Cheap Organics

Recently I read an article about cutting one’s grocery bill in half. The title was enough to make me skeptical…and rightly so!

All of the suggestions were about buying in huge quantities and throwing more frozen vegetables and bulk chicken legs into the freezer. Choosing the no name brand cereal, the no name brand juice.

Okay…but?

There was nothing said about making conscious food choices that reflect the importance of organics or the treatment of animals or the farmers themselves for that matter, not to mention the benefits of buying local or eating meat without antibiotics and hormones. The suggestions were purely economic.

I want to propose a different budget, which is not quite so narrow and looks toward your future health. Because let me tell you, a diet of frozen entrees is neither satisfying nor nutrient rich. What’s the point of cutting our grocery budget at the expense of our health? We need to have a bigger vision for our refrigerators and our bodies. But you don’t have to be rich to eat organic.

You can eat healthy and organic and do it at a modest cost. Here’s how:

• Use fresh herbs for flavor and not sauces that are replete with sugar and ingredients you can’t even pronounce. Herbs are cheap. You can grow them in a pot on your window sill our out in the garden. Herbs add a healthy bang to your cooking. Sauces and store bought salad dressings are expensive and sugar laden.
• Stay away from food products. As in, don’t be throwing boxes of granola bars and breakfast cereals and fancy organic crackers into your cart otherwise you will end up with a hefty bill. Those items you might want to save for a place like Costco (I don’t shop there myself, but I know it’s a place for deals!)
• On the other hand, do stock up on fresh produce.
• Buy small quantities of this produce! Organic fruits and veggies do spoil more quickly, and rotten food doesn’t do anything helpful to your food budget, right? So live a little more European and head out to your grocery store a couple times a week, looking for the best looking produce. Plan your meals around what looks good!
• Buy grains in bulk. Grains are not expensive—it’s the food products made from those grains that are costly. So you can likely afford a bag of quinoa. But maybe not the chocolate quinoa energy bar.



• Commit to spending more time in the kitchen. It doesn’t have to be a burden. Once you make a habit of preparing food from scratch, you will start to enjoy the process. Your food will be more flavorful and the artist in you might even emerge! And food made from scratch is definitely cheaper. I can’t help but say to my family when we sit down for a gourmet home cooked meal, “This would have cost us a hundred dollars at a restaurant!”
• Make bigger batches of everything and freeze the leftovers. So that pot of chili you’re thinking of making for dinner tomorrow night—double the batch and freeze the rest. The extra you spend on the organic tomatoes, you will save next time you are tempted to eat out. Opt instead for that already prepared delicious meal waiting for you in the freezer.
• Make eating times a sacred family time. Avoid eating on the go. Sit down and really taste your food. Enjoy eating and the community that can be created around meal times. And then eat slower. You will eat less and save money!
• Look for sales and stock up on those organic items at those opportune moments. Keep your pantry stocked so you have the items you need when you need them!
• Eat vegetarian a couple times a week. Lentils and beans are significantly cheaper than meat so you will save tons of money by making a meat-less choice, not to mention you will be doing the planet a favor (carbon emissions from animal waste is a huge contributor to global warming). See here for a great lentils recipe.