Saving Money on Organic Food

Money Saving Mom had a guest post this week by Patricia Wooster at Project Organic Eating. Thinking of my family and friends that try to eat organically, I thought it would be a great post to share with everyone. All credit goes entirely to Patricia Wooster:

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.

Make sure to check out Patricia's blog Project Organic Eating for more great information. Thanks Patricia!

AND DON'T FORGET TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHOLE FOODS $5/$25 COUPON AVAILABLE HERE.