We were already eating whole grains, had cut back drastically on sugar and cut back on red meat.  After watching that movie and doing some research of my own, we have decided to go organic and buy our meat and veggies from local farmers. 

We are concerned with how this will affect our food budget.  As most of my readers know I pride myself on feeding our family with a $350/month food budget.  That is accomplished by a lot of couponing, shopping sales and menu planning.  I will still be employing all three of those strategies but it is much more difficult to find coupons for organic items.

Here are some tips I have learned so far:

• Stock up when organic meat and dairy are on sale. Organic milk has a longer shelf life than regular milk and milk can be frozen for up to three months.  I will be watching for sales and coupons and stocking up when milk is on sale.
• One site recommended buying your veggies at a farmers market towards the end of the day.  Many farmers will decrease their prices to reduce the amount of inventory they have to take home with them.
• A great site for information about buying safe food is www.foodnews.org
• When you are buying beef look for the seal of the American Grassfed Association and for poultry look for the word “pastured”.

There is a list called the dirty dozen.  This is produce that contains the most pesticides and is the most harmful to the consumer.  Those are:

1. peaches
2. celery
3. cherries
4. grapes
5. apples
6. nectarines
7. kale
8. carrots
9. green bell peppers
10. strawberries
11. lettuce
12. peas

It is worth your money to buy those twelve items organic or from a farmer’s market.

There are some veggies/fruits that are okay to buy from the grocery store (this will be a way to save money).  They are:

• onions
• cabbage
• pineapples
• broccoli
• avocadoes
• eggplant
• watermelon
• asparagus
• sweet potatoes
• kiwis
• papayas
• mangoes
• tomatoes

I am learning so much about how our food is produced, what is healthy and how the food industry can be very misleading to the average consumer. 

I would love for you to enlighten me about anything you know about going organic that I may not have learned yet,  especially about how you buy organic on a budget.  I will be sure to keep you posted about our journey as well.  You can read our menu plans on my organizing blog.