The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

just watched a news article and wondered if you had found this to be the case ,it said people had stopped buying so much organic stuff ,as prices rise with fuel bills ect
i must admit with watching shopping trolleys ,i've noticed different things going in from early last year ,more carrots potatoes ,more basics ,less posh stuff ,sorry if i got the questions wrong ,i'd like to know what people would look for Very Happy

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2243 Location: North Cornwall

I dont know which to tick Confused

We grow a lot of our own fruit and veg and have our own beef, eggs and poultry. I dont put anything on the veg or fruit, just muck dug into the ground and we dont use artificial fertiliser on the pasture, again just muck. But we dont feed organic feed to any of the animals so we are not organic and if I have to buy things like potatoes in the winter I dont buy organic.

So Im sort of a mixture of both Confused

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

interesting nobody would buy direct ,what would make a difference to that
spana would you buy the cheapest that you will eat Wink

bronskibeat · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1724 Location: Clawddnewydd

I had to tick buy more staples as I have all my own meat/eggs/poultry and only have to buy in green things and milk/butter/cheese so I couldnt really tick the welfare one Rolling Eyes

Next year I'm going to have a greenhouse and do my own salad stuff and tomatoes. Will also have a bash at spuds in a bag Cool

Oh, I'd forgotten, I've grown organic garlic this year!! Laughing

CP · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure which one to tick either?

I buy a lot of meat from my local farming friends, as much as possible from another local free range farm shop but still have to get stuff from the supermarket.

I don't have much room to grow my own & I'm pretty useless at that anyway.
My pumpkin has had loads of flowers but no fruit. The tomato has about 3 fruits on it & doesn't look like they're going red. The blueberry has only had a small cupful of berries this year & I don't know how many Pink Fir Apple potatoes I have as I haven't harvested them yet.... Embarassed

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

i'm in the same position ,but anything i cannot keep ie cows i'm going to try to buy direct ,but other stuff is going to have to be basics Confused

Dusty · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 935 Location: St. Asaph

I'd rather buy stuff that was looked after properly than just organic.

My girls aren't laying at the moment so i'm having to buy eggs but since having chooks I won't buy from supermarkets - free range Rolling Eyes

or not i'll go to a local farm where I can see the girls out and about - cheaper too!

I did't get my act together this year (message to self - don't go away in May next year) so haven't had much home grown.

Do have late potatoes in bags so fingers crossed Wink

EGirl · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 1277 Location: Dublin, Ireland

I try to stick to locally produced food. I just can't afford to buy organic all the time. So for me it's the most realistic choice.

debcat · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject:

meat is either home grown or from the local butchers
milk is co-op, the girls think the local farms is too creamy and won't drink it
other stuff I am trying to get teh cheapest I can now, not what I would have chosen before, but needs must
OH isn't working now and won't be for the foreseeable so things are getting tight
I bought a great big bag of porridge this week instead of a box of weetabix
loads cheaper and lasts loads longer

Bhindi · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject:

Cereals are one of my ways of cutting back, as I try to by organicly, my cereals in boxes are costly, but muesli is much cheaper and I get a lot more for my money.

jaydee67 · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject:

We get our lamb, beef, potatoes and neeps from locals. I only buy local milk. Eggs and chicken come from the garden as do some veggies.

shire horse girl · Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 519 Location: lincoln

I try to buy local foods am not too bothered about organic as i have doubts about the claims but free range/animal welfare is the important thing to me

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

maybe organic was the wrong word ,so is everyone trying to save a bit of money and does it make a difference to what you buy

Duckie · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 201

I'm doing my cutting back on luxury stuff (like no green & blacks in the trolly Sad

) rather than on fruit and veg, and we thankfully still have a lot of veg coming out of the garden anyway, plus we don't really eat meat unless someone's visiting, although the price of fish/seafood is getting scary.

Sometimes organic is actually cheaper than non at our Tesco's - not on fresh stuff so much but things like pesto sauce and rice pudding it often is.

I have stopped the organic chicken pellets though - they were coming up to twice the price of countrywide own brand cheapies and over the summer the girls prefer foraging anyway. Not sure whether I'll go back to the more expensive stuff in the winter........

Matildanz · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:05 am Post subject:

For us this year we are hoping to get as much out of our garden as possible. We've been given a glasshouse in exchange for upgrading a friends computer so hope to get lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper etc.

Organic products, although available in our local supermarket, aren't something we buy alot as they are a lot more expensive and generally aren't manufactured in NZ, so we try to buy products made here in preference.

Ideally I'd love to have a block to keep a few animals for meat but they have become 'fashionable' by the rich people who have a 'man' in to mow the lawn! Confused

Meat prices here have gone through the roof, as has chicken. Dairy products have become pretty much a luxury for a lot of people and cheese is bought when on special.