[LilBlossom]

So, after watching various documentaries about how animals, farmers and ultimately, us, the customers are treated, I've decided to look into going green(er) in the ways of food. We're currently not doing too well financially, but I want to try. We have a farmers market that starts up in June in my town, which I am REALLY looking forward to going to, plus there is a Whole Foods 7 miles away from us.

But, here is the question, compared to "conventional" food, how much more do I have to expect to pay for organic or cruelty free food? Maybe put it in approx percentages...?

[savingspecialist]

I do not buy everything organic, but we do love organic produce and meat. A couple of years ago I decided to try it and we were amazed how much better we felt. The cost is a lot higher (especially on the meat), so I stopped. We were just saying the other day that we need to go back. Oh, and the veggies taste sooo much better. I can not stand bananas except organic

[rachelhale]

We are in the same situation, on a tight budget but wanting to eat better. This is where you decide which foods are the best bang for your organic bucks....milk and meat are big ones. There are also certain organic veggies and fruits that you should definitely get organic and some that its ok to buy conventional.

Shop organic-only:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

Safe to buy conventional:

Eggplant
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Asparagus
Sweet peas (frozen)
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet corn (frozen)
Avocado
Onions

[savingspecialist]

Originally Posted by rachelhale

We are in the same situation, on a tight budget but wanting to eat better. This is where you decide which foods are the best bang for your organic bucks....milk and meat are big ones. There are also certain organic veggies and fruits that you should definitely get organic and some that its ok to buy conventional.

Shop organic-only:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

Safe to buy conventional:

Eggplant
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Asparagus
Sweet peas (frozen)
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet corn (frozen)
Avocado
Onions

Where did you get the list from?

[diaperbuttheaven]

Eating Organic and being thrifty is a big challenge. It's good you have a whole foods near you. They have store coupons that you can combine with manufacturer coupons. Truth is, I do pay more. Like Rachal Hale said, you have to choose what is worth paying more for. The list she posted is the dirty dozen. The ones with the most pesticides. Then she also posted the cleanest foods.
I agree Dairy and Meats and Produce are important when going organic. We buy our beef from a local farm that keeps cows that are grass fed. It is more expensive than buying your meat on sale at a regular store. But the taste is way better and I think the health benefits are worth it.

[rachelhale]

Originally Posted by savingspecialist

Where did you get the list from?

Just google 'dirty dozen vegetables and fruit'...I read about it in some magazine (maybe Parents?).

[rachelhale]

Another thing, buying organic meats are very expensive at the grocery store...what we do is buy 1/2 of a cow from an organic farm and pay about $4.50/lb for it and we tell them what kind of cuts we want from our half of the cow. I don't know about where all you shop, but organic hamburger around here in stores is about $5.50-$6 a pound.

Problem with that is that you need a freezer and about $500 up front for the meat, so it won't work for everyone.

[savingspecialist]

Yeah, we can not do the bulk meat since there are just 2 of us and we are in an apartment with a small freezer. I was really surprised to see that bananas were so low because I think the organic ones taste so different.

[SaucyDee]

Check out localharvest.org and look for local farms or CSAs in your area. Some are Organic but not everything on the website is. We joined a CSA for the first time this year and we had to pay $475 up front but it was for 20 weeks and so far we have been over the moon with what we get! We juice every day and I also make baby food from scratch using the organic produce too. We go through a LOT of veggies but now I only spend $10-$15 in the store a week (on things like carrots, celery and onions that I just cannot go without) compared to about $50 before the CSA.

The other thing you could look into is starting a co-op.

[ILuvMyBaby]

We take advantage of our CSA. A lot of times they allow us to pick extras that fell on the ground. I use those for applesauce, spaghetti sauce, etc.

[JoanJosephine]

Good points above. We were very organic oriented until our family went from three to eight in a few short years. We used a coop, farmer's market (only some growers are natural or organic), etc. Now we can't do as much but save our money for natural meat and milk bought locally. They can be a better deal if you look for local natural vs. organic. Also, if your family has any skills or items to trade a local family may barter with you. For us, we had to decide to either stop having children or be more flexible so we decided to pick which items are most important to us to buy naturally. It can be a luxury now days that requires some choices no matter how compelling the yucky facts about the food industry can be.

[roxygirlie1021]

I started buying organic/natural groceries for my family last year. The produce tastes a lot better (in my opinion) and I feel better knowing the food is better for both me and the environment. While the prices are higher than I had been used to paying, I was still able to find some great deals, find great coupons, (check out the organic/natural coupon train!) and was still able to save a lot of money. While I was spending more than I had been buying non-organic and heavily processed products (most of which I got for free or close to it) I was still spending a lot less than I had been before I ever started couponing, and looking at it in that perspective made me feel a lot better about the slight increase in our grocery budget.

[RoxykinsIII]

I would love to eat everything organic, but it is so expensive. That leaves us with two options - pay out the nose, or start a garden. I was never big on potatoes until I grew my own - and they tasted so much better!!! Turns out a garden isn't nearly as much work as I thought. I went out every morning for an hour to water and weed a bit and that was the worst of the work. So very worth it!

[JoanJosephine]

Roxy is right--even if you start small and just grow say tomatos and lettuce, you will save tons of money.

[ericlovesarah]

Whole Foods is expensive when it comes to meat. But the taste is amazing. As far as using their coupons and manufacturers together, in the Winston Salem store I have been told no every time. So that will be trial and error if your store is good about that. I do not buy produce there though because it is pretty expensive.

If you have a Costco I have found they care a lot of organic and it is priced pretty fairly.

My husband and I are starting kind of slowly with organic because it is expensive. We buy some here and there. My aunt and uncle in New York found a place and they buy grass fed beef once in a while and they love it. It does taste different. I have found some people do not like the taste of it because it is cleaner. A corn fed piece of beef has more fat so you taste that more.

I think this year we will try a garden. We looked into a csa but some in this area were kind of limited of the variety we would get.

[nowpoints]

Organic Milk is over $5/Gallon.

I used to buy it until I read Dr. Mercola's website. He says as long as conventional milk is rBST Free,
(a growth hormone given to cows to produce more milk) it is OK.

He says when Organic Milk is Pasteurized, it removes all of the benefits.
So we buy rBST Free Conventional Milk.

We follow the "dirty dozen" fruits/vegetable list for highest pesticides as listed upbove.

[jenn_seratt]

I am on a strict "whole foods" diet (i.e., everything from scratch; no processed foods), but I haven't bought a ton of organic anything. I do not work due to a medical condition and my husband doesn't like "all that green stuff", so I couldn't justify buying the higher priced produce. Besides, the nearest Whole Foods is over 20 miles away and I do not drive.

With that being said, I have seen a dramatic change in my overall feeling of well-being since being on this diet. I have also lost 16 pounds to date (about 9 weeks) and I cannot exercise. I save a ton by buying the produce and meat that is on sale, whether fresh or frozen. I do plan on hitting my local farmers market this year and sharing produce with my neighbors so that it doesn't go bad before I can eat it all.

[nowpoints]

jenn seratt--do you avoid the highest pesticide fruits & vegs? What would a typical day's menu of whole foods be?

[jenn_seratt]

Originally Posted by nowpoints

jenn seratt--do you avoid the highest pesticide fruits & vegs? What would a typical day's menu of whole foods be?

I really don't avoid the "dirty dozen". I'll buy them if they are on sale. I will spend 10% more on organic produce but that's the limit.

A typical day of whole foods for me looks a little like this:

Breakfast:
Smoothie made from frozen fruit, almond milk, and 1/4 avocado, or
Omelet with sliced veggies (tomatoes, mushrooms, frozen spinach-whatever I have)

Lunch:
Large salad
Home made soup

or

Stir-fry made from left overs from dinner the night before

Dinner:
Any protein (chicken, beef, pork, or fish), well seasoned with dried herbs
baked potato (I prefer sweet)
2 different frozen veges

Treat:
Hot chocolate made from almond milk, bakers chocolate, and stevia

I am a BIG eater to be such a little person (under 5ft).

My diet is also gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, and peanut-free. I don't have allergies to these but I do find that removing them from my diet has really increased my energy level.

[nowpoints]

I found this incredibly helpful.
It is do-able.
Increased your energy level? Perhaps I will lay off the processed foods & see if I notice a change.

[jenn_seratt]

I also suggest reading the book "Spent" by Dr. Frank Lipman (http://www.spentmd.com/). That's where I got my start. Also, Dr. Josh Axe (DrAxe.com » Health. Life. You.) is a wealth of info. Like him on facebook and he will answer any question you have.

Good luck!!

[kayote]

To switch to organic and not have your grocery bill go way up you may have to change how you eat a bit.

For example, organic boxed Mac & Cheese is double/quadruple the cost of Kraft's. Meat, as mentioned above, is a lot more expensive as well. Prepackaged organic food is EXPENSIVE.

So you'll need to start cooking your own foods. We tend to make double or triple batches and freeze the rest. When we're not feeling like cooking or when the freezer looks full we'll pull something out to eat.

Meat is also expensive, so we started using it more as an ingredient and less as a focus point. So my chili sometimes has no meat in it at all and other times has just enough it's noticeable, but the main bulk is beans. We really like beans and if you buy them dried they store a long time and are really cheap. Look nice on the shelf (I put them in jars so the bags didn't fall out).

It takes a bit of preplanning to use them (and find a good cookbook to get started--I think I use the Bean Book) because you have to soak the night before, but it doesn't take me much more work over the stove than other recipes. You can also buy canned beans--cheaper than meat, still a lot more than dried.

Drink more water, drink less pop/juice (organic juice is also expensive). Make iced tea (sweet or otherwise) yourself instead of pop.

A garden helps, even just a few pots. You'll know it's organic and not greenwashed as well!

We're lucky--there are some nearby dairies. They aren't certified organic but we can talk to the farmers and are comfortable with how he treats the cows (they do give them antibiotics when they are sick. That makes them not antibiotic free and not organic, but you know, I can handle that policy), and the milk is a lot cheaper than the national organic stuff.

If you go to the farmer's market be sure to ASK if they use chemicals. There isn't much variation in price around here but some of them aren't organic. :P

[phoenix]

VERY LONG POST:

We don't buy all organic, but when I began couponing 5 years ago, our diet consisted of 80/20 organic ratio and a bill topping $1200 per month for a hh of 4--yikes!

For starters, check out your Whole Foods and food co-ops, and as someone already mentioned, CSA programs.

This is what we do to reduce our hh food/hba/hh bill down to about $80 week:

Buy 1/4 grass-fed, free range cow
supplement w/organic ground beef on sale or from Costco's thru the year
Yes, a freezer will set you back, but the savings over the 1st year on the meat alone pays for the freezer.

Buy Organic poultry from Costco's at a fraction of the store price

Also, my clinic gives me a fistful of Qs every time one of us go to the office that are good off ANY type of blsl chicken. I use the Qs at my store that does limited doubles. I use the Qs to purchase organic chicken breasts and thighs in the 3/4 & one pound packages. Recently Smart Chicken was 30% off. After DQs, the chicken thighs were only $1.49 lb., and less than the cost of conventional blsl chicken thighs. I had to go to 4 stores, but was able to stock our freezer with organic chicken.

We base our produce purchases around store sales flyers, Costco, and The Wedge co-op.

We grow our own strawberries, blackberries, leeks, carrots, pole beans, wild onions, asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers, Romaine, arugula, butter lettuce, cucumbers, beets, eggplant, summer squashes, pumpkin, snow peas, beets, herbs and cabbage.

Before you say, " I don't have space for a garden," think outside the box--well in the box or container--. We use Square Foot gardening and container gardening to grow all of the above in the CITY. We buy organic summer vegetables to eat so we can freeze and can most of our garden for the winter months. Costco saves us a ton here because the organic produce is so cheap.

Shop the seasons for produce. This goes hand & hand with storing up your summer vegetables for winter. During the winter, apples, oranges, and pomegranates tend to be cheap, and is what we eat. We also eat a lot of winter squash and sweet potatoes- with salad fixings the only nonseasonal purchases.

We use Qs for 90% of the organic foods we buy. For us, we learned we had to cut out most of the boxed and bottled stuff in order to reduce our bill and continue enjoying a healthier diet.

We make mac & Cheese, but keep several boxes of Annie's on hand that were FREE after double Qs. We also like Amy's frozen meals for lunches. These go on sale at my local stores 2/$6.00, and Qs come out in several of my local higher-end food stores for $1/2. So I pay $2 for a $5.79 frozen meal. I never pay more than $1.00 for Imagine soup or broth--just won't. If I must ask every co-worker and relative to print a Q off X site to maximize a deal, I will--.

Yogurt can be had for free along with cheap or free Almond milk and coconut milk. I get my sister organic milk for $1.00 or free when on sale. She has a freezer at our house and we just dump her milk, yogurt and other finds in there for her to restock her tiny condo freezer as needed.

When stocking up, you must throw the 3 month philosophy of one popular site by stocking up for 6-months or even a full year, as organic boxed or canned items do not go on sale frequently.

Last, read labels! Companies are now producing organic versions of their popular items. You can buy Del Monte organic canned vegetables & tomatoes, organic Heinz ketchup, organic pasta sauce, organic canned fruit, organic cereal, organic frozen waffles, organic chips, pop made with Stevia, pop made with cane sugar, and much more. You do NOT need a special coupon for these items unless the Q a specific type of product. These items do not go on sale as often, but they do go on sale. And, when you can combine a sale with a Q, you know the rest. I NEVER, EVER pay more than 50% of retail for organic food or HBA.

H & B is the same. Some people do not realize this, but Suave and V05 products have fewer harsh ingredients than the L'Oreal's and other companies. And, those companies are now producing paraben, sulfate, and silicone free products. Use those Qs for known all natural products, like the Kiss My Face Qs in the All You magazine.

For some, going organic/natural/whole food will increase shopping budgets if conventional products were free or almost free, but for others, like me, in LOND, we can come out with very little increase in expenditures.

[jailipie]

Thanks for the insight

[ericlovesarah]

Originally Posted by nowpoints

Organic Milk is over $5/Gallon.

I used to buy it until I read Dr. Mercola's website. He says as long as conventional milk is rBST Free,
(a growth hormone given to cows to produce more milk) it is OK.

He says when Organic Milk is Pasteurized, it removes all of the benefits.
So we buy rBST Free Conventional Milk.

We follow the "dirty dozen" fruits/vegetable list for highest pesticides as listed upbove.

I have to diagree with this. They have found iodine given to the cows has effects on my people with acne, like me. I actually notice a difference.

I also come from a diary family - 3rd generation. My aunt and uncle are in the process of going organic - it takes 3 years. It is a very hard process. Before going on the path to organic - My family does not use growth hormones, but antibiotics were still used. That is something to think about. A lot of their cows have become resistant and gotten sick.