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Good branded and convenience foods
Clearly a lot of us put a lot of thought (and anxiety? lol) into what we eat, where it comes from, and who is profiting from it. We've talked a few times about how many of the companies selling 'natural' and healthier-seeming foods are owned by megacorporations and often using a lot of unhealthy, unethical ingredients (
For the most part I don't want to support megacorporations, so I don't buy Boca, Morningstar,
What are some nationally or regionally available foods from companies you do like?
I'll put Organic Valley and Stonyfield on this list. I'm a huge Organic Valley fan, if you have managed not to notice, and I'm thrilled at how big they've become. I think this is a great model for the future of our food system, and its helped a lot of regular-sized farms stay afloat and thrive when so many are being overtaken by big agribusiness. As for Stonyfield/OIKOS, while its been bought out by Danone (Dannon), I love that they source through Organic Valley, and they seem to have kept to their ideals, and I know of no major problems with Danone.
EVOL burritos is my new love. Small CO business, now being promoted by the guys who founded Bare Naked Granola (not a fan, and please don't sell out to the big guys this time!), great ingredients and taste great. According to surveys they've asked followers to do, they are looking to branch into other products too!
I've also bought Rising Moon frozen pastas. I'm not too sure what this company is about.
Oh, chocolate! Since learning that Dagoba is owned by Hershey, I'm sticking to Theo Chocolates, which is locally made, fair trade and amazing.
Well.. sadly, that's about all I can think of right now! I bought some enchiladas from the frozen section at Whole Foods ,but can't remember the brand and haven't tried them yet.
Just thought I might find out about great companies and products this way! As much as I want to eat locally, I'm okay with buying some US products from great companies.
Re: Good branded and convenience foods
Well, Nasty Nancy's rated well for dairy treatment and is OR based. So I can buy that yogurt and cottage cheese when I want it. Unfortunately, I think it's nasty tasting and even feel bad feeding it to Nandi. I still try now and then, though!
We have a local company in Portland that makes fresh pasta called Pasta Works. They sell it at New Seasons, our local grocery chain and possibly at Whole Foods. It's so much better than boxed, dried pasta. You can also go to their locations in Portland and they'll cut it there in front of you (or give you sheets of it to make ravioli with!).
There's an OR based place that makes great salsa, too.
We can buy Tilamook ice cream and cheese, which started an hour away from here. But it seems that they actually have a lot of their products made in Wisconsin. They also use a lot of HFCS, so we tend to avoid them.
We can also get Alden's ice cream and Umpqua ice cream which are supposed to be local-ish. I haven't researched that thoroughly, though.
OH! I think Tilamook also makes butter. Which reminds me - does anyone know why the sticks of butter here are different? I'm used to sticks that are slightly less thick, but that are twice as long. I'd never seen short tubby butters until we moved here.
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Um...YUM! I'll have to check this pasta place out! I'd love to do homemade ravioli without all the work!
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Oh that's funny, I've seen the skinny sticks and thought they were so weird! I think its just like how Hellman's is called that on the Eastern side of the country but its Best Foods west of the Mississippi??
I'll have to look for Pasta Works! Usually Oregon products are available here too.
That reminds me, I keep wanting to try the Holy Kakow syrups but I don't really have anything to put them on. Wow, that sounds stupid!
Oh I totally forgot one of my other new loves, Greek Gods ice cream! Its not 100% organic but the dairy is and OMG..the baklava ice cream is amazing. Its made about 20 minutes from my house.
Carr Valley Cheese. Their Black Sheep Truffle is to fleeping die for.
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I know, me too! I e-mailed the company to make sure they'd sell sheets or if I needed to talk to them ahead of time and they said I could just walk in and get what I need. We had spinach fetuccinie last night and it was yummy!
There is a local bakery that makes the most incredible (frozen
) pizzas. We have one every Friday night with a salad. They use all local, organic ingredients and have the most amazing flavors- my favorite is carmelized onion, BBQ and gouda cheese on stoneground wheat crust.
Also, I consider it my job to help support our local wineries and distilleries....
I don't mean to stir up controversy, but out of curiosity I googled Jim and IL Gov and I can't figure out why you'd boycott them....can you enlighten me? (I don't know what the abbreviation BSC means.)
Unfortunately, I can't seem to come up with any good branded convenience foods that are legitimately commercially marketed from my area. The only local foods I can come up with are: Cheerwine (soda chock full of HFC), Goat Lady Dairy Cheeses (available really only at area farmers markets, though I think you can order online--this is a GREAT business though--they would fit in our category except it's not widely available), Sara Lee and Krispy Kreme are both based in my area, but I feel pretty confident they aren't up to our standards either
.
My area is/was much more well known for the furniture and textile industries, not food production.
ETA: Good Health Natural Products! http://www.goodhealthnaturalproducts.com/ I think they could fit into the "Trying hard, but fall short in certain areas." They don't locally source all their foods, and it doesn't appear that much of it is organic, but in reading the website, it looks like they are trying to do the right thing and might be taking baby steps towards bigger and better improvements. Their sweet potato chips (for a snack chip) are fan-freaking-tastic. And the company is based not too far from my office.
I can't give up my Hershey's chocolate. We live thisclose to Hershey PA, so it's local for us and we're stimulating our town's economy (hey that counts for something right?).
While all the different branches of Hershey Foods/Hershey Corp really need to restructure some of their business practices, my area would be completely screwed if they went under. There are so many people dependent on that company that it would be a catastrophe.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
Well yes, but I think that's the case for most towns around a large corporation, or even heck, mills. Most of the mill towns around here are dying. That they supported the towns around them doesn't make them an ethical or environmental company.
Hershey sources chocolate indiscriminately, which means they buy from places that actually enslave children.
http://www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm
Me too, now I'm intrigued! Please share!
I just googled and found a lot of...interesting....stuff just on the wiki page about him.
Yeah...I won't be buying anything from Oberweis Dairy after reading that.
Yeah, I traded one evil for another. I used to live in Aspers, PA which is home to most of the Motts, Knouse, and Musselmans apple and peach orchards. Their orchards backed up right onto the edge of my property on three sides. The pesticide spraying was insane. I had to move.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
This is very interesting! I didn't know that Brendan Synnott was now involved EVOL. It looks like his partner from Bear Naked is also the CFO at EVOL. Interesting indeed!
As far as products I like -- two local companies:
Bongo Java Roasting Company - they have four coffee shops around town and sell their coffee wholesale (roasting facility is here). All their coffee is organic and fair trade. Fantastic coffee!
I also love Olive and Sinclair - a local artisan chocolate company. SO good!!
Hmmm....I know I'm forgetting some.
I live near srs. There are many, many food manufacturing plants around here that make convenience foods, but locally sourced and organic? Not that I know about.
Hershey's isn't even the only candy manufacturer in the area. Warrell is another. I debate the enviromental vs. economic impacts in my head all the time too, because I know so many people that work in these plants (including my DH). I understand her viewpoint. While I gave up Hershey's special dark candy bars a couple years ago, I do occasionally buy Utz sourdough pretzels. I know the ingredients include "corn/ palm oil". I'm willing to admit I'm not perfect.
I do my best to make most of our food from scratch. But, at the end of a rough day, I'd still rather resort to a conventionally produced convenience food than pick up gross fast food.
Last night I tried a packet of organic ramen I'd picked up at WF, and it was really good. It was made by Koyo, who seems to make a lot of organic stuff, and also it says on the packaging about how they reinvest like 10% in promoting organic farming.
Its not locally made of course. I had the seaweed flavor.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Amy's Kitchen. I LOVE their frozen meals, soups, and pizzas. They're all vegetarian, use real ingredients that a kindergardener can pronounce, and are non-GMO. They also specialize in dietary restrictions, like gluten free or dairy free. They may not be local, but they're a small company that's not owned by a mega corporation.
I really like Homestead Creamery too, a local dairy farm in Burnt Chimney, VA. I get their milk from WF. While it's not organic, it doesn't contain artifical hormones and is just pasturized, not ultra-pasturized, so it tastes so much fresher. Best.Milk.Ever.