Pink & Green Parenting: How to Save Money While Going Organic
‘œOh, so you shop at Whole Paycheck?’
‘œOrganics! Well, my family can’t afford that.’
‘œWe didn’t have all these special organic products when we were growing up, and we’re fine, so why bother?’
These are some of the comments friends and family make when they hear that we’re trying to raise our kid in an organic environment. The popular conception is that you can either be cost or health conscious’”not both. But I’ve found that some of the most organic, natural lifestyle choices you and your family can make are also the most cost-effective.
As for the ‘˜geez, we didn’t bother with this in my day and we’re fine’ argument, I would argue that we are in fact on the verge of an ecological disaster due to our dependence on petrochemicals that impacts all of us. Moreover, as a 41-year-old with three friends incapacitated by allergies, two friends struggling with cancer, and one six feet under from an unidentified illness, I just can’t buy that the damage we’ve done to the environment isn’t in fact corroding our health’”and our childrens’. And this is one case where I’d definitely rather be safe than sorry!
And you know what? Organic stuff just feels better, tastes better, smells better, and is ultimately cheaper, if you do it the right way.
Yup, you heard right: organic can be cheaper.
Here are some tips for saving money while going organic. As with all lifestyle changes, it helps to try the one that seems the easiest first, see if it works for you, and then add another and another. You’re not only making your household healthier and your bank account larger; you’re modeling healthful, environmentally conscious, economically responsible behavior to your kids.
1) Go Local
The locavore movement got a lot of press (and its own entry into the Oxford American Dictionary!) this year, but it’s been brewing for at least a decade. Basically, the idea behind the whole locavore thing is to buy stuff grown within a 100 mile radius from your home. Why? Organic is really only half the story; those ‘œorganic’ avocados that a certain store carries whose name rhymes with Snood Bowl are flown in from Chile. Which means two things: it’s hard to really know what the growing conditions were, since they don’t have to meet the US standards for organics, and a hell of a lot of petrol was wasted shipping them to the Lewd Mole.
And they’re way overpriced!!! Instead, try to buy local stuff that’s in season. My locally-owned health food store has locally-grown organic parsnips at half the price of those cosmopolitan avocados.
One great way to save money on veggies, buy locally and organically, and be a part of your community is to join a CSA, a Community Supported Agriculture organization. It’s a subscription service, but you get great veggies instead of trashy magazines! For a yearly membership fee, you get a basket of seasonal fruits and veggies from a local farm delivered to your house. We found that we got much more creative with our cooking once we had to use the seasonal veggies. And it saved us money; no more $2 avocados and $3 bell peppers from God knows where. I’m now an expert on Brussels sprouts, pumpkins, and parsnips And the kids love the surprise of it all’”what will be in the basket this week?
2) Avoid ‘˜Clear’ Cleaning; Seek Whole Cleaners Instead
Many big-name commercial brands are trying to cash in on the organics craze, so they’re marketing their products (such as dish soap and laundry detergent) as ‘˜clear”” free of fragrance and color. And they’re upping the price for these supposedly healthier products! But here’s the deal: many of them actually contain scent-masking and color-neutralizing chemicals. In fact, they may have more additives than regular non-organic products!
Instead, choose natural products that are naturally chemical and fragrance free. Look at the ingredients; look out for multi-syllabic additives. Dr. Bonner’s, California Baby, and Seventh Generation are good bets; they’re made of pure, simple ingredients, and sell their products in bulk. If you do want to add scent, just add a few drops of an essential oil. Just as whole foods’”unprocessed, with a minimum of additives’”are better to eat, whole cleaning products are better to wash with. After all, do you really want petrochemicals on your baby’s tush?
3) Co-op
For a small membership fee and a bit of service time, you can join a food co-op, which will carry organic products at discount prices to its members. Co-ops vary in their demands; the Park Slope Food Coop is notoriously Byzantine in its structure, though it has amazing produce at unbelievable prices, but my local Takoma Park/Silver Spring Co- op is quite user-friendly. If there isn’t a co-op in your area, see if you can start a small one in your basement. Start with dried goods, which store well, and go from there. If you join a co-op, bring your kids when you do your service assignment; they’ll learn all about the source of their food, and the nature of community-building.
4) DIY
Many expensive, wastefully packaged kid- and baby-oriented products are easily made. Organic baby food is a great example; the canned and jarred stuff is a third more expensive than regular baby food, and comes in discardable jars. And the portions are too big; when we used the store bought stuff, we ended up having to throw half of it out. All you need to make your own is a food processor and some sterilized jars.
I know it sounds time-consuming, but it really isn’t; once a week, we cook some organic veggies, meats, and so on, mush them up in the food processor, jar some, freeze others in ice-cube trays, and then reuse the jars. It’s about a quarter of the price of commercial organic brands to do it this way. And we often use foods that we ourselves will eat (in un-mushed-up form), so it really doesn’t take much extra time at all. I imagine we’ll do the same for older kids’ foods once our baby reaches that point.
So there you have it: reasonably easy ways to go organic AND save money. If you have others, let me know. I’ll trade you my parsnip recipe!
Good list.
And we shouldn’t forget that “in my day” agricultural practices were 10, 15, 25, 30 different from what they are now. Go far enough back and what we now call “organic” WAS the standard. Today is not that day, so that argument is moot, even if you don’t happen to believe in or care about your own impact on or responsibility to the planet and its health.
Hey, I want that parsnip recipe! I’ve got three of them staring at me on my counter right now.
I’ll have to look into the Takoma Park/Silver Spring one. That could be useful. 🙂
Great point, Jill! I’ll bring that up next time someone tries to make that claim.
Mary Sue, here’s the Official Fink Parsnip Recipe (‘recycled’ and adapted from Epicurious):
Parsnips in Maple-Mustard Sauce
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1.5 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits (you could sub olive oil, I suppose)
2 large parsnips (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 3- by 1/4-inch sticks
preparation
Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste
Dash of nutmeg
In a microwave-safe shallow baking dish combine the syrup, the mustard, the butter, and salt and pepper to taste, add the parsnips, and toss them to coat them well. Microwave the parsnips, covered partially, at high power (100%) for 10 minutes, or until they are tender. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.
OR you can bake the parsnips first at 425 for 25 min. OR steam them.
Delicious either way!
If you don’t like maple, use 2 t brown sugar. And if you don’t like things too sweet,
reverse the ratio of maple sugar to mustard. But kids often will only go for parsnips if there’s a little sugar involved.
This goes great with your (organic, local) ham or turkey.
Enjoy!
Mrs. M: Yes, I love the TP/SS Co-op. It has locations in both areas (the Silver Spring one is right by the fabulous Parkway Diner!) You’ll save a lot AND eat more healthily if you join.
While I can’t figure out what Lewd Mole store is, I really enjoyed the article. Thanks for all the links!
Thanks, Vixen! I actually cockneyed (reversed the order of the words) the name of the store in question (so the store actually rhymes with Mole Lewd). 🙂
Jennifer, I live in your area and use a CSA that delivers to a central location. It’s a bit difficult since I don’t have a car. What CSA do you know about in the DC area that delivers to your house? Thanks SO much for the post.
Hi Amelia-
Thanks for the kudos!
I had CSA delivery when I was living in upstate NY (I just moved back to DC last month)
The only home delivery service I’ve found here in the DC area is
http://washingtonsgreengrocer.com/
They’ll do all-organics if you like, but it’s a bit pricey.
You can also look at this list ttp://www.localharvest.org/ to see if there’s a different CSA that has a delivery point near a Metro station. Good luck!
This is a great list, and not just for those of us who are parents.
My partner and I use Dr. Bronner’s for practically everything in our household. Dr. B’s washes our dishes, our delicates, our floors, our bathrooms, and sometimes my hair. I like the lavender version.
Thanks, Jennifer!
Great article! So many true things here. I want to second that as a nanny, I made our baby food of organics. It is SO much cheaper and looks so much better! Also, one thing eating locally and organic has done for me is make me more conscious about what I eat and how much- helps me keep from over-eating and be conscious about vitamins and minerals.
Good point, Moorea! Going organic has definitely lose some (sadly, not all!) of the baby weight.
Oops. I apparently _did_ lose my grammar!
That was supposed to read, “Going organic has definitely HELPED ME to lose some (sadly, not all!) of the baby weight.”
Sigh. And to think that I’m an _English_ professor!!!