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Mackfam
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An earlier post on making your own yogurt prompted me to start this thread.
If you buy a majority of your family's food organic, how do you find ways to do it frugally? Do you have any tips for saving in your budget?
We've been doing this for a year - and we're committed! We were prompted after a number of very serious health issues kept coming up. No going back after seeing the tangible benefits to our health while eating this way. Our philosophy embraces what I guess you'd call a whole foods lifestyle. Get it as fresh, as simple, and as close to how God intended it. We're meat eaters, we love milk.
We found a great source for meat, both beef and pork, through local farmers. All organic, grass fed! Great stuff - we have a quarter of a cow and quarter of a hog in our freezer now.
I buy amish butter about 30 pounds at a time and store in my freezer.
The rest of the pantry stuff comes from various stores - I'll mention them but they may be of no help since store chains vary geographically - I buy some from Costco (they have a growing offering of organics and we like their fish,) Publix (a fairly good organic offering here,) and a small 7th day adventist health food store.
I've found that in order to make things like meat and butter fit into our budget, I've had to cut out A LOT of convenience items - no more cake mixes, cut WAY back on chips and snacky foods.
We grind our own wheat and make our own bread. This is still a weak area for me though. This summer I'm going to spend time perfecting a dough for making my own hamburger and hot dog buns (something we seem to go through a lot of,) and french bread. Anybody here done that? My family loves the daily loaf of wheat bread, but they're starting to ask for a little variety.
Veggies and fruit are my downfall. I soooooo long to incorporate more into our diet. I've come a long way, but it's just not how I grew up eating, and my dh is certainly a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Right now, I just seem to fall back on salad over and over again. Ugh! Any help here?
I know that we are all spread out all over the U.S. - so for example, I can't shop at Trader Joe's (a store I see mentioned here a lot.) I'm looking for general tips that we might all benefit from. Also, we have a growing family, but aren't yet blessed with a large family like so many of you have been. How many of you do this with a larger family? I said before, I'm not turning back, even if it means I have to start cooking beans every night, but I'd love to hear from some of you with lots of bigs and littles that make this work from the budget perspective. I'm very fortunate that my dh makes a very comfortable salary, but like all of you, we must still find ways to be frugal.
Have any of you found a good source for coupons for organic foods? We use the paper now, but there are hardly any in there.
Do any of you buy some or a majority of staples through online stores that offer lots of organics? Is it worth it?
I feel like I have a basic system down, although my menus and recipes still seem to be in flux as I try to "redeem" many of our old standbys. I feel comfortable shopping/eating this way now, and we have a workable budget I think. I am always looking for ideas to help save and pinch a little more of a penny. I'm so frustrated when I read great books like Tightwad Gazette - the idea is great, I love being frugal, but surely we're not the only ones trying to eat healthier and still live a frugal lifestyle. All of the frugal living books/websites support the white bread/store brand/cheapest version of any food. I need some frugal help that supports whole food eating.
I just re-read my post. I'm sorry for venting everybody, and sorry this post is so long! I would love some help, and maybe a little validation?? I really do embrace this lifestyle, and would welcome your help and any tips you might have for how to live it more fully, and more frugally!
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Jen Mackintosh
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organiclilac
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We belong to a food co-op that orders from UNFI. We do not have a Trader Joe's, but have a similar type of store, and we get the same foods from our co-op for about 40% off. We can order any type of thing you can get at a grocery store except fresh produce. According to their website, UNFI serves 34 states.
We order once every 4 weeks, although you can order more often. The truck brings everything to our meeting location, and we help unload, and then divvy everything up, including cases that we have split or bulk items. It usually takes us about 2 hours, and we have kids running everywhere and helping too. It is a lot of fun! We currently have 14 families, but you could start with less. With UNFI, you have to have at least $750 to order, I think.
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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Dawn
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Jennifer, I have been thinking along the same lines as you. We have done organic (mostly) for years now, and you're right - it can be very expensive! We actually have our youngest son on the Feingold diet which incorporates a LOT of all natural, organic foods.
I just blogged about my shopping cart this past weekend, and I will say, I went "convenience" this week. Ultimtely I wish to make more things from scratch for economic and health reasons. Right now I just have a lot on my plate and I need to make eating easy these next couple of weeks.
As far as fruit and veggies go - do you have a local CSA (community supported agriculture)? We belonged to one for a few years and LOVED it. This summer I aim to make a weekly stop at the farmer's market and eat locally (which might not always be organic but is usually less treated than produce that comes from a distance).
Ideally we would eat seasonally year round - but preserve/freeze things like strawberries to enjoy out of season. It is my dream to have jars of organic tomato sauce on my pantry shelf, that I've made (maybe grown) myself. 
I will be following this thread very closely. I am currently putting together a little food handbook for myself - combining shopping and cooking strategies to make organic (and Feingold in our case) more do-able. Like using up organc pears (on sale right now at Wild Oats) by jarring pear sauce (as opposed to apple sauce which my son can't have). I need to be better organized!
Thanks for bringing up this great subject!
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trish
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I don't have any frugal suggestions. I live in Canada so everything would be different anyway. But I do have some affirmation for you  . It takes alot of work to try and eat organic as cheaply as possible. Alot has to be made from scratch and bought from different sources. I consider us pretty lucky. We belong to an organic produce coop that we can order from weekly. It isn't much cheaper than the store but we can get things that most stores don't carry. I also can order monthly from a natural foods mail order that delivers to us. I order all my organic staples like grains, pasta, sugar, etc. from them.
I have to buy the butter and milk from the store but pretty much everything else is bought in bulk.
We are getting chicks tomorrow . Hopefully these will supply us with eggs and meat. My first time doing this. I hope I don't kill them all.
 I'll be feeding them whole grains (mostly organic) so they'll be almost organic 
As for incoporating more fruits and veges into your diet you could try a green smoothie. My kids love them and I do too. Just take a big handful of greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard, romaine, etc) add a banana, maybe some berries or strawberries, peaches, or whatever kind of sweet fruit, a couple of cups of water, and a sweetener (maybe honey or agave nactar). I don't use the sweetener but I do for the kids. Blend it all up in the blender and there you go  . If you have a dehydrator you can make fruit roll ups. Bananas and any other kind of fruit make yummy ones. Just set it at a low temp (95 - 110) so you don't destroy the enzymes.
We live out in the country so we grow alot of our staples like potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots. I'm really going to try to do tomatoes this year. I do use quite few organic canned tomatoes.
As for the breads you can probably take any recipe and convert it. I use my cinnamon roll dough recipe for making buns for hamburgers. I just 1/2 it with my spelt flour that I make and the other 1/2 organic all purpose that I buy. These taste pretty good and aren't too hard to make. It's just a sweet bread recipe really.
I love eating the way we do. It is hard though sometimes. It can be alot of work. But I know it's worth it too. I also see a difference in our children's health since we've been doing it. There isn't any going back.
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stefoodie
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We get stuff through UNFI too -- Find a Buying Club Near You. And I go online to see what's on sale at Wild Oats -- and try to stick to what's on sale. Don't forget local farmers for produce -- what's been helpful: CSA boxes (check out localharvest.org or eatwellguide.com, or grow our own. Local farmers offer meats and poultry as well. I go to the local Asian market for fresh fish, but am picky because of mercury concerns -- I buy the smaller fish usually that my kids just like fried (they stink up your house but they're yummy .
I'd go to TJ's but they're kinda far from me. Plus some of the regular supermarkets around me have increased their stock of organic foods so that helps esp. when they go on sale (but I rarely shop at those places because I just don't have time to go to 3-4 different places in a week!).
a guide to help you pick produce -- tells you which ones are safe to buy conventional, so you don't have to spend your $ on organic
Oceans Alive's fish list (tells you which ones are lowest in mercury content
You won't believe this, I actually fed my kids Spam yesterday.
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Betsy
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+JMJ+
Jennifer,
We have been following the recommendations of the Weston A. Price Foundation for about four years and I can't turn back either. If you don't have Nourishing Traditions or Eat Fat, Lose Fat you would benefit from Sally Fallon’s insight and wisdom on nutrition and whole foods.
With that being said the best health benefits/budget stretchers have been making my own broth as described in Nourishing Traditions and making/buying fermented foods.
However, our budget is still larger then I would like it to be so I am all ears on suggestions too!
Betsy
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Maturemomg
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Ditto on UNFI.
BUT, I also have found that my local chain grocery store (Hy-Vee) OFTEN will give me good deals on organic produce. I would say at least 1/3 of the time it is SAME price (or sometimes even cheaper). (But then I don't buy the stuff they have which is much more expensive...)
I routinely get apples for under $1/#, potatoes for about $.40/#. I do buy boxes or cases, 40 or 50? at a atime. But I have also gotten smaller quantaties. One time I bought a box of organic apples (oddball variety, but tasted perfectly good) that wasn't selling for him. He gave them to me for $.50/#. Organic carrots are about $14-15 for 25#.
This is all from my regular grocery store.
You can also look at it this way:
Imagine 1# of apples or oranges or carrots.
Now imagine 1# of meat or cheese.
And a # of chips.
Think of the price of each, the volume of each, the "food value" (nutrients) of each. But most of all, think of how "filling" each thing is.
I tend to find that fruit and veggies are the most nutritious and filling for the least dollar.
A pound of cheese is the same as 3-5# of apples. In my house, the cheese might last as PART of one meal (on pizza, say). 3-5 pounds of apples go much farther for the same dollar cost, more or less.
Yours in Christ,
Kathy
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5athome
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We find Costco to be a good source for fruits/veggies. We have salad every night (something Italian dh grew up with) but I also try to have a fruit and another veggie.
Kids like the dried fruit crisps from Costco (dried natural fruit in bags, no additives). They were "new" to us on our last visit to Costco.
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missionfamily
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This thread is so perfect for us right now. We were already transitioning toward an organic, heavily fruit and veggie based diet before dh's heart attack in December, bu now are totally committed. We have a local organic farm here (with the added plus of it being a Christian home-schooling family with ten adopted children)that produces amazing chicken, tilapia, eggs, turkey, beautiful veggies, cereal, honey, and goat's milk. The mom also told me about this farmerthis farmer who produces andships raw cheese. We co-op this with another family. That family has goat's milk and eggs for which we will soon be trading veggies from our summer garden.
In short, local farmers are probably the cheapest way to buy organic on the fresh food end of things.
We are still struggling and looking for ideas on fruit and "snacky" type items, as well as a fair trade variety of coffee. I can't wait to see what everyon else has to add to this thread.
Colleen
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trish
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Betsy wrote:
+JMJ+
Jennifer,
We have been following the recommendations of the Weston A. Price Foundation for about four years and I can't turn back either. If you don't have Nourishing Traditions or Eat Fat, Lose Fat you would benefit from Sally Fallon’s insight and wisdom on nutrition and whole foods.
With that being said the best health benefits/budget stretchers have been making my own broth as described in Nourishing Traditions and making/buying fermented foods.
However, our budget is still larger then I would like it to be so I am all ears on suggestions too!
Betsy
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Wow. I just checked out the Weston A. Price Foundation site. Very informative. Thanks for that link. It has good info on there that I agree with 
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~ Trish ~
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Angel
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You know... we get our organic/grass-fed beef through a local farmer and it's actually a lot cheaper than buying meat in the store. Maybe we just lucked out? He charges $3 a pound, and it's GREAT beef. (Plus he lets the kids come over and look at his animals.) We've got about half a side left in the freezer. His chicken does end up running a little more expensive than the store, but certainly not as expensive as buying *organic/free-range* chicken in the store! I am hoping he'll add pork this year; last year he was just keeping some pigs for himself.
This thread is interesting to me because we don't have a lot of the choices that other people across the country have, and if I shop at a grocery store vs Wal-Mart I end up paying about $100 more a week. Theoretically our garden should provide us with cheap organic produce, but... well, enough said there, I think.
--Angela
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Bookswithtea
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We are working on making changes too. I've started with committing to organic dairy products, and will work my way into veggies and fruits. We get our beef from a local farmer...its not grass fed but its 100% antibiotic and garbage free. We live rurally so I can get range free eggs cheaply, too. The only coop available to me right now is one where the owner does the work and tacks on 10%. I refuse to participate because I think it violates the entire principle of cooping in the first place...  I can't tell you how irritated I am by the whole thing.
We do shop Costco and Trader's for a lot of things, and our supermarket chain carries organic milk reasonably.
I find myself torn between the cost and the time it takes to acquire the food. Its not easy. I'm all ears for new ideas...
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Mackfam
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Wow! You guys are amazing! I took the kids to a used book store, came home, and found all of your replies here!!
I do have Nourishing Traditions - awesome book! The Weston Price Foundation was one of the main sources of our "conversion." So I'm definitely with you all there!
trish wrote:
I also can order monthly from a natural foods mail order that delivers to us. I order all my organic staples like grains, pasta, sugar, etc. from them.
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Trish,
I know you are in Canada, but you mentioned you order from a natural foods mail order - do you mind me asking - who are they? What's your experience there? I'm in North Alabama, and while things are slowly moving in the organic direction, it's tough since the culture here is battered and deep fried!  So, farmer's markets are ok -ish. But there are some things/staples I have trouble finding here that larger markets might carry. I've been looking into online/mail ordering some things, but I'd love your take on it. Also, like Stef, I just don't have time to devote to 4 or 5 different stores.
Dawn wrote:
As far as fruit and veggies go - do you have a local CSA (community supported agriculture)? We belonged to one for a few years and LOVED it. This summer I aim to make a weekly stop at the farmer's market and eat locally (which might not always be organic but is usually less treated than produce that comes from a distance).
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Dawn,
I've been looking into CSA. We found a great Catholic family that offers organic produce that I need to contact to look into this. Unfortunately, it's out of reach budgetwise this year, we need to start saving now a little at a time to make an investment like this in the spring. Anyway, I've found a great source. Did you have any trouble using all of the veggies they provided and did your family have trouble eating some of the stranger stuff. I know they include recipes in the box if the farmer puts in something a little unusual. I'm a little frightened by this, because I don't want to waste money or good food (my kids can sometimes be quite picky!) but I'm also thinking it would be a good way to force me to try new things.
Thanks everybody for the link to UNFI - I'm going to spend some time really looking into that tonight!!! I've never heard of it!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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trish
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The natural foods mail order belongs to a seventh day adventist couple who I just by chance happened on through a friend. They aren't very big and only deliver to me because of my friend. But I do purchase quite a bit from them. It works out great for us because they don't charge shipping. ( We both live right in between their two delivery areas and they just drop it off on their way.) It is usually cheaper than buying from the natural foods stores that we have here but not always. You have to factor in the cost for gas drving to the different stores etc. Mail order you have to account for the cost of shipping.
I just ordered Nourishing Traditions. Glad to have found it and I'm really looking forward to reading it.
My dh and I really want to get a milk cow (jersey) but we're a bit nervous about it. Something else we haven't done before.
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~ Trish ~
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Betsy
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+JMJ+
My 2 cents!
I had a CSA last year and I ended up throwing a lot of food away  . I found that I was unable to make a menu because I got different food every week, I often got a lot of one thing that was in season (like 4 heads of lettuce, but no other salad toppings), or I just plain forgot about things!
BUT, a friend of mine had a different CSA and her boxes were much better balanced and she loved it.
So, try to research how the boxes are put together and get a feel for what you are going to get vs. what you will need to supplement.
Betsy
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Mackfam
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Betsy wrote:
+JMJ+
My 2 cents!
I had a CSA last year and I ended up throwing a lot of food away . I found that I was unable to make a menu because I got different food every week, I often got a lot of one thing that was in season (like 4 heads of lettuce, but no other salad toppings), or I just plain forgot about things!
BUT, a friend of mine had a different CSA and her boxes were much better balanced and she loved it.
So, try to research how the boxes are put together and get a feel for what you are going to get vs. what you will need to supplement.
Betsy
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that is so helpful to know!! Thank you Betsy
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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LisaD
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stefoodie wrote:
You won't believe this, I actually fed my kids Spam yesterday. |
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Was it Spam musubi? Mmmm...broke da mouth!
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LLMom
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How do you find someone who will sell organic meat by the side? I live in a "rural" area but haven't found anyone who does this. I live in the south. It seems that organic farming isn't as big here. Not as many environmentalists.
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Mackfam
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LLMom wrote:
How do you find someone who will sell organic meat by the side? I live in a "rural" area but haven't found anyone who does this. I live in the south. It seems that organic farming isn't as big here. Not as many environmentalists.
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Lisa,
The Eat Well Guide and the Local Harvest are two great resources! It's how we found Burt's Beef. Not sure where you are in the south, but we drive about 2 hours to get to Burt's Beef (we're a little north of Huntsville, AL) - it's well worth it. Anyway, check out the above two resources. You may have to be willing to really lengthen the amount you're willing to drive. You're right though - it is harder to find organic farmers, but I think it is expanding (it has a lot in just the last year.)
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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Dawn
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Mackfam wrote:
| Did you have any trouble using all of the veggies they provided and did your family have trouble eating some of the stranger stuff. I know they include recipes in the box if the farmer puts in something a little unusual. I'm a little frightened by this, because I don't want to waste money or good food (my kids can sometimes be quite picky!) but I'm also thinking it would be a good way to force me to try new things. |
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Jennifer, we did have some trouble keeping up with the produce, and with some of the "stranger" stuff. We got a LOT of kale, which at the time, was not too appealing. We had a family size subscription for fruit, but only a single size sub. for vegetables.
If I could have been just a bit more organized, I think it would have worked. I loved getting all those peaches and making peach butter. I loved getting all those apples and making apple sauce (this was before we realized youngest ds couldn't eat apples). In November they offered keepers in bulk (like butternut squash, onions, apples, garlic and potatoes). I loved that! I loved stocking in all those lovely vegetables for the winter. The squash we actually cooked down and froze - it made delicious breads!
There weren't as many berries as I would have liked, but when the fruit crop was limited we got beautiful local honey. They also included herbs and they were wonderful.
Actually, I really wish to re-join, and probably will next year (it's too late for this year). That's why I hope to make it to the farmer's market every weekend.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: frugal living - organic eating
