Purchasing decisions - alternative meat, milk, and organic products

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I am.... (can answer for your household)

  • Under 40 and do not purchase organic, alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 55 29.9%
  • Over 40 and do not purchase organic, alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 48 26.1%
  • Under 40 and purchase some organic, but not alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 20 10.9%
  • Over 40 and purchase some organic, but not alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 19 10.3%
  • Under 40 and purchase some alternative meat or milk products but not organic products

    Votes: 14 7.6%
  • Over 40 and purchase some alternative meat or milk products but not organic products

    Votes: 5 2.7%
  • Under 40 and purchase some organic, alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 14 7.6%
  • Over 40 and purchase some organic, alternative meat or milk products

    Votes: 9 4.9%

  • Total voters
    184
  • Poll closed .

JayV

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Over 40, do my own shopping. Organic is fine, but I don't specifically look for it. Have bought vegetable burgers, but not the newer lab cultured "meat" products. I rarely buy beef or pork, typically poultry. Only buy alternative milk products. Usually almond. I don't drink milk, and when it's got cereal, or whatever else blended with it I can't tell the difference. Biggest advantage with it I see is that it tends to have a longer shelf life before the "Use by" date arrives.
 

ISULibrarian

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Apr 17, 2010
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So I don't specifically seek out many of these products but don't avoid them. I went dairy-free for a while when I was nursing my youngest, as he seemed to have some sensitivity to dairy. It SUCKED, as I eat so much dairy normally, but found a few alternative products that I liked. Kite Hill cream cheese spreads were great, would never have guessed that they were dairy-free. Aldi has an organic salsa that I like, and I've found a veggie "chicken" nugget that the kids will eat, but no, I don't search for many of these products.
 

TitanClone

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I split a full cow with my dad and brother this year, doesn't really save money overall but the farmer is awesome and my freezer will be stocked for a long time.
 

JP4CY

I'm Mike Jones
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Testifying
I split a full cow with my dad and brother this year, doesn't really save money overall but the farmer is awesome and my freezer will be stocked for a long time.
Really? Most bulk beef prices after processing are about $3.5-$4/lb and are way better flavor wise. Minus the freezer electricity price you're getting ribeye for hamburger price.
 

JP4CY

I'm Mike Jones
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For meat, if organic is comparable in price, I'll go with that, but it rarely guides my decision. I We normally hit up Costco to stock up. For beef, I generally see what's in stock and what cuts of meat look the best. I'm generally impressed by their cuts. For chicken, if I happen to have picked up organic, then that's what we'll have. My wife is allergic to pork, so I'm already deprived of a lot of options.

For produce, I usually buy what looks the best. If certain fruits don't look great, I'll just get more of something else and try again a week later. I'll occasionally go to the organic section, but when something is out of season, the organic prices get a little crazy.

I do like the organic eggs versus standard ones. I don't mind paying a little more for those.
IIRC they tenderize, so make sure your internal temp accounts for that.
 

cowgirl836

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Sep 3, 2009
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So I don't specifically seek out many of these products but don't avoid them. I went dairy-free for a while when I was nursing my youngest, as he seemed to have some sensitivity to dairy. It SUCKED, as I eat so much dairy normally, but found a few alternative products that I liked. Kite Hill cream cheese spreads were great, would never have guessed that they were dairy-free. Aldi has an organic salsa that I like, and I've found a veggie "chicken" nugget that the kids will eat, but no, I don't search for many of these products.


My whole mom group had a thing at 3 months were we all swore our baby had a dairy intolerance. I made it seven days dairy free then realized DH had put butter in the pan of the fish we had just eaten. I gave up. You are a champ as it sounds like you made it much further than I!
 
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Stormin

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Apr 11, 2006
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Really? Most bulk beef prices after processing are about $3.5-$4/lb and are way better flavor wise. Minus the freezer electricity price you're getting ribeye for hamburger price.

Generally the farm raised beef bought privately has much better flavor. No argument about that at all. But I haven’t really seen that it is cheaper. You will end up with maybe 40% or so of the Live Weight of butchered processed meat for the freezer. Lots of waste. And the butchering costs are far greater than the boxed beef purchased by grocery stores who then trim and cut the boxed beef into retail cuts. Butchering is pretty expensive as well. It isn’t cheaper. But it should be better.
 
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JP4CY

I'm Mike Jones
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Generally the farm raised beef bought privately has much better flavor. No argument about that at all. But I haven’t really seen that it is cheaper. You will end up with maybe 40% or so of the Live Weight of butchered processed meat for the freezer. Lots of waste. And the butchering costs are far greater than the boxed beef purchased by grocery stores who then trim and cut the boxed beef into retail cuts. Butchering is pretty expensive as well. It isn’t cheaper. But it should be better.
Good points.
 

cmjh10

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Dec 5, 2012
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Never understood why it's viewed as normal or natural to drink milk as an adult (let alone the milk from another animal).

Don't get me wrong I love dairy products and milk with my cereal, and I'm not big on 'alternative milk' products. But this idea that drinking another animal's milk is normal for an adult humnan, while drinking a liquid product from almonds is crazy seems..... odd.

My only/biggest problem is them being able to call it milk. At the end of the day, drink it, I dont care. Just call it what it is.
 
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Omaha Cy

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www.tecmobowl-vs-rbi.com
Im ok with vegetable meat alternatives. Veggie burgers, veggie chicken strips, etc. Even got my 6 year old eating some veggie chicken strips. Been on an almond and rice milk kick lately. Can't say I buy much organic though.

Ive probably had 3 or 4 impossible whoopers in the last month.
 

TitanClone

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Really? Most bulk beef prices after processing are about $3.5-$4/lb and are way better flavor wise. Minus the freezer electricity price you're getting ribeye for hamburger price.
I might be underestimating but it was about $6/lb. Take into account the good cuts that would be double digits per. It is significantly better flavor wise.
 

intrepid27

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Oct 9, 2006
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Marion, IA
For those that feel organic produce tastes better I'll give an opinion based on a lot of interaction with plant breeders over the years. When most conventional (non-organic) growers decide what varieties to grow their main considerations are: Easy to grow, yield, ability to be mechanically harvested, appearance, and shelf life. In other words produce needs to look good and be tough enough to be machine harvested. Taste and nutrition are far down the list when decisions are made.

Organic growers tend to be smaller, with more hand labor, and more customer focus. They are more likely to pick varieties focused on taste and or nutrition. In the past 5 or so years there are a lot more entities around the globe breeding plants based on nutrition and taste. We are just beginning to see that show up on the store shelves. So if organic food tastes better it's probably because of the variety grown, not because it's organic. But it is a nice bonus for organic.
 
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cycloneworld

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Haven't tried the meat alternatives. Having read the ingredients labels on them.... I'll stick with my family farm beef

I can definitely see why people would want to stick with meat but using the ingredients label as a reason to not try or buy meat alternatives is silly in my opinion. Look at nearly everything you buy from a grocery store - there will be a long list of ingredients many of which you’ve never heard of. So unless you are a veggies and meat person, you aren’t avoiding those.
 
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Neptune78

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Worked in the food industry for almost four decades with large companies that made organic and non-organic products. I do not buy organic products today mainly due to cost, but in some cases because of quality.
When I was with Gerber for 10 years, our bioassay and GC testing on all incoming fruit/veggies did not show any pesticide residue (at least at the ppm level). Might not be the norm as we had field reps working with the growers.
In my ten years in the dairy industry I saw that the freshest milk was always non-organic. Because of logistical challenges, the organic milk could be 5-7 days old before it was pasteurized.
Just a couple of examples. Not saying going organic is a bad way to go. Just a cost/reward judgment that will be driven by customer demand.
 
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Dopey

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Nov 2, 2009
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Organic whole milk tastes amazing. I don’t buy it though. But that’s because of my problems with moderation....
 

kentkel

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Apr 12, 2006
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The day you show me the tits on an almond, soybean, or oat, is the day I will be open to buying milk alternatives.

Also, they shouldnt be called milk. Milk is from mammals, not plants.
 

cowgirl836

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Sep 3, 2009
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Worked in the food industry for almost four decades with large companies that made organic and non-organic products. I do not buy organic products today mainly due to cost, but in some cases because of quality.
When I was with Gerber for 10 years, our bioassay and GC testing on all incoming fruit/veggies did not show any pesticide residue (at least at the ppm level). Might not be the norm as we had field reps working with the growers.
In my ten years in the dairy industry I saw that the freshest milk was always non-organic. Because of logistical challenges, the organic milk could be 5-7 days old before it was pasteurized.
Just a couple of examples. Not saying going organic is a bad way to go. Just a cost/reward judgment that will be driven by customer demand.


were these Amish or very, very small farms? 5-7 days is crazy long. We had every other day pickup and then back to plant for pasteurization so basically the longest was 60-72 hours. Every day or every other day is standard in conventional and the organic that I have experience with.
 

ISUTex

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May 25, 2012
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I split a full cow with my dad and brother this year, doesn't really save money overall but the farmer is awesome and my freezer will be stocked for a long time.


We do the same. Averages out to about $4-$5 /lb after locker processing fees. I like the fact that they're mostly grass fed and all of the ground beef is from the same animal. An animal that I've actually seen alive with my own eyes.