Do you check your food's air miles?

**Sazzle** · 11-04-2007, 11:40am

I mean the country of origin? Not sure if this is a "food" thread or a "green" thread so I've put it here anyway.

Just wondering; today I was torn between fair trade lemons from Egypt, or organic ones from Spain

I stood there for at least a minute weighing it up

I suppose we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't aren't we, and it's up to the big retailers to change things at supply level, but what does everyone else think? Do you just buy whatever's cheaper? I went for the organic spanish ones in the end by the way

**goldilocks** · 11-04-2007, 11:43am

I've got to be honest, its not something I ever think about

. I just buy whatever looks the best quality for the money I can afford to spend.

**Sazzle** · 11-04-2007, 11:50am

It's never really been an issue for me until recently either really, but everything is SO cheap now in the supermarkets, it is becoming higher on my agenda

I was thinking (over the strawberries) I can buy these ones from Israel now or I can wait another couple of months and have some grown in the UK

I'm worrying too much aren't I?

**goldilocks** · 11-04-2007, 11:56am

You see, if I want strawberries I want them NOW and am not prepared to wait a couple of months

. I'm an impatient little madam

Just had to check the ones in my fridge out of curiosity now and they are from Spain.

**Sazzle** · 11-04-2007, 12:11pm

well we're growing our own strawberries this summer so I won't have the ethical dilemma

**Abbie** · 11-04-2007, 12:24pm

I do try and be careful what I buy.

I get an organic veg box delivered so I know most of my produce only comes from about 1/2 a mile up the road and my meat comes from the farmers market, so again comes from up the road

But things like bananas, coffee, etc, etc, to be honest, I do have to live on a budget so I just tend to buy the cheapest/whatever's on offer

I did have a bit of a phase of only using/buying what was in season but I got a bit fed up with eating the same old stuff for months on end

**One Sock** · 11-04-2007, 12:32pm

I do, and generally try to get produce that hasn't travelled at all or very far. Thing is, I'm trying to eat lots of fruit and get bored of apples so do end up getting fruit that has travelled, mostly from Spain or Israel it seems. Not ideal but I figure it's something at least.

**Shoppie** · 11-04-2007, 12:34pm

I would have made the same choice as you. In general, I do try to buy local produce, but I wouldn't go as far as not buying something just because it wasn't in season in this country

**bubbasweet** · 11-04-2007, 12:37pm

I do tend to look at the label to see where it's come from. if it's come from any further afield than Europe then I tend not to buy it. Lots of things you can't be sure about though can you? Fruit and veg often aren't labelled. Sainsbury's tuna comes all the way from New Zealand

We're growing lots of veg and some strawberries this year, so we're reducing our dependency somewhat.

**Lotus-eater** · 11-04-2007, 12:46pm

I'm very aware of my food miles. OH and I are on a really tight budget and we do struggle with the cost/food miles dilemma. Also, intense methods of production may mean that the overall carbon footprint for a locally-produced item may be greater than that for an item that is air-freighted - remember the Valentine's Day fuss about roses from Kenya being far greater on the air miles but with a smaller carbon footprint. Our solution is a bit of a compromise, but overall I think that we have considerably reduced our food miles/carbon footprint total. Once we have some money (soon please

) we want to be far more proactive on this one. We would love to start growing some of our own vegetables. Also, we're keen to support farmers in this country and reduce the amount of money we spend in supermarkets.