August 12th, 2011
Going organic does not have to be expensive. In fact, there are many ways to save money and go completely organic at the same time. One of the easiest and best ways to save money on shopping for food is to plan a menu. Plan for about half a week’s worth of meals and include snacks and drinks. If you make a list of what you need for those meals, chances are you will find you have things on hand already and furthermore, taking a firm list to a store can curb impulse buys. Planning a menu also reduces the stress of deciding what to cook after a long day at work and reduces the temptation to eat out.
Another obvious way to save money on food is to severely limit the amount of times you eat out. In general, a dinner out for two people could buy groceries for 2-3 days of cooking and eating at home. Along the same lines, you might consider eschewing boxed foods as well. Making your own side dishes not only allows you to control what’s in them, but saves money in the long run. Sometimes people don’t realize that they can “save” money by spending it. Some credit card issuers offer different types of rewards and programs that give you automatic savings or that give you cash back at the end of the year. Make sure to get credit card advice from online blogs or contact a credit card issuer professional.
A few more strategies on how to save money include buying in bulk at large warehouses such as Costco and frequenting farmer’s markets. The latter is a great way to get organic produce that is in season and therefore fresher. Often these markets will also have meat from local sources as well. You will be supporting local farmers and organic food by default. By the same token, eating in season is generally the best way to ensure that you’re getting the freshest produce and produce that is less likely to be genetically modified. In season produce is also usually cheaper than produce that is not in season.
Finally, there are a couple of other ways to save that are not necessarily as feasible for everyone. One of these is to start a garden. Even a small garden with staples such as lettuce, onions, carrots and the like is a good way to save money. For those with small spaces, a pot of tomatoes or commonly-used herbs can usually be grown indoors with some success. The other option is simply to eat less meat. Meat is more expensive than either starches or produce and in general, people eat too much of it. Buy meat when it is on sale or locally grown as mentioned previously.