Is it possible to be ethical and frugal with food ?

[Richard]

You know...

Organic
Fair Trade
Green
Free Range

All labels on products which in most cases put an extra 30% plus on the price.

Maybe you have examples where you can pay the same, even less price, for products which are more friendly or do you just pay the extra for the knowledge you're helping people or the environment?

I think I know the answer with Eggs, if you have to buy any that is !!

You can name Shops and Supermarkets.

Richard

[kitla]

We have quite a few farmshops around Northants & they do a lot of locally grown
meat & veg which is very good value compared to the supermarkets (and much nicer)

(Although its not certified organic, I was advised that small producers
tend not to find it necessary to use much, if any pesticides. Also a lot of small
growers may be organic buy don't want to pay the large fees to be certified with
the soil association.)

[Mo]

I suppose the frugal & ethical route is to buy more veg. & less meat.

The big supermarkets will try to play the ethical card but beat down the prices to the producers so ????
But then, can you really guarantee that paying more means you actually get what you think you're paying extra for.

Still, we should be prepared to 'put our money where our mouth is', then hope the campaigners will shout when they find things that are not right.

[saint-spoon]

Buying local produce when is season is a good bet.

[Richard]

Good points.

Kitla - With the Farm Shop situation, once you put organic on the label, the Powers to be are on your back checking.
I'd imagine some Farm Shops just don't want to go through all the procedures of certification. The Supermarkets have to but as Mo say's, they'll squeeze evry penny out of the Fair Trade system!

Best answer vegetable wise is grow your own of course, but with working families and the speed of life nowadays, there's not enough time for some, or they'd rather be in MacDonald's on a Saturday and a Sunday Roast at a Pub. You've got to be good to find a Pub which would specify where they get their foods from.
There are very good one's I admit, that usually reflects in the price though !

Richard

[Mo]

A lot of pubs now say 'free range eggs' on the menu. And some make a point about using local produce where possible. (Not that I would eat out when I could eat at home, just on holiday, at Folk Festivals, or after rambles). Wetherspoons are good value for no-nonsense grub.

[fabindia]

with working families and the speed of life nowadays, there's not enough time for some, or they'd rather be in MacDonald's on a Saturday and a Sunday Roast at a Pub.

It is hard. Many of us here keep chickens and grow a few veg so that's one angle covered. But there's so much other stuff we buy that have 1,000 of air miles on them, and would be the first to admit that we buy things like garlic and ginger from China, potatoes from Egypt, the list goes on.

Is it possible to be ethical and frugal with food? I would say, not.

[Mo]

A lot of pubs now say 'free range eggs' on the menu.

Saw a huge lorry yesterday with a slogan on the side saying that all the eggs Mcdonalds use are free range.
Don't times change! 15 years ago it was hard to find FR eggs in the supermarket. Or Fairtrade tea.

[Aspasia]

Garlic is very easy to grow, Michael, even this far north. You just pop a clove of garlic in the ground and it grows into a whole bulb of garlic. It usually has a stronger flavour than what you'd buy in the shop. You have to be prompt in harvesting before the leaves completely die off, though, or you lose track of where the bulbs are and can't dig them up!

Potatoes are also easy to grow, but you'd need a lot of space to grow enough for a family.

My mum tells me that you grow ginger by just planting part of the fresh ginger root that you buy in the supermarket, but I haven't tried that yet. It may be that it only grows in the tropics. It's next on my list to try.

[Aspasia]

Free range eggs in McDonalds?! The McLibel case seems like only yesterday, and now they use free-range eggs?!

As you say, you used to have to hunt for free-range eggs, as well as other more ethical products, and now they're available almost everywhere. It's brilliant!

[Mo]

Free range eggs are the easy part though. And it makes a big 'ethical' slogan on the side of a lorry.

[Aspasia]

I absolutely agree, Mo. It's a greenwash. Still, it's good (and encouraging!) that pressure has been able to force any change at all in such a massive corporation.

[Mo]

It's a greenwash.

Nicely put.

But it does show that customers have some power.

[Freeranger]

It IS possible, but it depends what you're prepared to change about your lifestyle. That's not a value judgement, just the fact as I see it. If you eat only things in season and grown at least in UK if not locally, then that's more eco than the exotic flown-ins. Or grow the exotics in conservatories or on a windowledge. We buy organic cheese occasionally as a treat, but a little of an extra mature variety goes a very long way. Making bread is easy and cheap, but a bit of effort until you're organised. I cook most things from scratch because most processed food doesn't live up to its billing. You can forage if you know what you're doing and spend the time, ditto making wine. We cook with left-overs or redirect to the garden. We mostly don't do organic meat because we live in an area with lots of independent butchers selling animals straight from the common-grazing on hills. There's still tea, coffee etc. and we *could* give them up and swap them for something else, just am not ready to just yet. Or get fussier about sourcing. So, we do OK on the ethical/frugal front, and as well as I think I can spare the effort for at the moment.