Buying Organic on a Budget
Buying organic can be pricey and with the downturn in the economy people are tightening their belts. For many people this means cutting costs at the grocery store. Organic food is usually the first to go.
My family feels the economic crunch too, but we’ve decided early on that we couldn’t give up our healthy eating habits. Here are some secrets to buying organic on a budget.
Comparison Shop
Organic produce is available in health food stores and large grocery chains. Where you’ll get the best deals all depends on where you live.
Buying fruits and vegetables in season from local farmers markets, cuts down and price and supports small farmers. Small farms are more environmentally friendly. Small farmers tend to make better use of crop rotation and use the land more economically than large industrial farmers.
When you buy produce in season it has more nutrients. The longer your produce has been sitting around in a box or on the shelf the more nutrient value it loses. If you buy from the source you can get better tasting produce that’s better for you.
Prioritize
Some produce has more pesticide residue than others. The most contaminated produce is known as the dirty dozen.
- Apples
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Sweet bell peppers
- Pears
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Imported grapes
- Celery
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Potatoes
You should also buy organic meat and dairy. The hormones and antibiotics used by non-organic farmers get into the meat and milk. These things get into your system once you consume the meat and milk.
If going completely organic is too expensive, there are also some produce that has limited amounts of pesticides. Here are a list of produce that you don’t have to buy organic.
- Onions
- Avocados
- Sweet corn (frozen)
- Pineapple
- Mangoes
- Asparagus
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Kiwis
- Bananas
- Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Papaya
When cutting things out of our budget, my family has opted for going to the movies and eating out less often. It makes more sense to sacrifice these things than to sacrifice our health.
Photo by Rick
A great post as usual;~) While everyone is looking to cut down on spending these days, cutting back on the quality of food is not a good place to start.
[...] Shop around–This advice is true for groceries and anything else you buy. I look at the fliers that the grocery stores put in the mail and plan my shopping trips around the sales. When I lived in the States this was easy because the three major grocery stores in my town were on opposite corners from each other in the same intersection. Here are some ways to save on organic food. [...]
In a recent blog post, I offer some more ideas for buying organic on a budget. Check it out and let me know what you think
http://www.littlestomaks.com/2008/10/29/5-ways-to-buy-organic-on-a-budget/