Organic For Less

Happy Monday from a very snowy CNY! I'm back from a "mid-winter break" and ready to get back to normalcy. Now, if I could only find the energy to match my enthusiasm. Eh, on with the show...

Every couple of weeks or so, I find myself hitting up our local Aldi (a unique grocery store with mostly generic-ish brands where you rent your grocery cart, bring your own bags, and may only use cash, or debit or EBT cards) before making my usual Hannaford haul. It helps to lower my regular food bill, and I'm ecstatic to see their choices in organic products is generally increasing. Woo hoo!

Now, before I share my budget-trimming selections, I'd like to briefly state our current eating philosophy. I wish I could say that we eat only fruits and vegetables; minimal quantities of organic, grass fed, humanely treated meat and poultry (and eggs); whole grains; and raw, grass fed milk and cheese. Period. But, we don't. A great majority of what we eat is organic OR grass fed OR GMO free OR 5-ingredients-or-less, but we still consume processed foods - frozen pizzas, part-skim cheese sticks, breads, snack crackers, granola bars, etc.  We try to eat minimal meat, but it's still a part of most of our meals (most dinners, at least).

It is what it is. Our consciences are relatively at ease on the subject. About 90-95% of the food in our house is organic or at least GMO-free. That's a heck of a lot further than we were a few short years ago. We don't stress out over the occasional ordered-in pizza or diner breakfast or meal shared at a friend or family member's house; they're quite rare and we know the rest of the time we're doing our best to put good things in our bodies. {And we're still profoundly against fast food (I'm going to attempt to pack some appealing meals for our next vacation so we don't fall victim).}

It's an evolution that I'm not rushing. To force a thing means that it will be a stress rather than a pleasure to enforce in our own lives. So, for now, I let someone else make my bread. (Either an organic brand or a few-ingredient, locally made one.) And I sleep just fine. ;-)

For some tips on grocery shopping for "whole foods", check out this old post. I'll have to do a farmers' market one when things warm up. Yay!

So, anyhoo! I ended up spending a lot for an Aldi trip (less than $60), but couldn't help myself. For once, I found so many new organic products, I felt like I was robbing the place. "Ohhhh, yessss!!" I shouted each time I spotted another. I'm sure folks thought I was crazy, but I know for a fact that crazier things DO happen...especially at this joint.

I'm showing my haul in categories - fruit 'n veg (one organic pile - left, one non-organic - right) and processed stuff (bottom).

I still subscribe to a small extent to the "clean 15" list to cut back on cost (although it's also a matter of supply/demand; if they supply an organic version, I'll often buy it). So, at Aldi I purchased a pineapple ($2.49), mushrooms ($.99!), a trio of onions ($2.69; I'm a tad wary here; the last time I did this, I cut into them THE NEXT DAY to find they had soft/browning middles...happened recently at Hannaford, too, though), garlic ($.79!), green onions ($.79!), asparagus ($2.99...and already gone...I should've bought two), and a bag o' potatoes ($2.99 for 5 lbs! But...on the dirty list, but it's tough to find organic here :-P).

As for the organic produce, I FINALLY caught their fresh bananas (I think $.79/lb.), bag o' apples ($4.49), spinach and spring mix ($1.99 each; if we don't use the spinach by the time it starts to go, I can boil it quickly and flash freeze) and baby carrots ($.99; this is the price if you're LUCKY for non-organic at Hannaford). Lots of "booyah!" and heel kicking in the aisles, I tell ya. Oh, and I grabbed two bags of frozen organic strawberries ($2.69 each) and one of blueberries ($2.99). If you want to count apple juice, I hunted down an organic container for $2.49 ($.50 - $1.00 less than usual).

Then we get into the more processed (yet organic) stuff. Diced tomatoes for $1.49, two boxes of $1.99 chicken soup, a box of $1.79 chicken broth, a box of $1.19 linguine, a $1.99 peppercorn ranch dressing, hormone- and antibiotic-free bacon (just like the kind we get at Hannaford, only $3.89...similar price, just want to check it out), $1.99 "toasted oats" (organic Cheerios, folks!), and TWO organic pizzas for $3.99 each (TWO DINNERS for $4.00 each! Yes, we'll probably have salad, too, but c'mon...can't buy a pizza from a local pizza place for that little, and they're made with ORGANIC ingredients!!!).

Whew. So, yeah, minus a $2 bag that I purchased because I ended up finding way more than I had expected, it came to around $57.63. For comparison, I usually spend around $30 there. If only they'd start carrying WHOLE organic milk instead of 2% (don't get me wrong -- I was ECSTATIC to see that they even had milk).

On a final note, this is just an example of a random grocery trip. I've had some interest from folks to know what one of these trips looks like, how much we spend on stuff, and what selections we make. This is by no means a bragfest (although I was dancing in the aisles to see what deals I could find); it's just putting myself out there to see if what I do might help any of you. :-)

So, how about you? What are some ways that you find to eat healthier (no judgment zone: healthier doesn't always mean organic; it's just our personal philosophy) for cheaper?