I'm curious...

I recently came across this article from Reuters which states that the average UK woman wears 515 chemicals a day. Whilst this is scary, it does not surprise me at all. What did surprise me however, was the bit where it says that:

"More than 70 percent of the women polled said they were not concerned about the number of chemicals they put on their skin and only one in 10 opted for chemical-free toiletries when shopping."

I'm curious... if you're one of the 70% who is not concerned about the chemicals you put on your skin, and you happen to be reading my blog, can you please leave a comment and let me know why you're not concerned? Is it because you've never really thought about it? Because you've always assumed that the government wouldn't let the products be sold if they weren't safe? Because you're not eating the products the chemicals won't be absorbed into your body? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And if you are in the sub-category of people who are concerned about the chemicals you are putting on your skin, but you are still not opting for natural or organic toiletries then I'd also love to hear from you... is it too hard? Too expensive? Don't know where to find safe products? Don't know which products are safe?

I spend so much time preaching to the converted, I'd love to engage with people who aren't necessarily looking for the certified organic logo on everything they buy. What do you care about? What's important to you? What would you like to know more about?

affording organic meat

In most cases organic food is more expensive than its conventional counterparts, but there are a few tricks you can use to maximize what you get for your organic dollar. One of the most expensive foods to buy organic is also one of the most important... meat. If you are vegetarian or vegan, then you'll have to wait for my organic veggies tip... coming soon.

I've noticed recently that the same organic producers sell their products under their own label, as well as under supermarket labels... I don't know if this happens in other countries, but it happens in Australia, where I live at the moment.

For example, the same organic chicken farm sells under its own name, as well as through Safeway, but the Safeway branded chicken is at least $2/kilo cheaper. This also happens for other organic products, not just meat. You can tell by looking at the producer number on the organic certification logo.

Another way to save on organic meat is to buy it when it is on sale and freeze it. Buy as much as you can afford to at the time, up to about 3 months supply (if you have enough room in your freezer) any more than that and it might start to go funny before you eat it.

You can also look for meat that is a couple of days before its due date and has been heavily discounted... but make sure that it still looks and smells fresh, and cook/eat/ freeze it straight away.

My final tip for getting the most out of your organic meat dollar is to buy a whole organic chicken and use every last bit of it...
I roast mine in the oven and then strip all the meat off to use in salads, casseroles, risottos, soups etc. Then I boil the carcass with a pinch of salt, and some veggies and herbs (if I can be bothered, just salt will do) and make a delicious homemade organic chicken stock, which I use to make soups, risottos, and drink plain as a broth.

I also use the stock for making really yummy rice (with stock instead of water) or mashed potatoes.

If my toddler is going through an anti-vegetable phase then he will usually eat a creamy soup made by cooking veggies in chicken stock and then blending it. A cooked potato or some rice added before blending will make the soup nice and creamy without adding dairy products.