Want to eat organic but scared of the cost? These simple tips will help you learn how to eat organic on a budget yet still eat well.
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Even though we attempt to eat very healthy and make the majority of our food from scratch, we do not actually eat an “organic only” diet. But because of my detailed $200 grocery budget posts, I frequently get questions related to how to eat organic on a budget. In fact, just recently Amanda left this question on one of my blog posts:
I am so glad I came across your blog. I only read a few articles so far and I needed to leave you a message. I am so motivated and want to ask your advice. We are a one income household, with barely enough to manage and we want (mostly husband) to eat organic and all natural. This includes organic milk which is $6 a gal. Our two boys (4 year old and 17 months) drink a lot of it and we spent about $80+ a month for just milk. Also organic meats, fruit and veggies rack a bill up to a lot a month when we are just barely trying to pay our rent. Any advice, tips, and strategies? I’m going to start a price list and maybe try coupons but we don’t have Internet or a print working.
Here was my response. And if you’ve wondered how to save money on organic food and eat well on a tight budget, hopefully, my tips will help you too!
How to Eat Organic on a Budget
Ah, yes, going organic and all-natural on a tight budget is always tough. And being a milk lover, I can appreciate your son’s enjoyment of milk. 🙂 Here are a couple of ideas for you. Hopefully, they’ll at least help you brainstorm about ways that you can lower your grocery spending.
1. Stretch Your Milk
I don’t know if this is something that you’d want to do or not, but I know a lot of people that add water to their milk to stretch it farther. If you are going to use the milk in baking I wouldn’t add much water to it, but it should work for your kids no problem.
2. Use Money Saving Apps
If you have a smartphone, I’d highly recommend checking out Ibotta and Fetch Rewards.
Ibotta regularly has savings on any brand of product and Fetch rewards you points for every receipt you scan and submit, so even if they don’t have any offers that are specifically for organic brands that week, you can still often save a little.
3. Eat Less Meat
If you don’t already, try having at least one meatless meal a week. We love meat, but I’ve found several delicious recipes that we enjoy enough that we barely miss the meat in them! This Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup is one of them. We love this Crustless Zucchini Quiche, too!
4. Stretch Meat with Beans or Rice
Stretch Mexican style dishes with beans and/or rice. I always add some black beans to our taco meat and sub part beans for the ground beef in chili too. We actually prefer both of those things that way!
5. Shop at Aldi
If you have an Aldi grocery store nearby, check them out. They have a decent selection of organic products at great prices! If you’ve never shopped there, be sure to take along a quarter for the grocery cart (you’ll get it back!) as well as your own grocery bags (although you can also buy them there if you prefer).
Related: What to Buy at Aldi: My 30 Frugal Favorites
6. Cook from Scratch
As much as you can, make your food from scratch. You may have seen my homemade Bisquick mix and homemade cream soup recipes.
I also make salad dressing, bread, homemade yogurt, chocolate cake, frosting and lots of other things too. I even enjoy a simple homemade frappe every morning!
I don’t know how much you feel comfortable doing this sort of thing, but often you can make stuff much cheaper than you can buy it- and you get t0 regulate the ingredients too!
7. Try Shopping Online
It may be cheaper to buy some of your groceries online. I’ve used Vitacost occasionally and especially when they have sales, have found their prices to be pretty decent. They carry a lot of organic and natural products.
Don’t forget to shop through Rakuten to earn cash back on your online purchases! It’s super simple and if you are a new customer, sign up here to get a $10 bonus!
8. Request Coupons
Call your favorite organic companies and ask if they can send you any coupons. Often if you simply tell them which of their products is your favorite and why you love it, they’ll offer to send coupons without you even asking. Sometimes you’ll get a no, but often they are more than happy to help you out. I’ve gotten some great coupons by doing this!
9. Print coupons
I love using printable coupons to save money on things I’ve already planned to purchase. I see quite a few coupons for organic products on Coupons.com, and SmartSource.
10. Grow your own
If you at all can, try growing your own produce. We live in the city and don’t have much outdoor space, but by being strategic, I’ve been able to grow a nice amount of produce for fresh eating.
It only takes a small space to grow things like tomatoes and pepper. And you can even try growing them in pots if you want! Raised beds are another great way to pack a lot of veggies into a small space. Not sure how to get started? Google can be your best friend! 😉
And hey, if you have room and want more of a challenge, get some chickens for fresh eggs and meat!
Other money saving posts you might enjoy:
Brenda
Aldi for sure! Thrive Market is another great resource for organic online. Also though maybe not always so budget friendly another valuable resource is local farmers markets or directly at the farm. They might not be certified organic because of the high cost of certification but nevertheless use organic practices. We love being able to get raw milk for $2.50 a gallon and eggs for $2 a dozen from an Amish farmer a mile away.
Thrifty Frugal Mom
Yes, thanks for mentioning Thrive Market! It is a great option and they occasionally have sales too that help cut costs. And I love your suggestion of checking out farmer’s markets and local farmers. You are right, they often aren’t certified organic but sell organic products nonetheless. When we lived in Lancaster City I loved buying fruits and veggies from a local produce farmer at the local farmer’s market. As you mentioned, the produce they sold was grown organically but they didn’t advertise it because they weren’t certified. But they were much cheaper! It was actually kind of funny because one day I was riding the bus and a guy that worked for the local organic produce stand was sitting across the aisle from me. We got to chatting and he casually mentioned that he actually buys his produce from the stand that I used instead of the stand that he worked for because they were cheaper but still organically grown.
Brandi
We are also a organic and natural home and I save a ton of money shopping at Costco. I’m like obsessed with Costco lol. You can get 3 dozen organic eggs for $6 or $7. They also have a ton of other good deals. Their meat prices are amazing. You can get a two pack of organic whole chicken for like $2 and some cents a lb (thats non-organic prices). Also, a lot of their non-organic meat is antibiotic free and hormone free so a lot of times I don’t buy organic meat. We get their organic milk too, which is $11 for a 3 pack of 1/2 gallons.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Thanks for your helpful tip, Brandi! I know a lot of people love Costco for regular shopping, but I didn’t realize that they also have a good selection of organic products too. Good to know!
Jessilyn
Hi! First of all this is a WONDERFUL post. Thank you SO much for sharing. I just have a few questions.
What is vitacost? and Do I need to hook my checking account up with the Ibotta app to get the cash back??
ThriftyFrugalMom
So glad to know you enjoyed the post, Jessilyn. Obviously, that’s always fun to hear. 🙂 Vitacost is basically an online store that carries mostly organic and natural products. I’ve found that their prices are often pretty decent, at least on the things that I buy (mostly the Vitacost Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar.) If you shop through them, be sure to use the link in my post (just click on the blue “Vitacost” word) and you’ll get $10 off your first purchase of $30 or more, making your deal even better! And no, you don’t need to connect your checking account to use Ibotta. You can choose to get paid via Paypal or gift cards. So no worries there!
Emily
I’m not sure if other grocery stores offer this, but Whole Foods offers a discount for bulk purchases. I do not purchase too much there as it’s expensive, but if you look for them you can find great deals!
I buy a case of yogurt (6 x 32 oz tubs) and get 10% off. They end up being $2.70 or so each. It’s the cheapest that I can find organic yogurt and I have looked elsewhere!
And ibotta works there too. 🙂
ThriftyFrugalMom
Great tip, Emily! I don’t know of any grocery stores that do that, but good to know that Whole Foods does. I hear we are getting one of those around here in the next year or two. I’m excited to see what deals I can find.
Shelly
I wish we had an Aldi here, but we don’t. I’ve heard really good things about them, maybe someday we will get one. I have found that you can water down the milk, up to about half in things like muffins, waffles, and pancakes without compromising the texture. I also use this trick when making homemade bread too. We use organic dairy free milk because of milk allergies but I’m sure it would work with cow’s milk too.
We also garden. Our soil is very poor and we don’t have a huge yard but with three raised beds we get enough veggies for the summer. I dry the tomatoes, can the green beans and freeze the sugar snap peas usually enough for the whole year. We also grow raspberries, rhubarb and strawberries in our garden. I u-pick at farms that grow organically too, so I can stock the freezer and pantry with other items I don’t have the room to grow. It is a little investment upfront with organic soil and the materials to build the beds but we find it has been worth the cost.
ThriftyFrugalMom
Oh, I wish too that you could have an Aldi nearby. They’re awesome! And so interesting about the milk. Now that you mention it, I think I did that years ago, but have totally forgotten about it. I’ll have to start doing it again.
Wow, your gardening sounds impressive! I’m intrigued by raised beds and am thinking of trying it here next year. I understand that you can get a lot from them!