along.

Organic food is more dangerous than conventionally grown produce because organic farmers use animal manure as the major source of fertilizer for their food crops. Animal manure is the biggest reservoir of these nasty bacteria that are afflicting and killing so many people.

Organic farmers compound the contamination problem through their reluctance to use antimicrobial preservatives, chemical washes, pasteurization, or even chlorinated water to rid their products of dangerous bacteria. One organic grower summed up the community’s attitude as follows: “Pasteurization has only been around a hundred years or so; what do they think people did before that?”

The answer is simple. They died young.


http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/articles/Hidden%20Dangers%20In%20Organic%20Food.htm

I try to get organic on thin skinned fruits/vegetables such as berries and tomatoes, but I don't worry about most other items. Also, I buy a lot of frozen vegetables at WF, and I find the quality to be very good.

OMG, you just don't understand. ORGANIC FOODS ARE SPRAYED.

Those beautiful apples at Whole Foods? Apples that aren't sprayed don't look like that. The apples on my farm are misshapen, full of brown spots, and small. That is what a non-sprayed apple looks like. that's a truly healthy apple, folks. none of my city friends will eat them because (gasp) they have a brown spot and aren't perfect!

Our farmer friend here has a point. If you really want non-sprayed, join a CSA. Or buy at a farmer's market and talk to the farmer to find out if they spray. That imperfect, misshapen, non-sprayed produce is out there if you look for it.
And when you get home, eat it up. It doesn't have preservatives, it's not going to keep.

MOMs is much cheaper than Whole Foods, and while their stock is smaller, the variety is great, and it's always completely fresh. It also provides the most relaxing shopping experience out there (at least the Mosaic one).

Anonymous wrote:Whole Foods sucks and is a rip off. Their produce is no better than Giant...regardless of being "organic". Why people buy their shit it beyond me.

I used to think WF was great but their produce spoils quickly and is not worth it.

Because they don't use all the sprays the other stores do...

Whole Foods sucks and is a rip off. Their produce is no better than Giant...regardless of being "organic". Why people buy their shit it beyond me.

I used to think WF was great but their produce spoils quickly and is not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:The term Organic only had to be derived once we started using pesticides. Pre-pesticides everything was Organic by default. Now we need a term to tell us which plants were sprayed with god knows what, and which were not.

OMG, you just don't understand. ORGANIC FOODS ARE SPRAYED.

Those beautiful apples at Whole Foods? Apples that aren't sprayed don't look like that. The apples on my farm are misshapen, full of brown spots, and small. That is what a non-sprayed apple looks like. that's a truly healthy apple, folks. none of my city friends will eat them because (gasp) they have a brown spot and aren't perfect!

Anonymous wrote:MOM's is so much cheaper.

I haven't found that at all.

The term Organic only had to be derived once we started using pesticides. Pre-pesticides everything was Organic by default. Now we need a term to tell us which plants were sprayed with god knows what, and which were not.

Frozen organic is always cheaper. We buy organic for 99% produce (at least the dirty dozen), meat, and dairy. MOM's is actually a bit cheaper when it comes to produce and the inner aisles, but I've found WF to have the best meat/poultry selection for Organic. There's a new place called the Meat House that's very reasonably priced, but I'm not sure if it's Organic.

One thing I do which helps save $$ is to buy a whole chicken (from WF it's about $10), boil it with an onion, some celery, garlic, carrots, etc, which makes a nice stock and I now have chicken and stock for the week. Our family loves risotto, so I'll use the stock and some diced chicken, normally add some roasted butternut squash. Pasta is super easy, toss with olive oil some chicken and any roasted/steamed veggies you like.

MOM's is so much cheaper.

I'm over whole foods. Their prices are crazy. $6.99 for a bag of shredded organic cheese? nuts.
I shop mostly organic, and our grocery bills are about $170 for a week for a family of 4. We do still shop at TJ's, but also have been using Relay Foods. I'm vegetarian, and so are the kids, so that helps. DH eats meat maybe 2x a week. This time of year, all produce comes from garden or farmers market. Dairy is what really kills us. We eat a lot of beans, rice, lentils, grains, veggies - and I've tried to cut back the cheese in meals. Lots of meal planning centered on what was available at the market. No convenience size anything - big tubs of yogurt, as an example. I also make things like veggie burger, granola and hummus, since we eat those in mass quantities and grocery store prices are crazy.

What bugs me about WF these days is that the tags for "local" and the tags for "organic" look very similar. But local is not the same as organic. While I'd like to buy local, buying organic is more important.
Also, sometimes the grocer stocks non-organic produce in the space with an organic sign, so you have to check the label of the produce itself.

PP here--by the way, I don't really care if you buy organic or not, but it is really important people understand that organic food is sprayed with organic-approved pesticides that are not necessarily safer than regular pesticides. You still need to be vigilant about washing your food wherever you get it. Please!