There is no doubt that organic foods can be pricey but with the ever increasing awareness of what we should and shouldn’t eat there may be a glimmer of hope in the near future that all good food will become more affordable on a wider level.
In the mean time, here are a few tips to help you save money on organic food.
#1 – Eat in season – if you do anything at all do this. Eating in season is not only a pleasure to all your senses – tomatoes taste like tomatoes, strawberries are a delight and potatoes are fantastic – but it also makes food shopping more economical.
Buying foods in season will be more reasonable than paying for pricier foods which need to be transported from other countries. Not only will this step save you money but you’ll also be helping the environment.
#2 – Plant your own – you don’t need a whole lot of space or the ability to plant a full vegetable garden. While the idea of being self sufficient is fantastic, not everyone can do it. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t cut costs and eat healthy organic product from your own backyard. The trick here is to keep it simple.
Start by planting easy to grow fruits and vegetables that will give you a good amount of food for very little cost. Good ones are organic lettuce leaves of all varieties (these are easy to grow in the summer and will save you tons of money to their supermarket alternatives), carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, broccoli, runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and herbs of all sorts.
All the above are pretty easy for even the most novice gardener to grow and don’t require too much space. By planting just a few useful crops you can eat delicious organic produce in season and save money.
#3 – Visit the farmer’s market – more and more farmer’s markets seem to be cropping up all over. But you don’t need to visit the fancy ones to get great fruit and veg. Seek out the most humble local small farmers which still use responsible, traditional farming methods. You’ll get great food at great prices and help the local economy.
Note: Many small farmers take great care to not use pesticides or unnatural farming methods but are not registered organic farmers – this takes a great deal of time and money and many small farmers just can’t do it. But just because they are not registered organic farmers doesn’t mean they don’t produce healthy crops. Speak to your local farmer about their farming methods. And keep in mind at certain times local responsibly produced food is a better option to organic produce flown in from another country.
Leave a Reply