Three months ago, my husband and I took a magnifying glass to our finances, examining a mountain of bills and receipts. We had two main concerns: paying the lingering tab for the birth of our second son (now one), and finding a way to afford a year of preschool for our highly-energized, insatiably-curious three-year-old.
We pored over our monthly spending and came up with a budget we thought our family of four could live on. We made cuts all over the place. One major change was canceling satellite TV. That alone freed up $90 per month. We also scaled back on our phone plans, dining out, household spending, and we swapped cars to lower gas consumption. The biggest change, though, was bringing down our grocery bill from around $800 per month to no more than $100 per week.
Oh, yeah. We also decided it was time to start buying organic—because who doesn’t like a challenge?
Over the last five years, it’s become generally accepted that choosing organically grown foods, or foods “produced without antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, irradiation or bioengineering” as defined by the USDA-FDA, isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for the body. Especially when it comes to children. Fortunately, mainstream grocers (think Kroger and Safeway) now have sizable organic sections both for dry goods and perishables. Really! Go look. Some even boast their own organic lines worth their salt when it comes to flavor. In my local Kroger, I can purchase organic fruits and veggies, dairy, meats, and grains.
I can even shop organic at Wal-Mart—and I can do it for $100 or less per week (tips below). The problem is, most organic options from mainstream grocers are imports from around the world.
While it feels good to buy organic, it feels even better to buy locally grown organic. Why? When you buy organic locally, you aren’t just cutting down on consumption of pesticides or supporting sustainable crops; you’re also potentially cutting down on carbons emissions by eliminating global shipping. Plus, by buying directly from the farmer, you ensure that your food dollar is staying in your community—and not leaking ot to a web of distantly owned distributors and the retailers. Think about it: local farmers are your neighbors.
But locally grown organic options—if and when you have them—are sometimes much pricier, meaning you pay more for less.
How can you get what you pay for, and still afford to pay for what you get?
You can do more than clip coupons, shop at low-traffic times and save the zest from your oranges and lemons. Here are a handful of tips for weekly budgeting success:
• Prioritize your list. Know what you can leave off the list if prices are higher than you expect. Follow the Environmental Working Goup’s advice on the “dirty dozen” items you should always buy organic (meat, milk, coffee, peaches, strawberries, etc.), and which items it’s okay not to buy organic (onions, avocado, mango, sweet corn, etc.). If you have trouble remembering or, like me, have a very small shopping companion who inevitably eats your list, get an app for your iPhone compliments of Environmental Working Group. No iPhone? Get the PDF version.
• Create a weekly menu. Plan to use the same ingredients in more than one dish. For example, I might use broccoli (one of the Clean Fifteen) as an ingredient in a stir-fry the first time, only to have it reappear later in the week as a side dish. Just keep it simple—at least at first. The simpler the dish, the easier it is to reinvent the leftovers.
• Eat mostly plants. Organic meat, egg and dairy selections are the priciest in comparison to their non-organic counterparts. Think about it; you’re paying for a lifetime of animal care. Take a hint from Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and “eat mostly plants.” For a dish like stroganoff, replace half the meat with mushrooms. Nondairy sour creams such as Tofutti can cost less than organic sour cream but offer strikingly similar flavor. As for eggs, try ground flax as a substitute when baking. (For one egg: 1 tbsp ground flax, 2-3 tbsp water, microwave in 15 second increments until the flax has an egg-like consistency.) You can buy a package of flax for nearly the same price as a dozen eggs, and it can last you several months instead of just one week.
• Buy local first. Many farms offer what amounts to shares of their farm. When you buy those ‘shares,’ you receive weekly, biweekly or monthly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes filled with seasonal goods, plant and/or animal. Visit LocalHarvest.org to search for a program near you. If there isn’t a nearby farm to support, or maybe you know you won’t eat their selections, start your weekly shopping trip at your local co-op or farmer’s market. LocalHarvest will help you find those, too. (A small aside: Local doesn’t automatically mean organic, so you should take advantage of the opportunity to ask farmers at the market about their growing practices. Don’t be shy.) No co-ops or farmer’s markets? Move—or cut yourself some slack.
• Reap what you sow. Most likely you can’t raise your own animals and wouldn’t want to, but you can raise your own veggies. Consider a raised box if your neighbors treat their lawns and you’re worried about runoff. You can buy one or build your own. Tomatoes grow nicely in larger planters. Keep an herb garden with your most frequently used herbs on your windowsill or front porch. This is also seasonally dependent, so think about the vegetables and herbs you use most, what kind of time and space commitment you can make, and maybe save your spare change in a piggy bank to get next year’s garden started.
• Buy what’s in season. You’ll find the best prices, and the best flavors, on the foods that are ready to be harvested today. Off-season greenhouse growth often comes with a higher price tag, and a higher economic footprint.
• Check the fridge, pantry and freezer before you shop. You may have a whole meal waiting to be reheated. You may only need one ingredient to create a main dish. Which brings me to:
• Shop dry. Some dried beans, some
water, and a handful of herbs can be simmered on the stove one slow
Sunday to produce a savory main dish. Pair with a simple salad and
homemade bread or plain rice. While not necessary, a slow cooker is a great investment, especially as Fall and Winter approach. As appliances go, it’s green and economical, coming in at $1.22 for 40 hours of use on the Northeast Utilities System Appliance Usage List.
• Buy in bulk. Get grains, coffees, teas and cereals from bulk bins, and only buy what you need for the week unless the price is at rock bottom. Then buy as much as you can without going over your week’s budget. If you have some pennies left from last week (I call that rollover cash), use that to stock up. Apply this to produce too, like blackberries. You can easily freeze them for baked goods and smoothies later. If you can afford it, go for it.
• Pay with cash. I can’t tell you how many people gave me this tip before I tried it. The benefits are obvious, really. If you can only pay with what you have in your hands, you pay more attention to what you put in your cart and you don’t go over budget.
• Splurge—at the end of the month. If you get to the end of your pay period and there’s cash in your envelope, treat yourself or throw a party. You’re a success!
As for my husband and me, we’re getting better at this budgeting thing and are making better choices about how we spend our cash. Some weeks we only spend $60—on a family of four. (I know!) This means we can grab that Endangered Species dark chocolate bar we were staring at wistfully on the way to the checkout. We can hide it in the pantry and enjoy it slowly, after the kids are in bed.
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Comments
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Endangered Species Chocolate Posted 6:17 am
06 Aug 2009
Amanda Chau
Endangered Species Chocolate
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Janice Shade Posted 6:18 am
06 Aug 2009
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sewassbe Posted 6:19 am
06 Aug 2009
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Shawna Ayoub Posted 7:21 am
07 Aug 2009
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veritone Posted 7:50 am
06 Aug 2009
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AmyFarmAndFood Posted 10:17 am
06 Aug 2009
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Shawna Ayoub Posted 7:24 am
07 Aug 2009
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rikkybob Posted 7:20 pm
09 Aug 2009
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urbanrunoff Posted 7:48 pm
11 Aug 2009
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stay at home dad needs serious help! Family
of four here. I am a conscientious shopper, eat only organic or close
to it, and eat a balanced diet that includes fresh/frozen vegetables and
fruits daily. Eat meats only twice a week, mostly chicken and fish. I
cook for my family daily, absolutely no prepared frozen menus. I
prepare lunch bags for the family as well .Eating out only once every 2 weeks on average. So
here is my question: how can you buy food for less than 180 bucks a
week?--that is about my average at Trader Joe's--considering the
criteria i listed above. Really i do not mean to be a stickler, i
just really want to know how people do it. Except
for wine(only on weekends ; ) I don't indulge and got the credentials
to prove it; i live the life of an athlete; BMI of 20 hehehehe.... sorry
i will not drive around the country to find the best deals...two
stores max. and i cannot do coupons...what am I missing?
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Shawna Ayoub Posted 2:01 pm
12 Aug 2009
I wanted to get back to you and say a few things. First, our family of four is two adults and two toddlers, so they won't eat as much as bigger kids, although I'm always surprised by what they scarf down in a day. I also want to say that the goal of this piece is to always buy local and organic on a budget, but I recognize that sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes what we buy is not local.One difference in budgeting I think we may have is that eating out is it's own category--meaning grocery spending and dining out spending are calculated separately. Our dining out budget is $50/ week. So that puts all our food at at least $150/week. That may make you feel better. (Any household item including dishsoap is also separate.)Probably the biggest savers in our home situation are slow cooker cooking and baking at home. If you can find it at your local library, look for _Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook_ by Hensberger, I believe. See if there are meals in there that will work for you. We have a weekly dish out of the beans section. The soups and stews are hearty and the other meals are easy to plan off of. We use our beans to make more than one main dish, usually the next week.Baking at home (cakes, pies, brownies, cookies and bread) saves pennies here and there. Those pennies can really add up. We do healthful baking. I adjust a lot of recipes, especially when I substitute flax for eggs.All the readers here have great advice. I'm really enjoying Sara D's comment. I also recommend checking out ecobunga.com. I recently received an email from one of their reps turning me on to their organic food coupons. Stonyfield Farms is offering 10 coupons right now. Check it out through their website if you like. Ecobunga seems to be a catch all for green items and coupons. You may already know the site, but I hope it helps!Thanks to everyone for comments so far!
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urbanrunoff Posted 9:21 am
13 Aug 2009
for the clarifications. Grocery
prices seem to be highest in southern California and living in San
Diego does not help. I will
definitely dust of my old Crock Pot and get the book you recommended. Buying
local is definitely the best way to go but not always the most
practical .I'm a
big baker myself and find flat breads like Pita very user friendly.
They require less preparation/baking time and can be made with 100%
whole wheat and plenty of whole grains without worrying about
"fermentation" issues.On the
issue of eggs I agree with commentator Janice. I find organic free
range eggs offer a great bang for the bucks. Adding an egg to a dish
of pasta and veggies really helps balancing out a meal and getting
these protein and energy levels up. My
dream would be having a decent sized "freedom garden" and keep a
couple of chickens. Some of my friends are doing it already and are
able to collect 3 eggs a day.thanksurban
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ColoradoPeach Posted 8:49 pm
11 Aug 2009
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