How To Cut Costs On Buying Organic Food

You may love the taste and health benefits of organic food, but have you noticed their sticker price?

One mom reports she plunks down 10%, 20%, sometimes 100% more on organic food so her kids are not eating pesticides with their fruit. Consumer Reports claims people shell out 50% extra for organic food.

But is the extra cost we pay for organic food worth it?

Business Week claims research has not yet proven any adverse affects from consuming low levels of pesticides found in the food we eat.  However, for the highest risk group - children and pregnant women – it makes sense to avoid fruits and vegetables tainted with any kind of pesticide or fertilizer. 

If you want to eat produce free from pesticides and meat uncontaminated with growth hormones and antibiotics, you’re going to have to pay more.

However, you won’t pay a lot more if you do your homework and find cheaper ways to purchase organic food. To start you off, here are several helpful suggestions to help reduce your organic shopping bills.

•You don’t have to buy all organic items.  Consumer Reports adds that not all organic-labeled products offer any health value.   For some items it makes sense to buy organic:  apples, peaches, spinach, milk and beef.   It might be wise to skip the organic shampoos and seafood which often carry misleading labels.

•Run a price check of organic foods among local grocery stores and compare. Shop where you find the lowest prices.  Research the following websites to find organic food sources in your local area: Organic Kitchen, Organic Consumers Association and Eat Well Guide.

•Don’t forget to check out organic growers at your local farmer’s markets.   When visiting a farmer’s market, if you don’t see a sign saying the produce is organic, be sure to ask.  For a listing of local farmer’s markets, visit Farmers Markets and the Local Harvest.

•Join a farm team. Buy a share in a community supported agriculture (CSA) program and you’ll receive a weekly supply of produce from spring until fall.  Consumer Reports suggests the costs to feed a family of four using a CSA ranges from  $300 to $500 for the season.  For a list of community supported farms go to The Organic Pages. 

•Buy “big” when produce is in season. As the produce is harvested, there’s a greater supply available and you’ll find your favorite fruits and veggies are dirt-cheap.

•Don’t steer away from organic supermarket brands.  According to bankrate.com any food with the word “organic” on its label still has to go through the same certification process regardless of its brand name. If you find an organic house brand at your supermarket, you can save a lot of money.

•Shop for organic food online.  If you cannot dig up a local source for the organic food you want, jump online.  The GreenPeople directory is a good place to launch your online search for inexpensive organic foods. 

•Ease into eating organic food. There’s no need to switch everything over all at once. You can start by swapping out the food that is most likely to have the highest levels of pesticide residues such as apples, apricots, peaches, pears, red raspberries, strawberries, spinach, peppers, celery and potatoes.

John
Email John: johnsblog@teshmedia.com

For more information on healthy eating, check out my new book  Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth.  You can buy it at your local bookstores or order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Comments

[Guidetoorganic]

Hello, this is very interesting site Some people, of course, take the middle ground, and opt to select their foods from an organic farm shop when what they desire is in season and shop for imported organic food the remainder of the year.

[Leslie Hatfield]

Hi John,

Thanks so much for mentioning the Eat Well Guide as a resource for finding locally-produced organic food. I work as a consultant for the Guide, and we recently launched a new blog ourselves, called the Green Fork (http://blog.eatwellguide.org)

The team at Eat Well is also due to launch some exciting new features this summer, including a mapping application called Eat Well Everywhere, which will make it easier than ever for people to find good food, so keep an eye on us.

Thanks again, and eat well!

Leslie

[Mike C.]

John,

I think we should all keep in mind that organic farming does use pesticides, and they may be just as bad as conventional pesticides. Organic farming is also less sustainable than conventiona farming and may be worse for the environment. The Independent recently had a good article on the myths of organic food that can be found here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-great-organic-myths-why-organic-foods-are-an-indulgence-the-world-cant-afford-818585.html

Another choice people might have is whether to buy organic food at a big box store (like Whole Foods) or non-organic food at a farmer's market.