Choosing what to eat

My criteria is

is it freh fruit or veg?

organic?

vegetarian?

without artificial additives and chemicals?

is the ingredients lable legible?

how many calories does it have? Too much fat or sugar?

does it contain palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, sweetners, hydogenated fats? These are all bad.

is it manufactured by a global mega corporation involved in unethical things?

I have an autoimmune condition so I look look for foods that promote my health. For me that means gluten and dairy free foods, good quality fruit and veg and good quality fish. Unfortunately I also need to be aware of cost, which sometimes makes these things hard to afford.

I’ve also been trialling a sugar free diet for a few weeks and it’s quite tedious having to read the label of everything I buy to find out that most of the time it contains sugar. So I would look for products with a label that has something like the vegetarian ‘V’ to indicate that they are free from sugar and artificial sweeteners. 

My main consideration is how healthy the food is. Getting a small amount of protien and heaps of fruit and veg is my focus. I can make it taste nice with good recipe books and spices and herbs if the basic ingredients are good. Barely ever buy ready-made meals and take aways. It does not take much time to cook something nutritional or throw a salad together. If I eat food unhealthy food, its as though I have wasted that food. 

Dear Mayor of London,
Please can you revolutionise London's allotment scheme so that there is more local authority land
given over for allotments. The present scheme is not fit for purpose while there is an ever urgent
need for families and individuals to be encouraged to 'grow their own' on minimal allotment space.
In any case, it is known that there is 'a corruption element' permeating allotment allocation where
several allotments can end up in the 'ownership' of family and friends when the original owner has
'passed on'. This 'passing on of allotments between family and friends bypasses the allotment waiting
lists Councils are supposed to properly and fairly organise. Allotments need to be more strictly
monitored so that any corruption where an individual can 'own' 3 or more allotments is detected
and put right.
Yours sincerely,
Microbe

I remember going to a vegetable shop when I was young with a string bag in which to put all the vegetables we bought. It's a pity that loose vegetables seem to cost more than those in packages now in some supermarkets. They used to be sold out of the sack originally.

I try my best to buy British grown fruit and vegetables as I feel that I am supporting our farmers. Likewise, if I can buy fresh fish I would like to think that this has been caught and processed in this country. Sadly, that is probably not the case very often nowadays.

Meat is not always necessary as some lentils can be a substitute for protein. I realise that these are often imported but they go well with the vegetables and are not too expensive.

We have always tried to feed our family with meals made from scratch, sometimes making a base to last a few days to save time which can be used with rice, pasta, courgetti, cauliflower rice, Yorkshire pudding etc. as accompanyment. We tend to think that really basic style cooking needs to be taught in schools or on the TV rather than some of the time consuming receipes shown. For the price of a couple of shop bought coffees a healthy meal could be made. For the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes an even better meal.

Is it healthy for me? E.g. Organic means fewer antibiotics in meat, agroecological typically means almost no antibiotics (but that isn't certified as yet, bring on labelling).

Was the food created with restorative agricultural techniques that build soils and biodiversity?

Did animals have a good life, e.g. grass fed beef (that only had pasture, not just enough to stop someone suing for misselling then finishing on grain).

By buying this food, am I supporting small-scale, distributed agriculture that is resilient to financial and climate shocks, and boosting local economies, rather than boosting agroindustrial shareholder wealth?

Was this food farmed in a way that gets the most out of the limited farmland we have? Agroecological approaches have been measured producing 4-8 times more food output per unit area (compared to industrial or organic-industrial models) whilst building soils and eliminating pesticides and synthetic fertilisers (see e.g. The Carbon Farming Solution).

Is the sales outlet charging a similar percentage markup for sustainable food as food industrial food, or are they treating sustainability as a luxury choice and charging higher percentage markups?

As local as possible. Organic and free range. Fairly traded. London is a great siurce for everything we need, and it is even easy to cook vegan for my son and daughter.

Health, convenience and value for money

At home I mainly eat vegetables, grains and pulses with some fish. I haven’t eaten meat for 30+ years. I have a weekly organic veg box from a local supplier, Lee Greens, which is great. I’m also lucky to live in Lewisham which has the market and a great range of grocery shops including an excellent Italian deli to and sources of Indian, Chinese, African and Turkish ingredients.  Eating healthily and cheaply is not difficult if you have the time and knowledge to cook for yourself and eat lentils and beans as the main protein.  The ease of supply and huge amount of advertising of burgers, friend chicken, sugary drinks and snacks and encouragement to snack and ‘indulge yourself’ is not helpful in encouraging people to eat well.

Eating heathily in restaurants and cafes is more difficult as vegetables tend to be more a garnish than a portion unless you choose a veg only option.  I like to eat food I can’t cook when I’m out and this goes from masala dosas to Michelin restaurants once or twice a year.  I’d rather go once a month to a good restaurant than several times to chains.  I rarely have takeaways as they have too much fat and sugar and not enough vegetables.

Vegan! There are a lot of options nowadays which is great considering I strongly dislike cooking! Also due to digestion issues I avoid all types of onions (food manufacturers seem to think the vegan options need lots of onions, which is deeply inconvenient and really not true!!) I try to buy as cheap as possible, looking for sales and offers etc..

I find the lack of cheap in season fresh vegetables really surprising, hopefully we’ll see vast amounts of air freighted produce disappear once the Brixit shambles bites, probably the only decent outcome of it. Reducing the amount of water added to meat would also be nice, so sick of cooking both Bacon and Chicken swimming in water simply to add weight...

I am vegetarian and buy fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer (family business).  for groceries I buy fairtrade where possible.  I eat healthily mostly though I buy convenience food occasionally.  Main meals are usually pasta with mushrooms and veg, with pesto sauce.  I eat tinned fruit as well as fresh fruit.

It has to be nuttritious and delicious and veggie