5 Tips on Eating Naturally and Organically on a Budget

Eating as naturally as possible will not only guarantee you the best of health, it’ll also be kinder on your wallet! By making small shifts in the way we feed our families, we can afford to eat better with our budgets, and give our family the benefit of natural and organic foods. Here are some wise spending tips on how to get on the road to better eating:

1. Bulk-buy as often as you can on natural and organic goods.
Bulk-buying can be a saving grace. Stores like S&R and similar price-club types and various supermarket chains like SM Hypermart and Shopwise have started selling natural or organic bulk items. Stock up on organic broths and stocks, organic canned tomatoes, organic rice, beans and legumes and pastas. These have long shelf lives and are cheaper to buy in bulk rather than buying a little of everything for a week at a time.

Bulk-buying also helps you trim down on other expenses! For one, you’ll make less trips to the grocery store (that’s gas savings!). You’ll be less likely to buy non-essentials, such as that pack of Cheetos or a crate of Coke. As you get used to bulk-buying, you’ll find that you’ll skip over many of the aisles!

2. Know what to buy organically.
If you’ve not tried getting your organic vegetables and fruits from your local farmers' market, you’re likely spending more on grocery-store organics. With the emergence of weekend farmer’s markets all over town, there’s usually a weekend farmer’s market within a 20-mile radius! But aside from buying from local farmers, knowing which produce items to buy organically can make a difference in your overall food bill.

The Environmental Working Group has found that the following fruits and vegetables contain the highest levels and amount of pesticides. It is these you should consider purchasing organically:

Apples
Bell peppers
Celery
Strawberries
Pears
Grapes
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes

Click here to read more.

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The following items listed are considered “clean” fruits and vegetables which hardly require any pesticide use and chemical residues:

Onions
Avocadoes
Frozen corn (Canned ones are full of salt and preservatives—avoid them!)
Pineapples
Mangoes
Frozen peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Melons (cantaloupe and watermelon)

You don’t need to buy these organically, which means you can divert those savings towards organic choices!

3. Make things from scratch at home.
There are lots of recipes which you can make from scratch at home which will help you save money and allow you to enjoy as less processed food as possible.

Salad dressing: Salad dressings are just a matter of mixing oil, acids (vinegar or a citrus juice), and spices together quickly. Compared with store-bought “all-natural” dressings, you can make your own concoction for less than P10 a meal, as opposed to store-bought variants that go into the one- or two-hundreds.  

Pancake mix: You don’t need to buy organic pancake mix from the health food store: Instead, find a recipe you like, buy the organic ingredients in bulk, mix the dry ingredients and store it in an airtight container. When you’re ready to use it, just add the wet ingredients (eggs, milk) and make fresh batter for pancakes in a jiffy.

Soups and pasta sauces: By buying organic vegetables in bulk, steaming, and pureeing the veggies, you’ll always have what you need for quick and easy soups and pasta sauces. Store several types of puree in your freezer, in cup-size portions, ready to make into soups! Freeze purees of carrot, cauliflower, tomatoes, greens like spinach, peas and kale. To make soup, just sauté garlic and onions, any uncooked veggies or protein, the puree, and some stock. For pastas, just omit the stock.

Home-grown veggies: Purchase seeds from local organic farmers and try growing your own vegetables at home without the use of pesticides. Start with easy-to-grow crops like carrots, beets and radishes. You can eventually move on to leafy vegetables (which need more monitoring).

Click here to read more.

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4. Cut back on meat.
Organic meat is expensive here in Manila. Fortunately, everyone can do without much red meat in their diet! There are lots of meals that you can whip up without meat: pastas, pizzas, omelets and fritatas, soups, and fried rice variations. Turn a side dish such as baked potatoes into a main dish: Chop the potatoes, add some pre-cooked chicken, chopped celery and green onions, mayo, salt & pepper, and you have a hearty salad. Eat more legumes such as beans: Make a mean monggo, lentil, or other type bean soup such as minestrone, which pack lots of filling vegetables into it for a hearty meal. If you want to start slowly introducing meatless days to your family, try alternating meatless recipes with your traditional dinners throughout the week.

5. Eliminate organic snack food purchases
Just because something is organic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy! In the same way that conventional junk food, candy, chocolate, and cookies are extra expenses (not to mention useless to your diet), organic snack foods can unnecessarily rack up your grocery bill as well as your sugar or fat consumption! Instead, reserve your budget for whole foods like veggies, fruits, fish and poultry. Replace snack foods with healthy alternatives that are cheaper and nutritious snacks, such as organic peeled mini carrots, grapes, applesauce, and homemade popcorn, cooked the old-fashioned way. You can buy organic popcorn kernels in bulk at natural food stores instead of microwave popcorn, which is high in fat and preservatives.

Eating naturally will take time and practice, as well as a lot of unlearning about the value of food when it comes to your health. Remember: Investing in your health now means lessening your risks for food-related problems later on in life. Know that you CAN eat organically and naturally at a fair price, and that doing so means being a better steward of your health.

Photo from sxc.hu