Hi Guys,

Does any one know how easy it is to get organic produce and good quality health supplements in Calgary?

I am going over for a research trip in 6 weeks and would like to check out some stores. Any suggestions of places I should visit to get an idea of what's about?

Many Thanks

Helen

Community Natural Foods has one location at 1304 - 10th Avenue SW, which is at the edge of downtown.

They also have another location at 202 - 61st Avenue SW, which is right across the street from Chinook Train Station.

Their hours are Mon - Sat : 9 am - 9 pm, Sun & Holidays : 10 am - 6 pm.

The Calgary Farmers Market
Currie Barracks
4421 Quesnay Wood Dr. S.W.

Open Fri & Sat : 8 am - 5 pm, Sun 9 am - 3 pm

Planet Organic Calgary
10233 Elbow Drive SW, at the corner of Southland Drive

Mon – Fri : 9:30 am - 8 pm, Sat : 9:30 am - 7 pm, Sun : 11 am 7 pm

Planet Organic is the store from which I buy some of my family's food, environmentally-friendly cleaning products, non-toxic mosquito repellent and personal hygiene products and vitamin supplements. While I like Planet Organic very much, I'm not claiming that it's better than the other stores mentioned here. One of my reasons for using it is that it is the one that is closest to my home.

Sunterra Market
Upscale supermarket. Makes more effort than regular supermarkets to source produce from local farmers and to sell free-range meats and organic fruit and vegetables.

They are located at 1851 Sirocco Drive SW and at the corner of Elbow Drive and 49th Avenue SW. They have three small locations in the downtown core, but those are not larger suburban supermarkets like the first two that I mentioned.

I don't know what their hours are. They're probably like most supermarkets, and likely are open from at least 8 am to 9 pm, 7 days a week.

My dental hygienist told me that she buys hormone-free and antibiotic-free chicken and beef from Country Lane Farms, but I have not yet tried them myself.

Ordinary supermarkets, such as Safeway and Calgary Coop, also have small selections of organic fruit and vegetables, organic, free-range meat and wild Pacific salmon (instead of farmed salmon :scared: ).

I don't know what UK grocery prices are like. I've only visited the UK as a tourist. I've never been into a supermarket there. However, posters on this forum generally say that the selection of groceries in Canada is poorer than it is in the UK. I certainly do find that organic food in Calgary is very expensive. In fact I cannot afford to buy organic food exclusively. I read quite a bit about this topic, and buy organic in the categories in which I think it's most important. That said, I've gradually been switching over to more and more organic, non-toxic and environmentally-friendly products. So I suppose I'm slowly spending more on those items and compensating by eliminating non-essentials in other categories. I guess the sticker shock has made it too difficult to make all of the changes in one leap.

Hope that helps.

Hi Judy,

Thanks for that. There's loads of great info there for me, I'll have a look at some of them when I'm over.

Cheers,

Helen