Guest Post: Tips for Saving Money on Organic Food

Guest Post by Patricia Wooster at Project Organic Eating

I think most of us find the idea of purchasing chemical-free food for our family appealing. However, few of us can afford to pay $2 for an apple, or $3.99 for a half gallon of organic milk. Organic food is expensive, and many of the products taste different than their non-organic counterparts.

When I started to experience some health issues it was recommended that I "clean" up my diet. The first few grocery bills were terrifying, but I've picked up some tips and tricks to make buying organic food affordable. It takes a little work, but the savings make it worth it.

Here are a few things I've learned:

::Take advantage of Buy 1, Get 1 Free deals. Most stores allow you to use 2 coupons in conjunction with a B1G1 deal and this often enables you to get the item for pennies. For example, Publix recently had Newmann's Own Pasta Sauce as a B1G1 deal, along with Mueller's Pasta. The pasta sauce is $2.69 and the pasta is $1.17. I had a $1/1 coupon for the sauce, and 2 $0.50/1 coupons for the pasta. For $1.86 I got 2 jars of pasta sauce, and 2 boxes of pasta.

::Clip every coupon you can find for oganic food. The best coupons can be found on the manufacturers website. I've compiled a pretty comprehensive list here. I've signed up for their newsletters, and have received free cookbooks, samples, and substantial savings coupons.

::Get a CVS ExtraCare Rewards Card and take advantage of the weekly and monthly free-after-ECB deals. By saving money on your drugstore and cleaning items you free up money to spend on organic produce.

::Buy locally. Check Local Harvest for a listing of markets in your area.

::Sign up for the Kiwi, Mambo Sprouts, and Eating Well newsletter. They email me a lot of great coupons and recipes. Mambo Sprouts is affiliated with Whole Foods, and they do a great job of providing recipes that use their sale items.

::Compare prices. About 6 months ago I went to the grocery store and wrote down the organic and non-organic prices of about 20 different fruits and vegetables. I was amazed to find the prices weren't much different. I did this three weeks in a row to make sure it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't. Typically, a couple of organic items will be priced much higher than the non-organic, but the majority are within a quarter. I plan my menu around what's in season, so the items I need are always cheaper.

 

Patricia is a mother of 2 young boys. She blogs at Project Organic Eating, where she shares money saving tips, freebies, and kid's health information.

Comments

[Tara]

I have recently discovered Mambo Sprouts coupon books located in the Whole Foods Market stores. Combining the Mambo Sprouts manufacturer's coupons with the lower prices at and sales at Publix and SuperTarget makes for some great savings.

For example, Immaculate Baking bake & break cookies are usually $3.69 each (priced even higher at Whole Foods). Last week, they were $4/2, I had a $1/2 Publix coupon and a $1/2 Mambo Sprout coupon, making it $2 for 2 packages of cookies.

[Mara]

Great guest post! I signed up for all three newsletters, thanks! And I clicked over to your POE website and liked what I saw. I'll definitely be a regular visitor.

[Simone]

I loved this article on saving money on organics. I am going to link it to my blog. I am always trying to save money buying healthy foods for my family and it is not always easy to do. I signed up for the newsletters you mentioned as well as some individual organic companies websites. Thanks!

[Janeen]

What a great post about organic and natural products! I'll definitely have to start trying harder at this! Thanks so much! And hate to sound like a broken record but I didn't notice if you had put up the giveaways thing. Thanks so much for all your effort, despite being so busy!!

[Jenni]

Great guest post! I'm bookmarking this site and might link to it soon in a post of my own. Thanks!

[YoNaturals]

Great info - I think the key idea is to always be on the look out for deals and TAKE ADVANTAGE!

[Cy]

I was just lamenting the other day that it's cheap to eat badly but to expensive to eat well. Apparently not! Thanks for the tips. :)

[C Krueger]

Congrats on being featured on NPR about sites to do couponing and save money. I bet you'll have a huge increase in visitors! Thanks for all of the great deals and suggestions.

[Lea Ann]

Great post! I get free or nearly free Organic stuff all the time, at Kroger, Tom Thumb and Whole Foods! I totally agree with the "redistribution of my wealth" by letting CVS and Walgreens funny money (RRs and ECBs) buy diapers, excedrin, toothpaste, paper towels and such for me, so I can spend my real money on organic veggies and fancy beer.

[Saver Queen]

Thanks for this post. I usually don't buy organic produce just because of the difference in price, so this is good to know. I'll share with my Mom, too - she always buys organic so I'm sure she'll appreciate this!