Best Organic brand...?

[AdinaL]

What are your most reliably good, best priced, best quality, etc Organic brands?  

We used to buy a lot of Horizon.  I'm a big fan of Applegate Naturals. We use some Organic Valley stuff. Eggs are local.

[serenbat]

as far as what product(s)?

I will not buy Horizons because of how they treat their workers- for dairy - I buy local and some Organic Valley because I know of a farm that is part of OV but I have heard others (on here) complain about OV and their practices.

I can only find a few Applegate Naturals products in my area (they do give coupons and run sales) and I have read good things about that company-I buy very little from them because I have a source for meats and OV organic cheese is cheaper.

I do buy Late July products and have been to their office (not plant) and spoken to them. I love some of their things but it's snacks so not a main item.

[LunaLady]

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but here's a chart that shows what large conglomerants own what brands: http://images.flatworldknowledge.com/gittell/gittell-fig13_013.jpg

I might be extreme, but we don't buy from those big companies.

Take it or leave it, just wanted to share that for anyone interested!

[AdinaL]

Great info!  I had seen that before, but had forgotten a few.

I lived in CO when Horizon got started and was still small, but don't buy from them really anymore.

I like OV, but freely admit I haven't done a ton of research on them.

[t2009]

The Cornucopia Institute has some trusted "scorecards" for a variety of food products, including dairy & eggs. They were (at least in part) behind the big class action lawsuit against Aurora Dairy, which was not treating animals well & was selling "organic" milk under numerous private labels.

Personally, I love Seven Stars for yogurt & Kalona Supernatural for milk & sour cream. Organic Valley is OK, too (their butter is competitively priced).

Another brands I like is Eden (uses BPA-free cans) but they're not cheap, so I'm trying really hard to buy bulk organic dried beans. But they are one of the few truly independent organic companies left (I think, I couldn't zoom in on that handy-looking chart to be positive).

Meat & eggs I don't really trust from anyone but farmers I can deal with directly, so I've found one who delivers to my neighborhood every other week.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Originally Posted by t2009 

Another brands I like is Eden (uses BPA-free cans) but they're not cheap, so I'm trying really hard to buy bulk organic dried beans. But they are one of the few truly independent organic companies left (I think, I couldn't zoom in on that handy-looking chart to be positive).

This is good to hear! I'm trying to go more organic and I order from iHerb.com, which carries a lot of Eden products. Thanks! 

[Sphinxy]

For linens I love Gaiam. Pricey but great quality so they last.

For dairy, Woodstock and Stonyfield are great when I can't find the local grass fed stuff. Actually, Woodstock for some other staples as well, such as baking sugar.

I will second Applegate for those times when you want packaged lunch meat or a nice uncured bacon.

Stahlbrush Farms for frozen frutis and veggies.

Amy's Kitchens for frozen meals to have on hand in a pinch.

Bob's Red Mill for flours and grains.

[AdinaL]

Stahlbush and Bob's! Yes! (You in Oregon perhaps?)

[Sphinxy]

Nope, Northeast. Can't find Stahlbush everywhere here, but the coops and some smaller, locally owned grocery chains do carry them. Bob's seems to picking up a lot of popularity here, even the big chains carry them now.

[AdinaL]

Cool. Both of those are local to me brands, it's good to know they are out there though. Bobs is a great company.

[dbsam]

We like:

Wallaby for yogurt and sour cream.

Eden for beans and tomato products

Muir Glen for pasta sauce and other tomato products (I think they might be owned by a large corporation...I haven't looked at the Cornucopia data in a couple of years - I was getting exhausted worrying about purchases  I need to re-visit the link provided above. )

Lundberg Farms for rice

Amy's for canned soup

Crofters for fruit spreads (Not sure if they are owned by a large corp.)

Once Agin Nut Butters  (We used to buy East Wind nut butters but I can no longer find it.)

a pp mentioned Kolona...the other members of my co-op love it but we prefer the Wallaby.

Edited by dbsam - 1/22/13 at 10:54am

[debraferrie]

We like Lundberg, Eden, Cascadian Farm and a few others.

I try to buy as much organic as I can.

If not in the stores, then I get at a great online site I have been using for years...

[go_blue]

Dairy products such as yogurt, cream cheese and sour cream: Nancy's from Eugene, OR.  Their yogurt is great! 

[dbsam]

In a pp, I listed Muir Glen as one of my favorite brands.  Well, based upon the following, I will no longer be purchasing their products.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob357.htm

This is a piece of the link:

The parent companies of some of our favorite organic and natural brands contributed nearly half of the $46 million spent on the deceitful advertising that sunk Prop 37, the California Right to Know GMO labeling initiative.

Millions of consumers need to send these Traitor Brands a clear message: If they continue to side with Monsanto and the rest of the chemical companies, instead of with the consumers who have made them wildly profitable, we won’t buy their organic brands.

eta:  A list of comapnies that did and did not support Prop 37...http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/prop37-poster3.jpeg

Edited by dbsam - 1/27/13 at 6:22pm

[littlest birds]

What about things like store brand Trader Joe's? I think they have a lot of organics at good prices but I don't know much about the company.  They are really popular among my friends.

I know Earthbound Farm is really big but I have been buying their greens often since my gardening has petered out :(   How are their company ethics?  (I tend to feel distrustful about all of the big brands but maybe some are more ethical than others.  It's probably not fair to assume they are all bad just because they are big.)

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by littlest birds 

What about things like store brand Trader Joe's? I think they have a lot of organics at good prices but I don't know much about the company.  They are really popular among my friends.

I know Earthbound Farm is really big but I have been buying their greens often since my gardening has petered out :(   How are their company ethics?  (I tend to feel distrustful about all of the big brands but maybe some are more ethical than others.  It's probably not fair to assume they are all bad just because they are big.)

I hesitate to buy some store brands...like Costco's Kirkland brand, because I want to know where the food is coming from. 

I also buy Earthbound Farms greens in the winter but I am not sure about the company ethics*.  At some point I stopped looking too deeply because I got overwhelmed deciding which companies are 'ok'.  (Plus it seemed like ownership was always changing.)  Like you, I also tend to mistrust the larger companies; but that is not necessarily the right thing to do.   The Cornucopia site linked by t2009 has information on some company practices.  

*eta:  I added a link to a graphic  showing which natural/organic companies did and did not support  Prop 37.  Earthbound Farms did support it.

With regard to personal care and household products, I check out this site http://www.navs.org/page.aspx?pid=431.  They used to sell a convenient reference book that I kept with me.  But I haven't bought one in years since I have been loyal to the same companies for years.  Not sure if they still offer it.

Edited by dbsam - 1/27/13 at 6:25pm

[tracyamber]

i just try to stay with organic brands that are local to our family.  Like pacific,natural directions,organic valley farms...all in oregon or washington

[jmasc1]

We primarily use Nature's Gate body products. We are fans of Annie's products. We buy a lot of our organic food at a local grocer (Wegman's).

[debraferrie]

Trader Joe's is VERY popular around here!

I just got back. They don't have all organic-actually not even majority..but the organic stuff they have is very well priced.

[Sphinxy]

Also, I've been seeing a lot more of the Brad's Organics products in stores, trying them out, and I really like them!