Organic & Whole Foods Vs. Budget

I agree with the person who said to prioritize with fruits and vegetables. In addition, I've heard that you can judge by the water content the quantity of potential pesticides. Grapes, strawberries, cantalope, watermelon, celery, etc are mostly water and thus should be organic. Bananas are not and they also have a skin, so organic is less important. I have a list posted on my fridge that I downloaded and printed out. It's called "What you need to know about pesticides in your preschoolers food" if you wnat to google it.

As far as bargain shopping, you might consider joining a co-op. There was an article in the Dispatch a couple of weeks ago on co-ops. You may be able to look it up on line. It listed several names of local co-ops that buy canned and dry good (no fresh) through wholesalers, thus taking out the middleman (Whole Foods, Kroger,etc). The catch is that you buy in cases, not single cans. I think you place your bulk order with the coop and pick up is about once a month. I plan to do this for canned tomatoes, beans and maybe some other stuff too.

Also, many of the small, local organic farms have co-ops for the summer. If you join, you usually get a share of whatever crops are in season. I don't know if this is less costly than grocery store prices, but it is certainly more eco-friendly with lower fuel for shipping, supporting local growers, etc.

As for grocery stores, Giant Eagle carries bagged organic apples and oranges (cheaper than by the pound)but Kroger doesn't. I recently shopped at Marcs and found that they carry some organic fresh foods. I don't know how their prices compare, but it may be worth checking.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes and kudos for breastfeeding--it is oh soooo important for baby.

Laura

Hi S.,

I am in the same boat that you're in (5mo bf son with dairy and soy issues). I have a little suggestions. If you have a Kroger card or Giant Eagle card, you might be able to buy Whole Foods gift cards (then you can get the fuel discounts). Also, I plan to start my own garden this summer using organic fertilizer. If you don't have the space for that, a church on Sawmill road offers free gardening plots.

Good luck! Let me know if you find any great solutions or if you have any tried and true advice for the dairy and soy issues.

We don't eat too much organic but what I read was that some foods are more important to eat organically than others (depends on the amount/kind of pesticides needed). So you can pick and choose which foods to eat organically.

You can also hit up the local farmers (look into which farms use more organic methods), and buy your eggs and meat from local farms, and the fruits/veggies there when in season.

Hi S.,
It's great that you are leaning toward organic foods.It's hard to get everything organic on a budget but you can prioritize. For instance I asbolutetly do organic when it comes to fruit and veggies(they are sprayed with pesticides and it's been proven that children fed with non organic fruit and veggies have pesticides in their urines), and I do also organic meat or raise without antibiotic etc..organic or free range eggs ( free range and hormone free chicken and antibiotic free red meat for example). But I don't always do organic pasta or rice etc.. so the key is to choose and prioritize because you can do everything organic. Good luck .
A..