The Cottage Smallholder

I didn't realise this had crossed the Atlantic. I will add it to my list of things to look for on labels.

Joanna, I have been avoiding lots of e-numbers since my second was little. We avoided all colors and preservatives. I thought he was allergic to eggs, he definitely reacted to them. After a year or so I tried organic eggs, which were no problem. He was allergic to the coloring they feed hens to make the egg yolks yellow... He was so allergic to milk he couldn't eat pork, until I found a butcher who had his own source of pigs who were not fed milk.  (I have quite a collection of allergy cookbooks. Too many of them use substitutes that are highly processed and full of ingredients that are just as suspect as what I was avoiding.)

For me, organic and local is best, followed by local, then freetrade organic, freetrade, and imported organic, with all else avoided whenever possible. (freetrade takes precedence over organic because they have envionmental standards as well as caring about the workers who produce it, and organic doesn't necessarily mean growers have been treated fairly.)

You are lucky that buying local and organic are the same! I buy locally, and can get most things within walking distance. The 'extra cost' of buying locally is far less than running a car, and in many cases less than the marginal cost of the trip to buy 'cheaper' food would be. It also supports the local community. Most of the money spent in small, local shops stays local, while the profits from big stores go to their headquarters and are spent goodness knows how and where. I can get fairtrade locally, so I get that whenever possible for imported goods.

I was impressed on holiday that the Co-op stocked so much that was grown in the UK. I look forward to the local tiny Somerfield being fully converted to Co-op and using it occasionally as a back-up to the truly local shops.