# Canadian mama's, anyone know anything about PC's organics?



## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

I have discovered that the Real Canadian Superstore in carrying a large selection of organic foods, for a very reasonable price. I am wondering about their milk. Dh likes it better then any other organic milk I have bought. I started with Vital Farms (a local guy who does not homogonize his milk), but it went ransid very quickly (way before the expiry date on the carton). I then tried Avalon Farms, which last longer and I like but I need to pay $1 deposit for the bottle. Which is fine, but kind of a pain to remember to take them back. Now, I have bought PC's brand of organic milk and dh likes it. I am hesitant though with PC brands. My biggest concern is where they get it and what the cows are eating. It could be organic corn feed, KWIM? Anyway, the carton lists it as having 0.1g of omega-6 and 0.1g of omega-3. So, am I to assume that the cows are grazed because the two omega's balance each other? I thought that corn fed cows produce a milk richer in omega-6?

The cheese is unpasturized and amazingly good. The veggies and fruit are a good quality and keep well. We had a PC organic turkey last night, and it was delicious (making stock right now and it smells amazing). There prices are so good that I am able to buy 80% organic. The baby food is great. I buy mostly fruit so ds gets a good variety and it's about $0.62/jar, compared to $1/jar everywhere else. They even carry a great organic lentil dinner with no crap in it. Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.


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## xenabyte (Jul 16, 2004)

CJR,

Not sure about that store, but HEY, did you ever get your Kefir Grains???? At this point, if you have not gotten them, they might have been taken by customs for whatever reason....and DANG if they do show up, at this point I'm not sure I would use them, they been fermenting for two weeks!

If you got them, PLEASE let me know, as we have a few other Canadian moms waiting to see if we can ship up there.


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## mountain mom (Nov 6, 2003)

Hi Cindy,
I know a few things about the PC brand organics. One thing is that they use monoculture organic farming techniques and that they are a mass producer.

The dairy comes from a large dairy with several hundreds of cows thus the milk and byproducts are massproductions.

The argument for and against is, in my opinion, an environmental and ethical one. PC organics allows families to afford organics that perhaps couldn't put this quality of food on the table.

This in turn will put some diverse growing organic farmers out of business. The diverse growers are the ones that keep variety alive by growing heritage crops.

PC organics doesn't diverse grow. It does pass organic standards for growing and dairy production. I guess it depends on your comfort level.

7.99 for organic avalon butter 3.99 for PC.....it is tough!


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

xenabyte - I did not get them.







I figured that it would be to late to use them even if they did arrive. I have some friends in Montana that visit often. Maybe when I know they will be coming up for sure I will get you to send some to them. Thanks for trying.

mountain mom - That's what I thought. The milk is more expensive then Vital Farms by a few cents. Maybe that's why dh likes it the best, because it's not to far from conventional milk. Do you have any idea why Vital Farms milk goes rancid so fast? I mean 4-5 days before expiry. I have moved it to a different part of my fridge, and turned my fridge up to the point of freezing veggies.

I make my own butter from Avalon cream. 500ml of cream is just over $3 and it makes half a lb which is plenty for us for a two week period. It turns out great everytime.

Do you know if Avalon grazes their dairy cows? That's my biggest concern with organic milk. They can be organic, but if they are not grass grazed then the nutritional benefit is lost.

I am going to continue to buy my organic baby food, and fruit and veggies from PC. I just can't afford to otherwise. I am buying my organic meat from Hoven Farms, and it's fabulous. My chicken and lamb from Sunvalley (I think?) and it's great to. I am buying bulk grains from Community Natural Health. They are getting in bulk organic grains from a farm in Vulcan. A grain grinder is on my Christmas wish list. I bought a bag of California organic long grain brown rice from Community, and it's delicious, it was only $22 for 25kg. To me that's a good price compared to $7/500g of non-organic brown rice from the grocery store.


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## nym (Sep 6, 2003)

We buy a lot of PC organics here, since it is all we can get. Although we do buy eggs, butter and milk from the HFS.

I used to buy only Avalon, love love love it. I love that it comes in glass. But alas, we live in the way north now, so I can't get it. I know Avalon cows are grazed, I visited the farms. they are in Vancouver. They have a website.. uhm http://www.avalondairy.com/

I do like that PC orangics is making organic food cheaper and easier for most people to get. A lot of people don't buy organic because it is so expensive


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

Thank you. I really like Avalon products. I have had no problems with them at all. I also like the glass jar idea, but it's such a pain to remember to take the bottles back. At one point I had twelve bottles and I just kept forgetting them.







I buy their heavy cream, coffee cream, buttermilk, milk and chocolate milk on special days.

I could not find anywhere on the site that said their cows are grazed. So, thank you for verifying that for me.


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