OT - How do you save money on whole/organic foods?

[Judegirl]

Katie has re-insprired me to slash our grocery bill, but I can never figure out how to save on what we buy: beans, grains, organic eggs and dairy, organic produce, and organic or AB-free meat (along with a few specialty packaged products like Silk creamer and Applegate's organic hotdogs.) So mnay of the savings seem to be on packaged foods.

If there are places to save on the basics and organic stuff, I haven't found them yet!

(Cross-posted at MDC; if I find anything good, I'll let you all know!)

Thanks,
Jude

[aliceinwonderland]

--some things I just cut out from the budget entirely, we don't eat these anymore: salmon(too $$ for the wild one), lasagna (too many organic ingridients to be bought).

--I buy chicken legs or chicken parts instead of the skinless stuff or the whole chicken. The savings here are significant. Meat, oddly, is always cheaper at WF rather than TJ's where everything else organic is much less $$. When marinaded and roasted, it all tastes the same, anyway.
--I am flexible on produce: if something organic is on sale or at a good price, I buy it. I go in with no pre-conceived notions :) As an example: I am not big into squash, but I saw it for 1.3X at TJ's the other night, so the veggie last night was squash gratin :)
--Buy frozen veggies instead of fresh
--I make my own youghurt
--make 1-2 low cost meals per week: quiche or pasta.

Some things I just do not get organic: Pecorino Romano cheese (can't find it), some meats (I know, I know, but something's got to give).

I am always looking for ideas too.

EDIT to add that our grocey/food bill is one of the largest items in our budget too. And we rarely eat out and I never, ever throw any food away. I don't know what else to cut, really.

[MarisaSF]

Two words: Trader Joe's! (You're in NYC though, right?)

I'm looking into becoming a Costco member too -- I've seen that they have some organic veggies.

[kijip]

I am in a lucky situation- in Seattle it seems that the prevalence of farmer's markets and natural food stores means that there are sales and store coupon/specials on natural/organic foods. Yesterday in fact my store had organic bananas and lettuce for the same price or less of conventional. At the store there are often off the shelf coupons for organic items (salad greens, eggs). Since they don't expire for a while, I take many if I will use them! That said, I admit that I am now cutting some (not all) corners on organic. I figure that for us to live on 1 (small!) income and still save $$ I needed to let some things go- my personal choice. I have mixed feeling about this but I think the ability to live on 1 income now is a better deal for my family.

That being said here are some things that I have done in the past or am doing now with regards to organic bargains:

-Frozen organic veggies are great for pot pies, shepard's pie and the like. Trader Joes has these.

-Sign up at all the organic food websites like Horizon Organics and Organic Valley (and your Applegate hotdogs!) to get coupons. I do brief surveys for Organic Valley and they send me $5 worth of coupons on things I was going to buy anyway (milk! eggs!). Once I did this I seem to be on the mailing list so I get a lot of other companies coupons in th email for organic items. If I like them I call and ask for more. Then I have my family and friends do the same!

-Shop the veggie stands and farmer's markets in your area (if you have them- agin I am a bit spoiled) late in the day for specials and sales on things to use right away or freeze.

-Beans and the like dry are cheaper than canned so I just buy those things and forget about looking for sales.

-Try to use recipes that call for less of an expensive ingredient. For example chicken stew or a pasta dish with chicken in the sauce instead of a whole chicken breast per person. Frankly, most people could seriously reduce thier portion sizes of poultry and meats anyway!

-Learn to live with bone-in chicken- skin it yourself! Or thighs vs. breasts.

-Try to negotiate a deal with any organic veggie delivery service in your area. Maybe they will cut the rate if you pay for a longer period or maybe they will just cut the rate to keep a customer.

-Consider using transitional or "near organic" items if available. EXAMPLE: Milk that is free of hormones and antibiotics but not (or not yet) certified organic. Eggs that are vegetarian fed, hormone free etc but not certified organic sell for half the price of organic egges and only a few cents more than conventional.

Hope these tips help a little! We don't expect to save a dime on milk ($5-6 a gallon!) unless we have a coupon or soft fruits and berries unless frozen. We are flip flopping on meats.

Let us know what you find out!

[squimp]

I would shop around. Our Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger) has lots of organic food and it's often cheaper and sometimes better quality than our local hippy food store. A gallon of organic Valley milk is a dollar cheaper there. However, the French feta we like is twice as expensive at Fred Meyer! So I have to keep a running tally in my head.

[MarisaSF]

You probably already do this, but one thing I try to keep in mind is "Save money by not wasting money."

That is, it's okay to buy individual items that are more expensive than a competing brand, as long as it means we are more likely to eat it. It makes me sick to think of the food we've bought that has gone to waste because we didn't/wouldn't eat it.

Oftentimes, I'm more likely to eat and finish a delicious fresh organic food than I am something else.

[trumansmom]

If you lived in South Dakota, I could help you out with AB-free beef. :)

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Independent Consultant, Do-Re-Me & You!

[ykc]

Do you live in South Dakota? Where?

I won't do the "you're the first person I've met from SD" thing, because my husband is actually from SD. But you don't often meet people from there, when you don't live near SD yourself!

[trumansmom]

LOL! I'm not actually "from" here, but DH is. He was the first person I had ever met from here. :)

We live outside of Sioux Falls. If you're ever in the area, let me know!!

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Independent Consultant, Do-Re-Me & You!

[brittone2]

We have an awesome food co-op nearby that allows you to buy a share/membership for $100 for a lifetime I believe. We then get back 5% on our grocery bills. The best deal though is that if you volunteer 3 hours a week, you can get 20% of your weekly bill (some items are excluded, I think dairy/meat don't count but it is a savings regardless). I will probably try to do that next year for our family once DH's schedule calms down a bit.

We also have a great farmer's market with lots of organic or almost organic (no pesticides or herbicides but not yet "certified") fruits and veggies. It is all locally grown within a 50 mile radius and they are very picky about the farmers they allow in....it has to be locally grown. From things I've read, sometimes it is healthier to buy locally and non organic (if the food isn't a "dirty dozen" item like strawberries) because the nutrients are so high it sort of offsets the risk. You could similarly save money buy buying organic produce whenever possible but for some items where it supposedly doesn't matter as much, just try to buy locally but non organic or just buy non organic.

As Eri said, I rarely meal plan before I shop. I buy what is on sale produce wise and buy a lot of it. If apples are on sale for 99 cents a pound, I get 4 or 5 lbs and we eat a LOT of apples in the next 2-3 weeks since they last a while. We do most of our shopping at the co-op (which fwiw also buys almost everything it can locally), but I do hit Whole Foods every so often and try to buy things our co op doesn't have or buy whatever "loss leader" fruits/veggies they have on sale and stock up JUST on those items. Ditto with whatever else is on sale.

We don't buy organic convenience foods most of the time. We buy our own wheatberries and grind our own fresh organic flour and use that to make pizza crusts, etc. I do buy bread because I'm too lazy to bake it regularly. We make as much as we can in general from scratch.

We use organic cheese but try to stretch it out and not use as much as we would with non organic cheese. Our eggs are still expensive but we sometimes buy organic and sometimes from our farmers market where there is a farm that has *True* free ranging chickens (you can visit the farm if you want) that eat only vegetarian, organic feed (again, they just aren't "certified" organic yet). I'm comfortable with either. It is still more than regular eggs, but less than organic.

We eat a lot of vegetarian meals. Lots of rice/bean type dishes (but organic). We roast a whole chicken, which gives us 2 meals at least, and then I make stock from the bones, so it is an extra meal that is pretty inexpensive. Organic pasta, organic sauce (can sometimes get this on sale at regular grocery stores pretty inexpensively).

I buy frozen organic veggies to always have something on hand. Nutritionally frozen is actually pretty decent.

We make our own yogurt but in our case it doesn't save a whole lot of money, but we like throwing in our own probiotics so we can sort of customize it LOL. Yes, DH is a chemist after all ;)

When things go on sale like organic canned beans, even if it is only a savings of 25 cents a can, I buy a LOT. A LOT. It adds up for us.

Meat is occasionally marked down for quick sale at our co op and if we can find it we buy it and freeze it. Meat is kind of used sparingly as some other people said. If we have chicken tacos, the chicken is mixed in with beans and rice to make it go further.

I do buy antibiotic/hormone free chicken sausage at Costco. They also have less expensive organic milk and sometimes have (limited) organic salad greens and frozzen organic veggies. It is something though.

In the spring we'll be doing a garden. We had one back in PA and every little bit we didn't have to buy added up. We made our own spaghetti sauce and canned tomatoes too.

I visit the MDC boards for frugal but healthy meal ideas pretty often. It helps to generate some new ideas and I find it really helpful to read what other people cook for their families.

I have to request getting on some coupon mailing lists. THat would be a big help :)

[miki]

For dry goods I go to a local natural foods store where they have bulk bins. Beans, dried fruit, etc. that are organic are cheaper this way than pre-packed at the supermarket. Costco seems like they are getting more and more organic products. I just had DH get a few giant boxes of an organic cereal that I like that cost the same as regular sized boxes at the health foods store. I also subscribe to an organic produce delivery service. The price is comparable to store bought but with the added convenience of delivery and the produce is fresher. The fact that it comes every week pushes me to cook at home and use up the produce before the next delivery comes. HTH

[lisams]

I just got an awesome book about buying organic that rates foods based on which ones are most contaminated with hormones and/or pesticides, and from that I choose which foods I will buy organic. For example fat free milk has barely any because the contaminants are found in the fat of the milk so we buy regular fat-free milk and organic 1%.

I've gotta go, but I'll post the title and more later!!

[ykc]

My husband was actually the 2nd or 3rd person I met from SD! He grew up in Mitchell and Watertown. I, on the other hand, am a "coastist elitist," but now find myself in Ohio. My husband says it's all part of his plan to move me closer and closer to SD. (Of course, his parents have now moved away to their home state of MN!)

[bluej]

Too funny. I'm from SD, now living in Ohio. We moved a little more than a year ago from MN (I WISH that was my homestate!).

Jeanne, we love our SD beef! We still go in on having one of DH's uncles cows butchered and we have my FIL bring it out to us in coolers :)

[Ryansmom]

I struggle with this same issue. I found this article today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_he_me/fit_organic_kids;_ylt=AhxJF9HpZFi5NLqV.XTgNRRZ24cA ;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

In the article it mentions the most and least contaminated foods. I recently found this list - I think it might be called "the dirty dozen" by some. So now, I am watching what I buy in the produce section.

I look forward to hearing other ideas.

thanks!

[purpleeyes]

Giant has that new organic brand-I'm sorry, I can't remember the name! :( But it seems to be pretty good in terms of prices, especially with the Giant Card-this week a dozen eggs (organic, grain fed, omega-3s, etc) was $1.99!

We're trying to 'save' money buy going to Giant instead of WF, but I really love WF! I'm not sure how long this will last....

[trumansmom]

Last year for Christmas we took the back seat out of the minivan and took an entire steer to my brother and his friends in Utah. We got about 3 feet per gallon. We couldn't afford to do it this year!

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Independent Consultant, Do-Re-Me & You!

[trumansmom]

If you only knew how much I can relate. x(

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Independent Consultant, Do-Re-Me & You!

[jerseygirl07067]

I would definitely be interested in that book. I never realized that fat free milk would have less contaminants. Makes sense. We go through two cartons a week for myself and DH alone. That would save us a lot.

I think this is a great topic, since I've been trying to figure out how to cut my grocery bill. Since I started the organic/healthy eating five months ago, my grocery bill has gone up a lot.

I was thinking I might try to grow some of my own berries, tomatoes, peppers, etc. I live in FL and think with our climate I could probably find stuff to grow year round.

Marcy