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Five Ways to Spend Your Organic Food Dollars Wisely 11-12-08
Who could have missed the cow with the dollar bills hanging out of his mouth
on the cover of the business section last weekend? Cute? Yes. But the message
was a serious downer. It turns out the economy is making us all second-guess
every purchase we make -- including what we eat. Nielsen Company, a market
research firm, reported that organic food sales rose only 4 percent in the four
week period ending October 4th, compared to 20 percent a year in recent years.
What's keeping shoppers from purchasing organic food? Cost. No question. And who
can blame them? But let's understand why and what we can do about it. Organic
food usually will cost at least 50 percent more than conventionally grown food
and sometimes much more than that. There are several reasons, some of them
pretty surprising.
First, organic food is more expensive to produce. Without cheap fertilizers and
pesticides, farmers have to do a lot more manual labor, and people are much more
expensive than petrochemicals. Additionally, organic farming operations aren't
big enough to achieve economies of scale.
Secondly, demand has outstripped supply -- there simply are not enough people
growing and producing organic ingredients. And if you recall from your economics
class, when demand is greater than supply, prices are higher.
And finally, there is the cost of farm subsidies. Every year the U.S. government
pays many conventional farmers -- including many giant mid-western agricultural
corporations -- billions of dollars in subsidies. One effect of these subsidies
is that the price of many products in your supermarket, especially meat, is
lower than it would be without these subsidies. So when you look at the cost of,
say, a pot roast, you'll need to add in the tax dollars you paid April 15 to get
a clue about the real price of that piece of conventionally raised meat.
But I won't let you give up on the health of your family. You do not need to
give up on organic -- just curtail your organic spending and focus on the area
where you get the biggest bang for your buck. Stick with these strategies and
you will soon see your organic dollar stretching farther while you keep your
family healthier.
-- Buy Smart: The Environmental Working Group found that you can reduce your
pesticide intake by 90 percent if you ate only organic versions of the following
produce: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries,
cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.
-- Shop Around: Pricing for organic foods is sometimes well, let's just call it
whimsical. So may different retail outlets are selling organic products these
days that there are bargains available if you just take the time to look for
them.
-- Buy Local: Many supermarkets feature locally grown vegetables, fruits, and
meat in season and there are more and more farmers' markets every year. Foods in
season tend to be cheaper, because they're abundant then (it's that supply and
demand thing again).
-- Join a Co-op: In many cities, there are full-service natural foods
supermarkets that also function as co-ops. That means when you join you get an
automatic discount on everything you buy (sometimes on specific days of the
week). Don't have one? Start your own. United Natural Foods will help you get
started.
-- Grow Your Own: Is there a corner in your yard, or some section of your
apartment balcony, that gets sun most of the day? Well, farm it! Seriously,
you'd be amazed at how much you can grow in a tiny space. In a box roughly two
feet square, you can grow enough mixed salad greens to keep you going for
months!
--Save money in other areas to make up the difference: This is the most important factor if we are going to survive the worsening economic recession. Stop using laundry detergent and fabric softener (save $1000+ per year) buy a laundry ball and dryer set. Use 1/2-1 cup white vinegar (buy 2 gallon packs @ Sams) per laundry load for extra odor removal and softness. If you must have scent in you laundry along with the laundry ball, add 2 drops of your favorite natural/ biodegradable dish soap to each load. For disinfection, stain removal and whitening use Sun Oxy brand peroxide bleach. Don't use the expensive health food store brands, you are paying for the name. Over bleach, spray stain removers, different detergent for whites and delicates, this can save a lot. Wash your clothes in cold water and do all your laundry once a week so you can make sure you have full load and do them back to back so the dryer does not have to heat up.
Use coupons: Many different organic brands have coupons on their websites, print them out. Here's one I use: http://print.coupons.com/Couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13306&zid=iq37&nid=10
http://couponsurfer.coupons.smartsource.com//index.aspx?Link=5S2ZUA6PWPEPO
Check your regular supermarket or Wal-Mart because most regular brands now make organic versions. Make sure they are certified organic by QAI, Oregon Tilth, Washington State or Oregon. USDA Organic only requires 90% Organic. Sam's and Costco now have many organics and they can special order them for you.
Cut down on your bills as much as possible. For cell phone check out other carriers rates, remove features you are not using or ask customer service how to bundle them to save money. If you are paying for a cell phone, do you really need a home phone too? If so get rid of long distance and all perks and tell the phone company it is a fax line. You still will be able to use it and save a bit. If you are lucky enough to be able to get cable internet without a phone than use Vonage or something like that. You can also talk for free over the internet (VOIP) for free with Skype etc.. Save money on car insurance see here. At home switch to CFL (Electric company may give these away) or led bulbs to help the environment and save on bills, wrap your water heater in a blanket, close the flue to your chimney when not in use, check and reseal all windows/doors, turn your thermostat down as low as you can stand it. I have mine at 62 during the day and 60 at night. During the day open blinds on sunny side to let the sun heat up your house. Plug all entertainment centers and home offices into a power surge protector strip and turn them off at night.
Check your supplements, prescriptions, body care; do you really need them all? If you must buy prescriptions get generic, try to get your scripts written for quantities of 100 or more each time or ask you pharmacist what the cheapest way is that you can get for each drug you take. Take advantage of the $4 prescriptions available everywhere. Ask your doctor for samples. Ask you doctor to request 6 moths of samples for you. They can get them from some drug reps. You can also search the database at RXAccess to se if you qualify for reduced or free prescriptions. Some companies have really high financial cutoffs like $160,000 a year!