Seeking Ideas on Cost-effective Organics

Organic is a fad thing right now and rightfully so. I am a very firm believer it is important to buy and eat healthy. However all things don't need to be organic. Dairy if fat is higher, like 2 percent to whole. If it is lower fat milk then there is no need to buy organic as the less the fat content the less there is in the milk as far as hormones and so on. We use 1 percent so my Dr said there is no need to go "organic". Spending $2.39 on a whole gallon of one percent is much more appealing for me then $4.00 for a half gallon of organic. Kids don't need high fat milk anyway after they are 2.

As far as fruits and veggies, the thin skinned variety it is important for organics. There is no sense in buying organic bananas as they have thick skin and chemicals do not seep in and most aren't needed for those fruits.

As for meats, you can call a local farm and see if they sell beef or chicken wholesale and you are buying directly from where it came from. Also local dairies sell eggs and dairy products fresh.

You can buy free range chicken in grocery stores and less of a cost then "organic". I have never bought organic meat products, I buy mainly ground turkey and chicken and rarely buy red meat.

Bread products don't need to be organic, save yourself money there. Buying whole grain breads even at the store brand is all that you need for healthy choosing.

Find a Sprouts store or see if you have a store near you that isn't necessarily a "chain" organic food store. Farmers markets are great too for the summer fruits and veggies. Sprouts is by the previous founders of Wild Oats and is less fancy but the savings are fantastic! Fruits and veggies are really inexpensive even less the grocery stores.

Investigate what really needs to be "organic" as far as if you need that addtional cost. Talk to your Pediatrician. I don't buy organic eggs, I buy Egglands Best, that has Omega 3 and is free range. I think sometimes the word "organic" is misleading and gets too pricey.

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Sunflower market on wednesdays..the double sale day.

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Many small farmers have farming practices that are safe and healthy, but have not gone through the expense to be certified organic. We have a farmer that we buy beef, pork and poultry products from, and they pasture raise all their animals, with a small amount of grain supplementation. The animals spend most of their time on grass pasture that is not sprayed or treated in any way--but the meat is not certified organic. However, I feel it is very healthy, and I love getting eggs and meat from them. To contrast, organic poultry can spend over 95% of its life indoors, in crowded conditions, never eating grass or veggies, and still be labeled organic. So, don't be afraid to investigate and look at options that aren't labeled organic--if you can talk to the farmer and get satisfactory answers on how things are raised. Also, if you are going to do only ONE thing organic, do butter. Most of the pesticides and toxins an animal is exposed to are concentrated in the fat of the animal. Thus, conventional butter (which is 100% fat) can contain up to 80 times the toxins and pesticides that are found in organic butter. So, butter is a biggie.

You can PM me for the email address of the ranchers I buy meat from, if you are interested.

I use door to door organics in the winter, and am planning to use Grant Family Farms CSA for the summer and fall months. You can also get organic eggs, meat, and fruit from them during the CSA period (June-December).

Anyway, there are lots of options out there, and farmers markets are a great place to get stuff in the summer. I have gotten boxes of things like over ripe tomatoes really cheap, which I then take home and make sauce from, which I freeze for later use. Or you can dice and freeze to add to soup or stew, or dry and use as sun dried tomatoes. If you do any food preserving, and have a schedule that can accommodate that unexpectedly, then you are all set! You might also look into co-ops. There are a lot of groups out there that buy from co-ops together, and that is a great way to get natural and organic non-perishables like canned foods or cereals.

We use door-to-door organics, and as a mom I love the weekly delivery and freshness of the fruits and veggies...You can't really select the actual foods each week, but you can go online so you know what to expect. They also do not deliver milk or any dairy for that matter. But the 'in season' foods are so delicious and it forces me to find new recipes and our family to have new dishes for meals. We spilt our box with our neighbors and it's plenty for one week...give them a try :)

Try going to Costco. They have the very best and cost effect organic meats, fruits and vegtable. Yes, you have to buy bigger packages of meat but they all freeze great. I have noticed that they have the largest selection of organic around! They even have eggs! Costco is really trying to have more organic choices.

HI N.,
When we have not butchered one of our own cows or chickens I go to Costco. They have about the best prices on organic "everything" from veges, to cereal, cheese, milk & eggs to ground beef (not always in stock, I go to Hwy.7 & I-25) & organic chicken.

But you can always search Craigslist, the paper for ads & look up a local butcher shop for the inside Skinny. Like Timkavitches (sp?) on 72nd & washington abouts. Hope this helps! G

I've started buying at Costco. They have a surprisingly large selection of Organic products.

It's a lot of quantity at once but it works out less expensive in the end. I freeze what can be frozen. And for their organic snacks (like blueberries, trail mix, etc) I divide them into reusable containers so that they are a good portion size.

The other thing I have been looking at is purchasing my meat from an organic farm. I haven't done it yet because I have to clear out more space in my freezer. But there is a good Buffalo Farm I know of in Nebraska that will even ship you the meat (http://straightarrowbison.com/about.html). I worked out the price and it's a lot cheaper to buy the quarter buffalo than to keep buying the little packets in the store. Also, I just looked at the website and they are selling in smaller quantities now.

Haven't looked into Chicken farms or anything like that yet.

Hi N.. We're also trying to get our meat & dairy as natural (and affordable) as possible. I'd like to echo what others have said about Costco. Their chicken breast packets are really affordable. Also, according to one of the butchers at the Westminster store, the Erie Costco has the best selection of organic / all natural products. They have fresh beef, pork, chicken, turkey all w/out added hormones. Even if it's out of your way, it might be worth making a monthly trip there to stock up. Good luck!

many have said it, but i'll repeat it. i think whole foods just went up in chicken price to 8.99/lb. . . TOO MUCH. i was buying at 7.99/lb a few weeks ago. sunflower market is 7.99/lb but costco is 5.99/lb this is for chicken breasts. costco also sells whole organic chickens, which i have no done price comparisons on, but i'm going to venture a guess that it's less there. also they FINALLY had plain organic soy milk last night when i went. spending almost $4 on half a gallon of organic soymilk is killing me, but i think the price break down ($12.89) takes it down to a little over $2/half gallon. organic eggs . . . where do you get yours? there is a local farm in UT they do deliveries to some houses and the you do a weekly pick up there. it's $3.50/dozen as opposed to almost $5 at whole foods, but target is $3.69 for their store brand eggs which are organic brown. anyway, hope this helps. send any great tips you've got or any great deals you've found my way too. . . we try to eat about 90% organic. and the idea that you should as your pediatrician about organics. . um, that's not really their profession is it? bread? i'd say that yeah, whole grains are great. .. how were they treated with pesticides before becoming bread? i try to go organic on most things because i'm considering where they come from. . . and pesticides are a big problem with anything with soy, corn, wheat and certain fruits and veg.

For produce check out door to door organics, we use their service and totally love it. We had also found that Vitamin Cottage generally has lower prices on all their organics and natural foods. Some alternatives to consider are Tillamook dairy products - they are not organic but they are close. Also Tyson chicken is close to organic as well. We also use a local dairy service for our milk, again not organic but close and actually better because it is local and not so processed...best part is that it is cheaper than organic.

Hi. I just wanted to add that there are a LOT of places putting an 'organic' label on their products, yet they really aren't because that's 1 thing that isn't yet regulated by the FDA, so the guidelines are a bit obscure. You can google that subject & find out more about it. But a lot of the places that have been suggested to you, esp the farms, etc., do have a great selection of true organics.

Also, if you have a yard or a bit of space, grow what you can, of your own. We grow a huge garden every year, not only is it tasty, it's cheap & it feels good to eat stuff you grew yourself. Obviously I'm not talking about animals, lol, but if you have enough room, you can grow some of your own animals too.

Good luck!

hi there. We buy our meat 6 months at a time from a place called town & Country. They stock our freezer with meat, veggies, starchs, etc and it's all organic. you would still have to go to the store for fresh things but i found that I love the taste of town & Country and the convience of having it delievered to my house.

Have you ever thought about joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) they are many farms/ranches that have produce, dairy, and meat shares...and the prices are really affordable, and you are supporting local farmers/ranches

N. M,
Do you live in a rural area. We buy from the Hutterites and Amish alot, if you have farmers near your area it is also a great place. You may have to really look around your surrounding area as well. We also buy straight from Melaleuca with our household items for most of their products are made from nature and do not contain toxins that store brand bath product, cleaners, make up and some food products, even pharmasucidical

Have you tried that new Sunflower Farmers Market? Their organic prices are way better than most!

Hi N.,

My chiropractor has told me that the most important thing to buy organic is meat. It has the highest consentration of toxic substaces if not organic. As for everything else it's okay to not go totally organic, buy it if it's on sale.

He and his family buy a GRASS FED cow for beef from a man named Elmer. If you are interested here is the number. ###-###-####

I personally haven't bought any beef from him yet. 1/4 of a cow cost just under $500. So I'm still trying to figure out how to fit that into my food budget. Hope this helps! It can be so confusing and frustrating trying to eat well sometimes. God Bless!

Costco has organic chicken breast for $5.99/lb. There are also some small farms that raise their animals and grow their vggies exceeding organic standards, but cannot afford to go through the long and expensive process to have their foods labeled "certified organic." You might look into this with people you trust (maybe at the farmers market) There are also organic food co-ops. If you join, you can share bulk orders with several families. I don't know where you would find info on these, but I know they are common in Denver. Check with Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. They may have info on food co-ops.

You have a lot of responses but just to add to some of the others...I have found a gallon of local natural milk at sunflower market for 3.09 which is the cheapest yet and they often have great sales on organic fruit and veggies, such as 2 for 5 on strawberries, its different each week but I think its worth it. As for meat, like the others have said buy in bulk from a local farm.

L.

Hi N.-

Vitamin Cottage has some excellent prices, as does Sunflower occasionally (though confirm it's organic--they have a lot of very unnatural things at their stores). King Soopers has some good prices on organic produce--I also make sure to buy the dirty dozen organic, plus dairy, some breads and certain oils like canola. I've found that you can buy some snacks (like Clif zbars for my daughter) on Amazon for a ridiculously low price and it's discounted even more when you get a subscription, which you can set to every 6 months like we do and then that shipment if we're not ready. EWG has a pesticides shopping guide that we use as guidance: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php. We also save a lot of money going to the farmer's market in the summer--go at the end of the day to get cheaper produce if you're not looking for specific items. Most farmers don't want to bring perishable items home.

I wanted to contradict one of the entries and let you know that the word "organic" is regulated by USDA requirements, and therefore the FDA; it's the word "natural" that isn't. Companies can get into severe trouble--fined or jailed for using organic when it is not. Certified organic requires a certain percent of ingredients to be organic. If you have any questions you can check out the Organic Trade Association http://www.ota.com/listbackground05.html or the USDA Organic website. Good for you for eating organic! It's not just about the pesticides in the foods your family eats, but also with what we leave behind in the environment with general farming practices. For inspiration, read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle!

We buy organic fruits and veggies from the dirty dozen list (the ones that are most affected by pesticides...google it to get the list if you haven't already.) We do organic dairy, cage free eggs and everything hormone and antibiotic free. I'd love to be able to do everything organic, but it is too expensive. Sometimes frozen organic veggies are cheaper and easier to find than fresh (like peppers.) We also buy a community supported agriculture (CSA) share in the summer which is a more affordable way to get organic veggies.