Is it worth spending extra on organic food?

With many of us watching the pennies when it comes to food shopping, buying organic food can seem like an unnecessary luxury.

However, there is research to suggest that organic produce has more antioxidants, less toxins and generally tastes better.

All the big supermarkets now stock organic food, which is grown without the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides or other artificial chemicals, including budget store Aldi which launched a range this month.

In a bid to find the best and cheapest organic produce LOUISE HOWESON heads to Waitrose, Tesco and Aldi to find out more.

WAITROSE

Waitrose has a reputation for being the most middle class of all the major supermarkets.

I rarely shop there for fear I might have to remortgage my house.

The fruit and vegetable section was vast. I scanned the aisle, but I couldnt find any organic food.

I was about to give up when a shop worker directed me to a separate organic section.

Read the rest here:
Is organic food a con or should we spend more on toxin-free food?

TIME Ideas society The Organic Food Movement Is an Insufferably Classist Waste of Money Getty Images

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I am 47. I say this for reference. Correction: more as an admonishment. I grew up in the 1980s, the decade of big hair and bigger shoulder pads. In short, a time when excess and indulgence were still cool. That being said, indulge me. Here goes:

I hate the whole organic food movement. Notice I said movement, because it is the mindset that is perverse and insufferable.

My hatred stems from the fact that this trend is a repudiation of my own working class background. Eating organic is eating more expensively and, in my opinion, often unnecessarily.

Just this morning as I was drinking my morning coffee with milk (more on this later), I almost choked when I saw the latest report on Good Morning America. The next big super drink sweeping the country in 2015, according to GMA, is organic birch tree water. The water is actually the sap from birch trees tapped in early spring. Sounds very pastoral, almost nostalgic of a simpler era, something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Think again.

A quick search with Amazon suppliers indicates that this tree sap is like liquid gold. It is hard to come by, except if you happen to be a native of a Slavic country. A case of this forest juice, which equates to 10 bottles, is $24.95 without shipping. Give me my store-brand bottled water or, better yet, water that comes out of my kitchen faucet.

I do not think it is wise to have to budget for simple hydration. Can you say fad? Remember coconut water?

People who eat primarily organic are the same hipsters who make their little ones toil in community gardens after picking them up from child care cooperatives. What they cant harvest, they buy in small shops that sell two dozen kinds of honey, and enough soy and tofu to choke a cow.

See more here:
The Organic Food Movement Is an Insufferably Classist Waste of Money