Spending way too much on healthy groceries. Ideas?!
Spending way too much on healthy groceries. Ideas?
My husband and I are vegetarians and spend about $600/month on groceries. We eat salads, veggie foods (v. burgers, v. chicken, tofu), organic cottage cheese/yog., soy cheese, a lot of eggs, fruits, cereal. We buy mostly organic items. I will still buy organic veggies, though am now buying "normal" berries...hard to do. Suggestions for eating healthy without robbing the bank? We love what we eat, but it's pricey!
Additional Details22 hours ago
I'm not bragging at all. I don't appreciate that. I'm on a fixed budget like everyone else.
Answers:
Here is a great article about buying organic for less:
Buying organic on the cheap
If you decide that you’d prefer fewer chemicals and other additives in your food, the choice isn’t an easy one. Organic sticker shock can hit the most stalwart of organic shoppers. The fact is that organic farmers produce more labor-intensive products and don’t enjoy the economies of scale or government subsidies that their big brothers in agribusiness do. But we found many ways to save on the cost of organic products.
Comparison shop. Do a price check among local grocery stores for often purchased organic items and shop where you find the lowest prices. In the New York City area, for example, we found a 4-ounce jar of Earth’s Best organic baby food for as little as 69 cents and as much as $1.29. When it comes to fresh produce, remember that you’ll save by buying it in season.
Go local. You can find organic growers at most farmer’s markets, anda USDA study in 2002 found that about 40 percent of those farmers don’t charge a premium. For listings of local farmer’s markets and other sources, go to www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarket... and www.localharvest.org .
Join the farm team. Buy a share in a community-supported organic farm and you’ll get a weekly supply of produce from spring until fall. The cost to feed a family of four generally ranges from $300 to $500 for the season. (Some farms also require you to work a few hours a month distributing or picking produce.) The savings can be substantial. A price study by a community-supported farm in the Northeast showed that the average $10 weekly cost for a shareholder’s produce supply almost always beat farmer’s market organic prices and often cost less than the same nonorganic items at a supermarket. Go to www.sare.org for a list of community-supported farms.
Order by mail. National providers will ship items such as organic beef ( www.mynaturalbeef.com ). Some local businesses, such as FreshDirect ( www.freshdirect.com ) in the New York City area and Pioneer Organics ( www.pioneerorganics.com ) in the Pacific Northwest, offer home deliveries. Other helpful sites are at www.eatwellguide.org and www.theorganicpages.com .
Be a supermarket spy. Make sure you get what you pay for by watching where produce sits on shelves. All grocers are legally required to stack organic fruits and vegetables where they won’t be exposed to water runoff from the misting of conventional produce, which could contaminate organic items with pesticide residue. If a store is not following that rule, you may be wasting your money by buying organic produce there.