Money Saving Ideas for Organic Groceries

I have found a lot of great organic deals at Costco. You can spend $50 every two weeks and get a lot. Maybe you can go in on a membership with a family member and get some stuff. Also, we often use the store brand organic milk. You can save some money there. What about planting a garden or container garden? Also check out organic items that are relatively cheap and use those a lot, such as celery or raisins. Hang in there!

Susanne,
Do you have a small area in your back yard that gets sun most of the day? I recommend starting your own little garden this March. It takes some work to get your garden area ready to plant seeds in March. If you have never had a small garden I think you would really enjoy it.

I hope that your husband is able to find a new job with a great salary soon!

R.
Rockwall, Texas

Honestly, we never found our home garden to save alot of money, since most of the stuff you can grow ends up being available (even organic) at decent prices when it's ripe in your garden.

I have had excellent luck finding some organic foods at Costco - they have large packs of chicken that aren't as cheap certainly as their other, but it is excellent and about 1/2 the price of whole foods. Sprouts also has some nice organic chicken. Costco also has 5lb bags of green beans for $7-8 - about 1/2 the price of Sprouts. Of course, stuff rotates through Costco, so you've got to buy it when you see it - they had great organic berries during the summer. My family is dairy free but I do see they have organic milk. Also, even stores like Walmart and Target have high quality meats including Bison/Buffalo (at Walmart) and Wild Alaskan Salmon (Frozen) at Target. Bison, while not organic, must by law always be grassfed/hormone free, so it is a healthy, natural meat.

Also, organic beans that you cook yourself are very inexpensive.

Also, please consider that you don't need to buy all your produce organic. Here's a list of ought-tos versus don't really need tos:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/09/pf/organic_food/index.htm
For example, green beans and berries are ought-tos, which is why I like that Costco has those. Onions, peas, and asparagus (another Costco find) are you don't really need to, potatoes and carrots are an ought-to. If you don't buy organic carrots or potatoes, then make sure to peel before eating.

Everything is organic that I am talking about:-

I think I buy the same milk as you except mine is $10..
Buy only what is in season & the rest buy frozen - there are alot of people who say this is better most of the time anyway. I also have an Aerogarden in the kitchen - I had some much lettuce that I was feeding a friend's 2 rabbits aswell. I buy meat on sale and stock up in the freezer... I also do this with butter. If you find a co-op or buying group let me know..

And when we have had bad times.. my husband and I ate cheap cuts while the kids had organic.. then when it was worse, for a couple of weeks we all ate normal food until we could get back on track... that's life & even on the food side, sometimes we have to go with the flow..

We use Sprouts, and the prices are amazing. I've never paid $9 a gallon for milk, though. We use only organic milk, and I think the most we've paid is maybe $7 for a gallon. We like Organic Valley (be careful with Horizon because they are finding that they really aren't organic as they say).

With Sprouts, if you go on Wed you get double ads (ads from the previous week AND the upcoming week). That's the best time to go, and if you go early, you can even sometimes get samples of products. Prices are really good, and I found they were cheaper than buying non organic from Wal Mart!!!

Good luck with everything, and also check out Target because their Marketplace brand has a lot of organics that are priced good as well.

Also, the biggest money saver I've ever done is plan out our menus in 2 week increments, and then I make my shopping list. So I only go to the store once every 2 weeks (well except for things like milk and bread and SOME produce -- most will keep for 2 weeks). This has saved us a TON.

Here are some things we do to try to cut down on grocery costs (just so you know, I have to eat gluten free and soy free plus I try to eat organic/natural foods as much as possible)

There is a list (just google it) that has the pesticide level of fruits and veggies. It basically tells you if you do not have the $$ to go 100% organic then definitely buy these fruits and veggies organic b/c have the highest concentration of pesticides.

As for milk, many more brands are putting out RGHB free versions. They are not organic, but at the very least they are free of the unnecessary growth hormones.

I buy some frozen fruits and veggies that are organic. My daughter seems to love them just as much as the fresh versions.

Costco has a much better selection of organic items every time I shop there. Even hormone free frozen chicken breasts!

Friends of ours stock up on meat whenever sprouts puts it on sale. You have to be diligent about planning meals out, though b/c of the time it takes for things to thaw.

I try my best to buy store brands of many items.

Amazon.com also has great deals when you do their subscribe and save deals.

I hope these suggestions help. If you have any more specific questions, please msg me. My husband works, and I stay at home. We do not have a lot of extra money each month so we are working hard at keeping our expenses to a minimum while still keeping a commitment to feeding our daughter and ourselves "good" food!

Check out yourhealthsource.org. It's an organic food Co-Op that I found on this site and have since signed up with. It saves me about $20-$30 over grocery store prices on produce and fruit. Also, Tom Thumb has their own line of organic products called "O Organics". They are reasonably priced and most of the stuff is pretty good.