Buying organic food in Malaysia

As with any new mum, we want the best for our babies, and I've chosen to go organic for Ayden's food. Or TRY to. I found that we don't have that much choices with fruits but lots with veggies. You just need the money to buy them because they are so EXPENSIVE!

I've been going around the Petaling Jaya area, in all the supermarkets as well as small shops to compare prices and to see what they have. Here is what I found. My review is based on looking for fresh fruits and veg and baby food, so maybe a bit biased towards what they have available.

Just Life, Ikano Power Center
Located on the lower ground floor near Uncle Lim's kopitiam. A friend mentioned that it is a trade center, which means (and I did not know this before) small independent sellers/ growers can sell their stuff there. They have a fair choice of organic veg but mostly groceries such as juice, rice, noodles, cereal, they also have some household stuff like cups etc (why do you need organic cups??) and they also have baby food. I get my organic cereal here. Its called "Why not?" and has a picture of a Japanese cat on the tin. The organic baby purees in the jar is extremely expensive, not even worth considering. Normal Heinz baby food in a jar costs around RM4-5, while organic costs between RM6-12 depending on brand.

Eco Green, TTDI
Located at Jalan 125 & 127, Jalan Aminuddin Baki TTDI (I happened to have googled this as I don't even know the address myself, I only drove there from a friend's directions :P). Not much choices of veg and I don't see any fruits at all that day. But plenty of groceries eg noodles and brown rice, pastas, even had fish, chicken and some frozen stuff. There is also a restaurant adjoining this supermarket. They do have some baby food in a jar but not much. They have the Organix brand which is SO expensive, probably the most expensive organic baby food I've come across. There is another very small organic supermarket a block before Eco Green which shares half the shop with an Indian Barbershop. Very small and cramp but seem to have a lot of dried goods. I got some organic veg ABC pastas there. Interestingly they had organic basmati rice. Most organic shops only sells organic brown rice or Japanese rice but not regular white rice. So I got these for Ayden too.

Giant Supermarket
Fair bit of fresh organic veg. Not terribly fresh, but if you are desperate, they have some.

Village Grocers Bangsar Village
At the back they have an organic section. Plenty of dry goods and baby food. Lots of juices. I did not see any veg. Near the bakery, there is a shop on its own selling just organic stuff. Somehow to get in, you have to go around the outside although its glass door opens into Village Grocers, but they've locked it for some reason. Also has a small cafe, got some fresh veg, not much fruits and some amounts of dried stuff. Not so impressive.

Village Grocers Sunway Giza
The BEST place to go for fresh organic vegetables. Vegs are FRESH with several choices of producers/ brands. Cost an arm and a leg but at least it's fresh. Also has good choice of organic baby food. They have lots of baby pastas by the Organix brand. They also have Heinz organic baby food, which is the cheapest baby food in a jar. I do keep some bottled food handy for travelling and outings, so its handy to know where I can get a good supply.

Am sure there is plenty more places, but from all the places I've been, Village Grocers at Sunway Giza is the best.

When I first started buying food for Ayden I had to go to different places for different things. It was terribly inconvenient. After surveying all the different places, I find I can get everything I need at Village Grocers Sunway Giza.

Sadly for fruits, I've only seen apples, bananas and oranges. Ayden's can't have oranges yet. It's too much of a shame to let go of so many types of fruits that Ayden can have just to go organic. So for fruits, I get non organic ones, but I make sure I peel the skins.