Comments on: Day 23 Question

By: Stephen Barr

Stephen Barr — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:17:46 +0000

@olynnduncan – perhaps you find yourself in a food desert? – http://www.wordspy.com/words/fooddesert.asp

I don’t know about rural Idaho, but if you have a Trader Joes nearby they have really good organic frozen pizza, and it is reasonably priced. That could be your alternative to cardboard.

By: Aurelius

Aurelius — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:07:57 +0000

In general, I have found that such labels indicate the products are fresher, juicier, tastier and make the purchase choice on that basis, rather than the actual meaning of “organic”. But I tend to buy from markets, rather than super-markets anyway.

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:29:35 +0000

I love the idea of shopping organic. Especially when it comes to what I feed my family. We also like supporting local markets. However, since my husband is going to school we can’t afford the extremely high prices some organic produce costs, especially apples. My husband is very anti-pesticides so we hope to grow much of our own food someday soon.

By: Mark Mathson

Mark Mathson — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:12:51 +0000

For some things yes, but others no. Example, I would pay the extra for dairy products but not for eggs. I like the trend people are starting to go to in some areas wherein they are buying local.

I would like to do that, buy local from someone who I may know or someone who doesn’t use too much chemicals etc.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:59:27 +0000

For the most part I think organic and all-natural is the way to go and when it’s possible that is what I buy for my family. Sometimes it’s not that much more, like we buy our milk from a local dairy (Reed’s) and they don’t put hormones, etc. in their milk. Not only does it taste SO MUCH better then other milk it really does not cost much more. Also, we recycle the bottles by taking them back every time we go there to buy more milk.

I think it’s worth paying a little more not to put chemicals and hormones into our bodies

By: Stephen Barr

Stephen Barr — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:26:20 +0000

Excellent question. I do buy organic if at all possible. I am not any kind of purist, and I wouldn’t refuse non-organic food that someone cooked for me. But I do shop at a local organic market and get good stuff when I can. My reasoning is that since I don’t spend any money on alcoholic beverages, I can spend a little extra to increase the quality of the food which I consume.

I am fully aware that it is more expensive, but I like the idea of supporting, through my spending, higher quality foods and better agricultural practices. I have found that people and companies who are involved with organic stuff tend to also be more environmentally focused (less wasteful packaging, locally grown stuff, sustainability, etc.). It also may be safer. An extreme example would be mad cow disease. It would be impossible for a cow raised in an organic manner to develop it, since they must be fed 100% organic vegetable feed, instead of reprocessed animal meal.

From a taste perspective, the organic produce is certainly much better. I encourage anyone to try it for a while and then go back to regular, and you will taste the difference. I buy organic free range chicken from time to time and it certainly tastes better, but it is very expensive and I don’t buy it often. I also find a big difference in the quality of dairy products. For pastas and canned beans, it may be more difficult to distinguish the quality, but it is more convenient to buy them since that is what they sell where I shop, and I don’t have time to go from store to store to store.

By: olynnduncan

olynnduncan — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:00:53 +0000

Weeell…. it depends. But probably not. I’ve always wanted to be one of those trendy organic eaters, but I like pizza way too much.

I’ve lately been having that existential debate over how much nutrition I’m really getting out of anything. I’m about to give it up and just eat cardboard three times a day.

By: Jon Speer

Jon Speer — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:07:27 +0000

The thought of buying “organic” and “all-natural” has not been a factor in my buying habits. Price probably is a factor. I try to eat healthy but within reason. Many organic / all natural products are significantly more expensive than alternatives. However, I’m not sure I get the benefit from the increased expense.