Last week, I spoke with Lou Bendrick, who writes the Checkout Line column at Grist, a site devoted to environmental news and commentary. Bendrick answers reader questions about making “green” food-choices. Recently Karl wrote to ask her:
With the economic crunch, how is it going to be possible to afford healthy foods for my family, especially organics.
Before the interview, I surveyed my Twitter followers for help. I asked: “Do you eat organic? How do you afford healthy food while on a crunched budget? Any tips or tricks?” The responses were fantastic. Here are a few:
.jpg "The local farmers market offers lots of organic options...during the summer")
- @cdwarren wrote: “CSAs are great if you can get one, at least when things are in season. I’m splitting one with a friend this summer.”
- @DeirdreReid wrote: “Farmers markets help. I stick to organic produce/meat and go non-organic for anything processed. That’s been helping budget.”
- @Macheesmo wrote: “Eat less meat. Menu plan. Don’t waste food. Start a garden. Even a few herbs can save you money over time. Those are my big things.”
- @marubozo wrote: “I only eat organic if price difference is negligible. I don’t buy into all of the hype, so I don’t go out of my way to spend more.”
- @annieblue wrote: “Much of my diet is organic, because I’m allergic to corn syrup. The most affordable organic food seems to be in rural areas.”
- @uv_searching recommended a Lifehacker article about getting the most bang for your organic buck.
- @kzer0 wrote: “Only buy in-season. Buying in-season organic can be cheaper than out-of-season conventional.”
- @antsaint wrote: “Discount grocers like Winco & Grocery Outlet have good deals too – Winco organic bulk coffee? $5-6/lb.Leverage bulk bins where poss”
- @amyrobynne summarized a lot of organic-shopping philosophy in 140 characters: “I go through a buying club for dry goods,get most veggies through gardening/CSA, meat in bulk from the farmer.”
- @AmazonGrace wrote: “I shop for organic or fresh vegetables at the local Asian Markets – they’re much cheaper and often better quality.”
There were dozens of other great responses. I wish I could share them all. The bottom line is that when organic is a priority, people find ways to make it work. There are ways to buy organic for less, but you have to be creative. (The same is true no matter what cause is important to you!)
Bendrick and I had a great conversation, though she’d already considered most of my ideas (and the ideas from those I polled on Twitter). In the end, she highlighted nine methods for saving money on organic food, including these:
- Have a plan before you get to the store. Set a budget. Track your spending with a tool like Wesabe. Shop with a list.
- Perform organic triage. Prioritize based on your own values and focus on those areas where organic makes the most sense for you.
- Rethink meat. By reducing your meat intake, you improve your diet and you save money. (This isn’t something I could do.)
- Clip coupons. I’m a fan of coupons, but haven’t noticed many for organic products. Bendrick suggests checking manufacturers’ web sites. Update! In the comments, neeser points to this list of organic coupons.
- Shop strategically. Follow time-tested grocery-shopping tips.
For more tips and for more detail (including advice from Grist readers), check out Bendrick’s article on how to maintain a green, healthy diet on a budget. You might also be interested in GreenCouple.com’s recent post about buying organic on the cheap.
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
Great to see you cover this topic. Depending on one’s motivation for organic purchasing, your outcomes will be different. If you are concerned about global warming and general environmental stewardship, cutting back on meat is one of the biggest things you can do – meat production is very harmful because of all the inputs, the polluting runoff from factory farms, and believe it or not, cattle produce a very potent Green House Gas, methane, which is worse than CO2 by far.
The main reason I buy organic food is not for the health benefits (logical but unproven) or the taste (I can’t usually tell the difference), but because of the impacts on the soil and avoiding the collateral damage to agricultural workers. Conventional pesticides are exceedingly toxic. that, after all, it their job, killing things. Agricultural workers exposed to pesticides have all kinds of illnesses and side effects from the toxicity, and often are migrant, low income workers with little or no choice, or health care.
Since organics are raised without synthetic inputs, which usually are petroleum-based fertilizers, nor do they use pesticides, they are safer for the earth, as well as for the watersheds where their run-off flows. Just another dimension of the discussion.
loading....
We actually posted about some organic / natural coupons on our blog earlier today. Feel free to check them out at http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/2009/02/16-free-natural-and-organic-grocery.html
loading....
I have to concur that pesticides impact workers. A close friend of one of my college professors died from pesticide exposure while working in Mexico. Sobering, when I look at how much produce is from Mexico this time of year in our area. How many workers died from exposure to provide these foods? And pesticide regulations in Mexico are not what they are in the U.S. I’m okay with non-organic stuff if it has a thick peel or it’s produced in the U.S., but if it’s from overseas I choose organic in the hopes that it has fewer harmful pesticides and has a lower impact as far as human suffering.
loading....
I just went to the organic super and bought oranges on offer – cheaper than at the market and they are delicious.
Anyway, I’d suggest to get also organic processed foods: the lists of ingredients of the biscuits, bread, soups etc are short and spotless.
@AD: yeah
)
loading....
Thanks for this article; I used to be an organic food skeptic, but the more research I’m seeing, the more I’m realizing how important it is. It’s not only healthy for those eating it, but for the environment. Overuse of fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics are harming not only our food, but the soil it grows in and our groundwater.
As someone on a limited budget, I manage to feed a family of 4 for between $250 – $300 a month. We belong to a CSA in the warmer months, and I shop organically when I can. We don’t eat meat (we do eat fish) so this does help the ability to budget quite a bit.
loading....
I’ve very concerned with the original poster and the chorus of commenter echoing the sentiment that reducing meat intake is ‘healthier’. It is not. I did the vegetarian thing for over two years, convinced by the argument that saturated fat was evil and therefore meat unhealthy. I managed to give myself a chronic illness from eating such high levels of grains/carbs/soy in lieu of meat.
In the past year I’ve spent a lot of time reading the research on nutrition, diet and disease rather than taking someone else’s word for it. I found that grain and carb intake is what is unhealthy and unnatural, and is linked to cancer. The seminal book on the subject is Good Calories bad calories by Gary Taubes. There is a lecture of his on goole video that summaries the content of the book in about an hour, worth watching.
My diet is now filled with lots of high quality natural meats, cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef and wild salmon. I’ve dropped grains completely and all refined carbs. I eat broccoli by the head, enough spinach to impress popeye, and a variety of other vegetables throughout the day. My disease has gone into remission with speed that has my doctor impressed. So please consider the link between eating meat and being healthy with an open mind. The evidence is not as obvious as some might think.
loading....
I assumed the poster meant that it is healthier to eat less meat when a diet is principally based on it (and yes, many people still think you have to eat lots of it.)
Reducing meat does NOT mean eliminate it and become a vegetarian.
That said, congrats on your diet and state of health!
loading....
The reason organic costs more is because it costs quite a bit to be “certified organic.” It’s much cheaper to just pay attention to ingredients and choose natural foods when possible. For packaged food, just buy things without trans fats and with whole grains and for fruits and veggies, either buy frozen or wash them thoroughly before eating. Especially with foods like bananas where you remove the peel, organic doesn’t mean anything. When I hear that people buy “organic everything” it means that they are buying into a trend without putting any thought to their health or what makes the most sense.
In our case, the only things we buy differently are whole wheat pasta (same price as regular), natural peanut butter to avoid trans fats (often cheaper than regular), and organic ketchup to avoid corn syrup. (slightly more expensive but negligible over the amount of time it lasts).
loading....
Everyone is pretty passionate about this…take a look at this blog, it might be of interest
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
loading....
To make a twitter poll more effective you could make people use a hash tag so the tweets can be easily searchable if someone wants to see all the responses. See this for more info http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Hashtags
loading....
I have for a long time been lactose intolerant. I recently made the switch from Lactaid and Lactose free milk TO Organics Whole Milk and have not had any of the stomach pains or problems that I used to have with regular dairy farmers milks. I have no idea if this is the placebo/meaning effect or if Organics is just gentler on my stomach but I am enjoying cereal every day and the milk tastes great =)
loading....
I just read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, which many of you might know. Very very interesting, an unbiased look at organic and non-organic food as well. The main point I got is, the system of the organic “mass market” may not be perfect, but it’s a great compromise. Local produced *and* organic is, of course, the ideal
loading....