Many people want to eat organic and healthy foods but find the costs of eating clean to be prohibitive. Here are some tips for saving money on these tasty, nutritious, but often pricy produts:
1. While a commitment to eating organic is often a good thing, it can also be expensive. The Environmental Working Group publishes a shopper’s guide each year that lists conventionally grown foods that have minimal pesticide residue, as well as those fruits and veggies that tend to have a lot of residue. Armed with this information, you can make good choices about investing in organic produce that tends to have less pesticide.
2. It can be hard to find coupons for organic and natural frozen and prepared foods. But they are out there. Check out manufacturer’s websites and get on their online mailing lists for your best chance at finding coupons and getting free sample offers. Some health food stores publish in-house coupon booklets and magazines that contain coupons. Other good sources for coupons are environmental/natural living publications and Mambo Sprouts, a coupon service that specializes in natural and organic brands.
3. Trader Joe’s is known for developing high-quality private label foods that taste great, are often organic. Trader Joe’s food is super affordable. In fact, Trader Joe’s carries a lot of trendy health food items such as raw sauerkraut, coconut sugar and Himalayan pink salt. They sell all of these items at reasonable prices. Trader Joe’s remains very transparent about the ingredients used it its foods, so you can make choices that suit your needs. Trader Joe’s also has a very customer-friendly guarantee: if you buy a food and don’t like it, you can take it back to the store for a refund or product credit.
4. Learn to make your own specialty foods. If you find yourself breaking the budget to buy gourmet and specialty prepared foods, investing in some basic kitchen equipment and making these things yourself can save you a lot of money. For example, almond milk is actually quite inexpensive to make. In fact, when you make it yourself, you’ll have fresh almond meal left over that you can use in cooking!
5. Many “mainstream” grocery stores now carry organics and specialty brands. Take advantage of sales, store coupons, and loyalty programs. If there is an organic/natural brand that you like, visit their website to see if they list the stores through which they have distribution. You may find that your local supermarket carries the brand.
6. Organic farmers and artisan food purveyors can often be found at farmer’s markets. Because you are buying direct from the producer, you’ll often save a lot of money.
7. Online retailers, such as AbesMarket.com frequently run sales and sampling specials, so get on their mailing lists and take advantage of special offers. Amazon also has a full section of Natural and Organic foods. Many of these products are available as part of the Prime/Subscribe & Save programs.
