What To Do If You Can’t Afford To Buy Organic?
by PlanningQueen on March 23, 2010 in 10 Things, Planning1. Produce Stand, 2. Watermelon is love, 3. PAPAYA, 4. Star Fruit
One of my current favourite parenting podcasts is Parenting Unplugged. They were once a weekly podcast but it is now daily (week days), and I particularly enjoy their Tuesday shows when they have an expert on line to interview.
Recently they had an interview with Dr Bob Sears, about his new book Happy Baby: Organic Guide To Baby’s First 24 months. I have gone through stages where I have tried to purchase solely organic food, sometimes partial organic food and now I only buy very minimal organic food. The main factor for the reduction in the quantity of organic food is not because I don’t believe in its benefits, but due to cost factors.
As I have written previously on the blog, we buy over 50 apples a week and then an assortment of other fruits which can include 10 bananas, 10 oranges, strawberries, watermelons and mangoes. We simply couldn’t afford to purchase this volume of fruit if it was organic. Already we make a special early Saturday morning trip to a local market, to reduce the costs.
So I was happy to hear Dr Sears list what he called the “Clean 12″. Todd posted these on the Parenting Unplugged blog and described them as:
the 12 fruits and veggies with the lowest amount of pesticides.
Naturally it would be better to be eating all organic, but here is the list of fruit and veggies that are better to buy if you are buying non organic:
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Corn
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Onion
- Papaya
- Peas
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
I was happy to see mangoes and watermelon on the list, and seasonally I will try to include more of these fruit and veggies in my menu plans and shopping lists.
11 comments...read them below or add one
We are like you, our food budget just won’t stretch to organics most of the time. I’ve also been reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and now have a healthy dose of scepticism about the big companies that do ‘organics’ (though still trying to work out how similar things are here as to the US which is what is written about in the book).
We try to balance things by growing our own if we can, trading with others who grow their own and buying locally from farmers markets (most often they can’t afford to be certified organic but usually are, and I get to talk directly to the people who grow it and ask).
Still we eat a lot of ‘not even close to organic’ and sometimes that worries me but mostly I am happy to have my family eating lots of fresh fruit and vege and unprocessed food… even if it isn’t perfect.
Strangely, organic meat has always been a higher priority purchase for me and I have been more willing to part with cash for it. If you’ve had organic meats it is hard going back as there is a HUGE difference in flavour (as far as we have found anyway), and as such you really don’t need to have as much. Unfortunately I no longer have anywhere local to purchase this from now that we have moved.
I guess my reason for not buying organic vegies is my stupid belief that we will at some point be growing our own. This is currently being delayed by an excessive number of redbacks in the garden, so I won’t go out there, and certainly won’t take Princess out there (although the situation was discovered as she was doing a very excellent job of weeding!).
We ate mostly organic for about 2 years but since we’ve moved and lost our local store I haven’t bothered. The money isn’t a factor for me as much as the choice. Since stopping I’ve got used to the range and variety at my regular butcher/fruit shop etc.
We do buy organic milk and eggs though, and I will buy some organic things if they are in the supermarket with not too much mark up.
My head’s a bit in the sand over it all tbh. With three small children and no local store it goes into the too hard basket.
It really frustrates me too when they do comparisons on organic v conventional and talk about nutrition not being much different. I never bought it for that reason, it was to avoid pesticides of course!
Cost is a big reason why we don’t buy organic either. I really appreciate you sharing this list. Thanks.
I choose organic (not for the taste or the nutritional value, but), because I don’t want my family eating chemicals, pestacides and poisons.
We used to buy all and only organic, and loved taking the children to our lacal fruit & veg store (the organic union in surrey hills). However sadly this year we had to stop and just buy non organic, due to the fact that the cost of organic was going up and up AND UP. I try and wash it REALLY well, but still don’t feel happy eating it. We used to spend about $70 per week on organic fruit and veg for our family of 4, but then as prices were rising, it was costing us around $130 + per week. Now buying non organic, it costs us about $50. I would much rather buy organic and wouild happily pay a bit more, (I’d pay $80 or $90) but simply can’t afford to pay SO MUCH MORE !! Why is organic almost double the price of non organic ? I truly believe that if organic was a little more afforadable, most people would choose it. I still always buy organic (and free range) eggs and organic milk.
I’ll write to my local coles supermarket and ask them for more organic PLEASE !!!
Hi PQ
We get a weekly fruit and vegie box delivery for $30- not organic, but the quality is fantastic, much cheaper than retail with the added bonus of not having to shlepp the cherubs around the shops. We do get a lot of organic vegies and all of our eggs from my husband’s grandmother.
Cheers
Holly
I’m a little like Amanda (2nd comment). I buy organic meat, but not fruit/ veg. I think this is partly because I use less meat in general than fruit/ veg and partly because the price difference between store-bought non-organic meat and the organic meat delivery I get isn’t that big. The price difference between organic/ non-organic fruit and veg seems much greater.
Thanks for the list above. I will definitely keep these in mind when shopping.
Katef – Ahh growing your own is such a great option. That is on long term list of things to do. It must be such a great feeling to go out the back and pick your own fruit and veg. That book sounds interesting too, will check it out – thanks!
Amanda – Meat is an even more complex issue isn’t it? I have been buying orgnaic mince from the supermarket, but would be interested to see what Kate’s book above as to say about that! Those redbacks sound scary,
Stitch Sista – I know what you mean about the comparisons, they are really missing the point.
Rana – You are welcome. I was happy to come across it myself.
MeganH – your story sounds very similar to me (even the organic shop iin union rd!!!). The choice was becoming less the half the food organically or more fruit and veg from the market.
Greern Mama – Home delivery is fantastic! We have milk, eggs and juice come that way and then I grocery shop online. I haven’t converted to fruit and veg yet though!
Julie – I will defintiely check out more organic meats and try and locate a reasonably priced one.
I know that leechbabe (who introduced me to your blog!) gets her fruit and veg via Aussie Farmers Direct and she always has great things to say about it. They don’t yet delivery to my area, but the will perhaps deliver to yours, if you are interested in getting your fruit and veg delivered. They have a couple of packs that they do and they seem very reasonable priced.
We don’t buy a lot of organic produce unless it’s something like cheaper organic apples at Coles or something, but that’s not all the time. We do enjoy the Aldi range of pasta, pasta sauce, tinned tomatoes and tomato paste, they are very reasonably priced. We plan to grow a lot of produce organically at home. There is one catch, of course – everything I grow has a nasty habit of dying. But I will try, regardless
I am a big believer in buying food in its most natural state. While I love the idea of organic food, my budget is less able to cope. Between the budget and the appetites of growing children, organic is just not an option.
It’s nice to see that a lot of the foods we really enjoy are on your list! Cauliflower and onions are almost staples and we eat our fair share of kiwi fruit. I’m really loving that I can get a bag of little shepherd avocados from Aldi for about $3.50 at the moment. There’s enough avocados to do a whole week of school lunches. You can’t imagine how excited the kids are about that!