So the major question I keep getting asked is..... "How do you budget it?" to make this really easy I thought I would write one long blog about how we have justified this new life direction. Is it more expensive? Yes, however, in my mind this cost is an investment in our life. It is an investment against cancer, against obesity, against putting pesticides into my daughters digestive system, and against e-coli poisoning. This cost though when you break it down to dollars and cents is about 1.00 a week more on eggs. 2.00 more a week on yogurt. and about 1.50 more per pound on ground beef.
"Me and My Chiquita Banana ready to go Organic Shopping"
Now, everyone knows I am a deal finder and I love a good bargain. As a military wife I know that "dough" has to be stretched till pay day! So here is my tips and secrets to living organically. Do all fruits and veggies need to be organic? No, the major items you need to stay away from are Corn, Soybeans, Lettuce, Spinach, and Beets. I prefer organic tomatoes because I don't like the idea of regular tomatoes being ripened with ethanol gas, instead of on God's time table. I buy Veggie Wash for all my fruits and veggies but the non-organic ones especially because the pesticide they are sprayed with is water resistant (makes sense right? Otherwise it would wash off everytime the farmers water) so washing them off in the sink alone doesn't really clean them. A great way to make organic produce fit into your budget is only buy the fruits and veggies on sale that week. Sun Harvest (Now Sprouts) has a webpage http://www.sun-harvest.com/ you can look up whats on sale each week before you go. I print it out and circle the items I want and use that as my grocery list. If you shop on Wednesdays, this weeks, and last weeks deals are in effect. They call it Double Deal Wednesdays. Wednesdays are also the day that they do lots of their tastings and give out free samples. This week for example; blueberries are 88 cents a bushel, strawberries are 2 bushels for 3.00, tomatoes are 2 pounds for 1.00, and peaches are 47 cents a pound. I got 3 heads of organic romaine lettuce for 1.99. If you don't have a Spouts or a Sun Harvest near you google Whole Foods, or Trader Joes for similar selections of organic foods.
Now, lets get to the meat of it. Although there is some wiggle room in the fruit and veggie selection.... meat is one thing we have decided has to be grassfed, non-genetically altered, hormone and antibiotic free. If your budget allows the cheapest way to accomplish this change in your meat supply is to buy a half or a quarter of an animal at a time! This requires quite a bit of freezer space so a chest freezer is not a bad idea. http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html at this site you can search for grassfed farm animal distributors near you. I found some great deals in Arizona, and New Mexico. Most places ship free if you buy 75.00 or more. Sun Harvests weekly prices on meat vary, but today I got 2 spinach and feta stuffed pork chops for 4.50, and I got one pound of hand rolled pork maple sausage, and one pound of hand rolled chicken cheddar jalapeño sausage for 2.49 a piece. The organic meat is going to be more expensive hands down. Corn is subsidized by the government and sold at half the cost it actually takes to grow it.... so its cheaper to feed your animals corn than it is to provide grazing grasses. Organic farmers have to pay fee's to be "certified" organic, fee's to market and label items as organic, and they do not get the tax breaks or government funded marketing programs their subsidized non-organic competitors get. So its an extra cost we literally have to eat. One way we combat the extra cost, is smaller meat portions. Joe and I do not need a 10oz steak.... a 4-5oz one for each of us coupled with large portions of spinach salad or sautéed snap peas and carrots will fill us up just fine and its better for our waistlines. :-)
My last and final tip is become familiar with the organic food labels. Annies makes pasta's, mac n cheese, and snack crackers. Stonyfield makes organic yogurt and dairy products. Horizon makes super tasty organic milk.Brown Cow also makes delicious organic yogurt, and greek yogurt if you prefer that. Blue Sky makes natural soda's. Most of those items I have found at Walmart, Albertsons or Target.
As you try to balance your budget and your conscience with all this new information, I hope my tips help! I want you to feel enlightened, and I hope I answered some of your looming questions, and helped you gain resources to educate yourself on the things we are feeding ourselves and our families. "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself" - 1 Corinthians 6:19. If we are indeed temples of the living God, then just like in every other part of my life I want to give God my best! This includes filling it with food that is good for us as a family and a body of Christ. Happy food hunting!
My last and final tip is become familiar with the organic food labels. Annies makes pasta's, mac n cheese, and snack crackers. Stonyfield makes organic yogurt and dairy products. Horizon makes super tasty organic milk.Brown Cow also makes delicious organic yogurt, and greek yogurt if you prefer that. Blue Sky makes natural soda's. Most of those items I have found at Walmart, Albertsons or Target.
As you try to balance your budget and your conscience with all this new information, I hope my tips help! I want you to feel enlightened, and I hope I answered some of your looming questions, and helped you gain resources to educate yourself on the things we are feeding ourselves and our families. "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself" - 1 Corinthians 6:19. If we are indeed temples of the living God, then just like in every other part of my life I want to give God my best! This includes filling it with food that is good for us as a family and a body of Christ. Happy food hunting!
