Curious about organic goods but get sticker shock when you consider making the switch? No matter where you shop or what your grocery budget, you can begin to introduce some organic products into your household this week! It helps to consider your shopping practices and your purchasing philosophy first.
Fitting Organics into any Budget
You don’t have to change where you shop, especially if doing so means you would have to drive a lot more, which obviously has to be considered when trying to make a green or frugal choice. If you only have time to visit one store during the week, a so-called conventional grocery store that perhaps has a natural food section or organic items dispersed among the aisles, the answer isn’t necessarily to roll an empty cart up to Whole Foods tomorrow and hope for the best. Think about what fits into your time and family budget, and if you want to explore the organic co-op in the next town, do it for the sake of browsing and not when it’s 10:22 you need to stock up before preschool dismissal at 11:00 AM.
Start with that store you usually shop at and examine what your choices are. Could you swap out some breakfast cereal for an organic variety found in the same aisle? Many people start with the Dirty Dozen, the 12 grocery items that contain the highest pesticide residue levels. In our household, organic dairy products are a must, but some other items are negotiable.
That’s what I call our “purchasing philosophy” — we’ll pay extra for organic dairy products because it is important to us, but I will also do all that I can to get it at the best price by knowing what a competitive price is, what coupons or specials might be available, and how to stretch those items so that they are a good value for us. Did you know that in addition to freezing milk, cheese freezes exceptionally well? 🙂
By determining your personal philosophy of what you would like to buy organic, it becomes a lot easier to make those choices frugal ones. I read the Taylortown Preview each week to see if their are manufacturer’s coupons for any organic products that would motivate me to buy the Sunday paper.
When you find some items you like, you might discover a better price for them at a warehouse store like Costco that is offering more and more organic items, or from Amazon’s grocery department. You’ll have to buy in bulk in both cases, but if you go through organic vanilla milk boxes at the rate my 3 year old does, it’s worth it!
Thanks to Meagan at Sage-Parenting.Â
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Thank you so much for the articles on saving money with organics. I was concerned that i wouldnt be able to save money with the health changes I wanted to make for me family.
Carrie