organic fruit and veg, where to buy?

LegacyUser

first off, is there a much of a difference between organic fruit and veg and non organic?

is it much more expensive?

i got me a juicer, and will be looking to load up on the stuff.

can anyone recomend a good market?

is moore street organic?

Blub2k4

stp wrote:

first off, is there a much of a difference between organic fruit and veg and non organic?

There is a huge difference I find.

is it much more expensive?

yes considerably

can anyone recomend a good market?

Dennis Healey at Temple Bar market on a Saturday, also at Marley park. On a Sunday he's at Ranelage multidenominational school.

is moore street organic?

It couldn't be further from it, Moore St. is all imported and mostly hydroponic stuff from what I've seen. (not saying it's bad, but it's not great)

LegacyUser

thanks for the reply blub, just a few more questions.

what's hydroponic?

when you say considerably more expensive, what's considerably.

you're adverage bannana in the supermarket would be around 25c an apple would be similar, would organic cost twice this much?

when you say there's a difference, do you mean in the quality of the nutrients, or can you actually tell a difference in the taste?

Misty Moon

Absolutely Organic do a delivery service - always found the stuff good and it's now possible to have just a box of fruit suitable for juicing delivered instead of having to take a mix of fruit & veg, which is what they started off with. There's not much on their website (http://www.absolutelyorganic.ie/) but if you email them they'll send you details of prices etc.


With regard to prices at the markets (I now usually go to Marlay Park instead of getting a delivery), it's harder to compare with supermarket prices as the markets tend to reflect the seasonality of what you're buying much more I think.

Not sure about the nutrient side of things, for every study you find saying it's better there'll be another discounting that but I do find the quality much better in terms of taste.

LegacyUser

Misty Moon wrote:

Absolutely Organic do a delivery service - always found the stuff good and it's now possible to have just a box of fruit suitable for juicing delivered instead of having to take a mix of fruit & veg, which is what they started off with. There's not much on their website (http://www.absolutelyorganic.ie/) but if you email them they'll send you details of prices etc.

excellent, just got a juicer, so wanna get juicing.

do you not juice veg?

Emerson

Cavistons in Glasthule is one of the few shops that sell a full range of Organic Fruit & Veg.. Best selection is later in the week. The Nectarines & Peaches at the moment are amazing compared to the regular stuff.
http://www.cavistons.com

Blub2k4

stp wrote:

thanks for the reply blub, just a few more questions.

what's hydroponic?

when you say considerably more expensive, what's considerably.

you're adverage bannana in the supermarket would be around 25c an apple would be similar, would organic cost twice this much?

when you say there's a difference, do you mean in the quality of the nutrients, or can you actually tell a difference in the taste?

Hydroponics is a type of market gardening method for growing plants, they grow a lot faster but basically the produce is watery and tasteless, because they are grown in a solution of nutrients with their roots in glasswool or stones and they are not grown in soil like normal plants.

A 5kg bag of apples costs a fiver at the market.
I would think that things generally cost about twice as much.

I can tell a huge difference in taste, oranges that taste like oranges, tomatoes that have a taste. I dont know about nutrition but the taste is where it's at with organic also lacks pesticides etc.

Quality and taste.

LegacyUser

Emerson wrote:

Cavistons in Glasthule is one of the few shops that sell a full range of Organic Fruit & Veg.. Best selection is later in the week. The Nectarines & Peaches at the moment are amazing compared to the regular stuff.
http://www.cavistons.com

it's a bit far out for me, thanks for reply anyway

LegacyUser

Blub2k4 wrote:

Hydroponics is a type of market gardening method for growing plants, they grow a lot faster but basically the produce is watery and tasteless, because they are grown in a solution of nutrients with their roots in glasswool or stones and they are not grown in soil like normal plants.

A 5kg bag of apples costs a fiver at the market.
I would think that things generally cost about twice as much.

I can tell a huge difference in taste, oranges that taste like oranges, tomatoes that have a taste. I dont know about nutrition but the taste is where it's at with organic also lacks pesticides etc.

Quality and taste.

guess i'll have to try the organic stuff for myself!

is most of your food organic? ie, meat etc..

Blub2k4

stp wrote:

guess i'll have to try the organic stuff for myself!

is most of your food organic? ie, meat etc..

We eat almost exclusively organic at home now. I find the key to eating organic is having no waste. If you are going to spend the extra then make sure it all gets used.
We eat a lot less meat than we used to, nowhere near every day or every meal.
I personally will eat non-organic, although not if I can help it, but the GF wont, so at home all meat is organic or at the very least from a smaller butchers with their own farm.

It makes a huge difference.

A chicken costs 16 euro at the organic market so the whole chicken gets used and it makes about 10 dinners, some gets eaten fresh and the rest is frozen off for dinners for work. nothing wasted. The chicken tastes like chicken by the way and not like generic protein filler as the normal chicken you get these days does.

Tazz T

How on earth do you get 10 dinners out of one chicken:eek:

Please elaborate.

Blub2k4

pasta dishes or the like.

I generally bone, joint and strip the chicken before it gets cooked, the whole lot comes off the bone, I even bone out the legs and parts of the wings. It helps to have good knives at home.
I dont need a lot of meat in the dinner portion.
All the meat comes off and gets cooked into the stock.
Have a look at the new dish thread in the recipes section and that's an example of what I did with a chicken this weekend.

Actually I just spotted that this is vegetarian, maybe I shouldn't be mentioning chickens in here, sorry guys
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=2054947696 <---thread on new dish.
That was 18 dinners in total, and I think it all cost about 40 euros to make. Fresh tomatoes are expensive too.
Worked out just over 2 euros a dinner. GF has no canteen where she works so for that alone it's worth it so she has tasty healthy food to eat.

LegacyUser

i'm always put off by the price of chicken in the supermarket, i don't mind paying a bit more, but it's so much more.

Blub2k4

If you dont mind maybe I can get this moved to the main part of the forum as it's strayed a bit out of vegetarian and we dont want to be offending our carrot eating friends

LegacyUser

Blub2k4 wrote:

If you dont mind maybe I can get this moved to the main part of the forum as it's strayed a bit out of vegetarian and we dont want to be offending our carrot eating friends

good point, prob best to get it moved

Blub2k4

I've put in a request to have it moved.

Samos

Probably the best and most accessible places to obtain organic fruit and veg are in the Temple Bar Market at Meeting House Square and in St Andrew's Centre on Pearse St, both on Saturday.

Organic is more expensive, but mainly because cheap fertilizers and other chemical agents are not used, and also because the market is quite small, so prices should drop as more people buy it. I'm not convinced that it tastes much better than intensive varieties, but the absence of pesticides may prevent potential harmful contamination to the person. I think the main difference is that organically produced food is more beneficial to the environment in general, and we ought to support in order to guarantee our long-term survival and that of our co-inhabitants who are at the mercy of our lack of foresight.

Blub2k4

stp wrote:

i'm always put off by the price of chicken in the supermarket, i don't mind paying a bit more, but it's so much more.

When you say put off? Do you mean by high prices or low prices? Personally low priced chicken says to me that the chickens had a ****ty life and the meat wont taste of much.

Misty Moon

stp wrote:

excellent, just got a juicer, so wanna get juicing.

do you not juice veg?

Yes, sorry, not really thinking straight.

Re: chicken - I've done the same, one reason you get so much out of the organic chicken is that it's not full of water and so a big chicken is still a big chicken when you've finished cooking it and hasn't half-shrivelled away. I eat far less meat (which is a good thing anyway imho) since I've starting buying as much organic as possible but I really enjoy what I do get now.

Blub2k4

Misty Moon wrote:

I eat far less meat (which is a good thing anyway imho) since I've starting buying as much organic as possible but I really enjoy what I do get now.

Spot on there Misty, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would be proud of us :P

LegacyUser

Blub2k4 wrote:

When you say put off? Do you mean by high prices or low prices? Personally low priced chicken says to me that the chickens had a ****ty life and the meat wont taste of much.

the high prices. i know free range is better, but when you see 2 breasts for a €4 and then 2 free range breasts for €8, i just think that's a huge mark up, if they were €6 for instance, then i wouldn't mind paying extra.

i reckon most people are like this.

i'm not a big foody, but am looking to clean up my diet.

maybe every now and then.

are organic prices going down?

Blub2k4

stp wrote:

the high prices. i know free range is better, but when you see 2 breasts for a €4 and then 2 free range breasts for €8, i just think that's a huge mark up, if they were €6 for instance, then i wouldn't mind paying extra.

i reckon most people are like this.

i'm not a big foody, but am looking to clean up my diet.

maybe every now and then.

are organic prices going down?

I suppose a lot of people are like yourself, it's ok for myself and the girlfriend at the moment with both of us working and good enough money in the house. Things could change a little when we have kids, but I'd prefer to save in other areas so that my kids would know good food.

I dont know if organic prices are going down really, I doubt it. I must admit when I go shopping to the organic market it's not at the end of the month.

The Sweeper

Something to watch for in organic tinned and cereal produce - as opposed to fresh fruit and veg - is the difference in make-up of everyday foods. There are some common additives used in the preserving process that don't come under the heading of 'organic', so supermarkets will substitute the natural preservatives - salt and sugar - instead. Personally I still feel like it's better for you.

Organic prices will go down eventually, because the agricultural production excesses are something of a legacy of the post war need for a production boom. We don't need to produce as much food as we do. Old habits die hard though.

NewFrockTuesday

I ordered the €20 basket of veggies so i see what they are like when they arrive on Wed. thanks for the link!

LegacyUser

Dellgirl2 wrote:

I ordered the €20 basket of veggies so i see what they are like when they arrive on Wed. thanks for the link!

it's kinda funny, they only accept cash, postal order or cheque.

so, you have to send em out money, and then ring them to order your stuff!

very 1987.

it would be so much more handier to have an online shopping facility.

still seems a bit odd, i send them cash through the post, and then i ring them, is this a tax thing?

candlewax

How long does the organic stuff from, say, absolutelyorganic.ie last? Less than typical supermarket produce? Those portions sound like a lot to get through.