You are what you eat, so why not eat organic, pesticide-free and non-GMO foods?

The easiest thing to do is find as health food store in your neighbourhood.  There you will be able to find a full range of natural foods and products.  Search for "Health Food Retail" in the Yellow Pages online.

One of the best stores in Toronto is The Big Carrot.  They also have an excellent and informative website.

See also our green retailers and green procurement sections for more listings.  In particular, if you are looking for the best in environmental products (including tree-free paper), your best bet is to find an environmental store near you (see the green retailers section for stores in major Ontario towns and cities.

Index

Home Delivery

  food boxes
organic meats
groceries

Buying Clubs and Co-ops

Fair Trade (Coffee)

1. Organic Food Boxes
There are several organizations and companies that offer a weekly or bi-weekly organic food box.  Check them all for price, sizes, range of produce, and frequency of delivery.

Field to Table -- Good Food Box  or Organic Box   (Toronto)
Field to Table is a program of Foodshare, a not-for profit organization founded in 1985 to address problems of hunger and foodbanks in Toronto.  They have developed a number of innovative programs, including community gardening and food distribution.  The Good Food Box emphasizes locally-grown produce and often includes organic produce.

Front Door Organics (Toronto)
Front Door Organics deliveries certified organic produce and groceries to your Toronto home.  You can choose a fresh box CUSTOMIZED to your individual preferences, or you can go for the simplicity and economy of a BASIC box.  Front Door Organics also carries over 100 organic grocery products that can be added to your fresh box delivery.

Green Earth Organics (Toronto)
Green Earth Organics is a home delivery service- offering delivery of farm-fresh organic produce to homes throughout the Toronto area.  Deliveries will be made weekly or every 2 weeks - you decide. 

Ontario Good Food Boxes (Ontario) 
On the Foodshare website, you'll find a list of contacts and e-mail addresses for other Good Food Box programs across Ontario.

Organics Delivered (GTA and Peterborough)
Organics Delivered delivers100% certified organic produce to your door every week or every other week in the GTA and across Peterborough county. 

WOW Foods (Weekly Organic Wonder) (Greater Toronto Area, including Barrie and Guelph)
You can create your own Weekly Organic Wonder (WOW) Box by choosing from a selection of over 2,000 fruits, vegetables, meats, and grocery items. You can also choose a pre-packaged WOW Box of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
  

2.  Organic Meats

Berettta Organic Farm
Located in King City, Beretta offers free delivery in the Toronto area for orders over $75.

3.  Online Grocers

Grocery Gateway (Greater Toronto Area, including Ajax, Hamilton, Georgetown Aurora)
Grocery Gateway is offers some organic and natural products (including cleaners).  Run the demo on the website and search for "organic".

Ontario Natural Foods Co-op
If you are serious about buying natural and organic foods and home supplies, and if you can find a few like-minded friends around the neighbourhood or office, then you should look into setting up a buying club through the Ontario Natural Foods Co-op (ONFC).

The ONFC supplies its members and customers with a broad range of high quality products: cheese, juice, grains, beans, pasta, nuts, prepared foods, and household and personal care products. Many of these products are organically grown, without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

Buying clubs can purchase foods at a discounted rate, with a further discount for orders over $1,000.  Deliveries are made to a drop-off point (usually a home) where the group meets to divide the order.

Co-ops
A cooperative or co-op is an organization owned and controlled democratically by its members.  They offer similar discounts on organic and natural foods.  Members are required to work a certain number of hours at the co-op 

For a list of Ontario cooperatives (many of which are food cooperatives), see the North American directory of Co-ops produced by the Common Ground Co-op in Illinois.

"Fair trade" is an international effort to ensure that 3rd world workers receive a decent wage and standard of living in exchange for their product.  Coffee is one of the major products grown by fair trade cooperatives.  

TransFair Canada has a directory of Fair Trade retailers across Canada, with over 70 retailers in Ontario.  One of the best roasters of fair trade coffee in Toronto is Alternative Grounds, which sells its coffee at several locations across the city.