Organic Shopping Can Be Easy on Your Wallet

[Angela Marie Davis]

My organic shopping experience has been so liberating. I truly feel like organic food is better. On a scale of 1 to 10, I feel that organic food has such a high quality in flavor, color and freshness! I even think I feel better! I dont feel sluggish. I feel like I have a little more energy. The food does taste much better. I have to admit, I have grown a passion for organics and fresh food. I don’t mind the small $10 increase in my budget. Its worth it.

Its been about 4 shopping trips to Whole Foods and I have to admit, it has not been as bad as I thought. The first week I spent about $70 for a weeks worth of groceries. I started my shopping trip like I had absolutely no food in the refrigerator. I started from a clean slate; all organic foods. I also used my handy dandy meal planner and grocery list system (see blog on Healthy Grocery List Organizer, on instructions and template) to help me stay organized and to help me stick to my grocery plan. I reviewed my receipt after every shopping trip to see where I could have saved money. I checked what happended when I slightly went over and I could always account for why I went over budget (such as they extra 10 chocolate covered items I got from bulk and the tea strainer…impulse shopping and a love for chocolate!).

The following 2-3 weeks, my bill went from an average to $50 to $60, really depending on what I needed to re-up on. I didnt have to buy everything on my list every week, some things lasted two weeks (or longer) such as milk, nuts, rice, oatmeal, sea salt, unrefined sugar.

Here is some advice on budget friendly organic shopping:

Use coupons. You can save money on products like Greek yogurt and get them buy one get one sometimes.
Go to deli to buy cheese, and meat. I usually ask for about $2.00 or $3.00 worth of cheese and sliced turkey meat. This can make about 2 or 3 sandwhiches. So when you are creating your meal plan, its important to really figure out what you are going to eat. For example, I may only have a sandwhich Mondays for lunch since I usually have leftovers for lunch.

Create a weekly budget to stay within! This well help you control your spending on groceries!

Only pick up what you NEED! Save your money for special family trips to get a single scoop of icecream instead of pick up those cookies you munch on every day!

Measure out everything! Don’t just throw oranges in a bag! 2 can be a pound while 4 peaches is equal to a pound! Same thing for veggies! You can usually buy romaine lettuce and spinach by the pound (thats a lot of leaves!), and carrots and brocolli are great veggies that are full of nutrients and taste great in soups, steamed, boiled, and stir fried!

Buy in bulk! Buy as much as you can in bulk! Rice, sugar, peanut butter, olive oil, peanuts, wheat flour!
Ok so I prefer Central Market over wholefoods for my meat because they have so many options and you can by the amount you need instead of it being packaged!

Look for weekly deals! And become Fans on Facebook and Twitter! Seriously they send out weekly and daily specials on various items!

Buy tea in bulk too! I have fallen in love with this apricot tea I got at whole foods in the bulk area! Sprouts has bulk tea as well. I am not sure about Central Market! Its fresh, its refreshing and amazingly soothing!

Use these tips to help you shop more budget friendly but healthy at the same time!

I am working on a few budget friendly recipes I have created since I have started my organic journey. I have a great stir fry recipe with the kung pao sauce from Whole Foods, and awesome Chicken Chili Recipe with this organic taco seasoning and a awesome muffin recipe..of course coming soon!