Thursday, December 6, 2007

Organic Thinking

After many months of working hard to get my grocery budget to less than $300 a month, and usually much less, I have decided to embark upon a new challenge: Organic fresh foods.

Yep, I, Ms. Cheap Foods, am trying to go green. OK, not all the way, but for the small amounts of fresh produce that we do buy, I am starting to look in that small section that charges a little more money, but you get better quality out of the food.

I know that it is not the cheapest path, but we have way too much junk in our tummies, so I am making a concerted effort to get better foods into our diets.

So, now how do I do this and keep it as cheap as possible???? PLEASE give me your tips, because this is uncharted territory for me!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a friend with a few apple trees. She trades me all the apples I can pick for doing something for her. So I advise you to trade product for skill.

Good luck with the organics.

:)

Anonymous said...

You need to find a small "green" market nearby, they usually have the cheapest prices on produce!! Good Luck, your taste buds and your health will thank you!!

AnnMarie said...

A) Buy in season.
B) Buy local.

I'm sure you can buy organic strawberries right now, but if you wait until next June, they'll be cheaper!

I'm sure I can buy organic bananas, but I don't since I live in WI. (We do buy them for daughter, because they keep her regular. She's only 3 and it's the only thing we've found that works. But I've eaten only one or two bananas in the last year.) Instead, I eat an apple almost every day Sept-April. I eat carrots in the summer and fall. I eat lettuce and other greens only in the late spring-summer. I eat tomatoes only in summer-fall. Etc.

And boy, do tomatoes taste better! And I can eat salad 5 times a week, since it's only for about 5 weeks. And boy do I treasure my every other week blueberries I froze in pint containers last July after picking them in bulk at a U-Pick farm.

Mom of Five said...

Grow it yourself! That is going to be the cheapest way to go green, especially if you live in a predominately agricultural area. I know that sounds contradictory, but we live in Louisiana, and everything here is grown with chemicals, because it's all going to mass marketing, not small farms.

Therefore, we grow our own organic vegetables in our garden, and we just planted some berry bushes. Next year, we are putting in a small orchard with dwarf fruit trees, which don't require as much room, and begin producing in 1-3 years instead of 10-15.

Arden said...

All I can say is good luck. My grocery budget is $150 a week for the nine of us and there isn't much room for organics or a whole lot of junk.
I would like to hear more about your $300 a month budget tho'.