Going Organic - I've done it :-)

I've made the decision to try and go organic I've wanted to do it for ages and with the decision to try for another baby I've decided now is the time to start. I really wanted to when I was with Kacie, but just never got started buying organic things. When she was first born I started buying organic milk and a few other bits, but began to think they cost too much. I've been browsing in Tesco this aternoon and think I should be able to manage it without paying much more than what I pay now, at least that's the hope. I may have to drop a few luxaries, but these probably wouldn't be organic things anyway, like Ben & Jerry's ice cream

So has anyone any tips on how to buy organic on a budget? Do you think it's possible? I really can't afford more than £60 a week on groceries, less if I can. I'd like to try and buy more local produce too. Our local Tesco does sell lots of Lancashire produce, but I'm not sure how much of it is organic

I really hope we can do this

Have you got a farmers market anywhere near by? Or a farm shop? I find them much less expensive than the supermarkets. And buying in season helps keep the cost down too

Have you thought about growing your own? Im going to make a start this year - organic and cheap

Hmm a tricky one as organic food can be quite a bit dearer. It might be worth finding out which foods to prioritise as some foods will have worse residues on than others. Also I try to be thrifty, eg only buy whole chickens and joint them yourself or poach them and use the stock and leftovers for other meals.

Have you got a farmers market anywhere near by? Or a farm shop? I find them much less expensive than the supermarkets. And buying in season helps keep the cost down too

Have you thought about growing your own? Im going to make a start this year - organic and cheap

WSS, supermarkets are actually expensive for vegetables, I used to go to a farmers' market in the city centre when I worked there. Is that still going?

We're mainly organic, we focus on those foods where we feel that organic is likely to carry the greatest health benefits, e.g. dairy, as the cattle won't be routinely fed antibiotics. We also have an extra-large organic veg box every week, and top that up with organic pasta, rice and lentils etc. plus bake most of our own bread with organic flour.

Have you got a farmers market anywhere near by? Or a farm shop? I find them much less expensive than the supermarkets. And buying in season helps keep the cost down too

Have you thought about growing your own? Im going to make a start this year - organic and cheap

Would love to grow our own, but we live in a flat There are alotments around, but not in the kind of area I want to be going in often on my own and I dread to think what people have got growing there with there potatoes and carrots
I know there's a really good health food shop in town which sells a small amount of fruit and veg, not sure about farmers markets without paying a lot to get there and so not really saving on the extra I might pay in the supermarket, IYSWIM.

I really like the idea of fruit and veg boxes and have looked into this before and I know they're more popular now and so there are some that deliver here. Need to get my Google head on
ETA there's no way I could do the whole chicken thing, DH and I both hate anything other than breast meat and the occasional drumstick, even if I tried to put it in something like curry Again I wouldn't be saving anything there.

Certain things I only buy organic and will not buy if they don't have them...

Cucumber and celery are one!

I buy organic veg as much as possible or local versions where organic isn't available...

I think I'm going to switch to organic cows milk for Isabelle...

I don't buy organic rice milk as it doesn't come calcium enriched which I need... (unless they've run out of the alternative ver!)

Bread I've not switched to either...

A lot of the time for us it's about taste - I can't stand the flavour now of non organic cucumber

But we originally started getting organic veg just before Isabelle started on solids...

I would love to be completly orgainc but i cant afford it, especially atm...

We always buy organic milk, without doubt, sainburys always have it on offer (2x4 pints for £3)..we all drink it and i try to buy as much organic yoghurts, fruit and veg as much as I can afford to, we have a market and whilst its not organic i know where the produce comes from and i know the farmers

There is definitely a heirarchy of what is most important to eat organic and what isn't but I can't remember it really. I would think that meat and dairy are important due to antibiotics and growth hormones, veg less so as you can wash it, but that;s just my guess

I woudl definitely get a veg box and eat less meat - that way you will save. When we were little chicken was a sunday lunch food, there is no way we would ever have eaten it in the week

I did have a book somewhere which even impied that eating organic helped with weight loss - I think thats where I had the list of what was essential and what less so. Will see if I still have it

OK, found the book. It's by Jillain Michaels and is a book about balalncing your hormones to help with weight loss so I don't know how scientific her analysis of organic is. But her principle is that certain foods will remain toxic even after washing etc unless they are organic. Her top 10 are

Meat, dairy and eggs
Coffee
Peaches and nectarines
Apples
Peppers
Celery
Berries
Lettuce
Grapes
Foods you eat a lot

Less important but nice to have are

Processed foods
Onions
Avocadoes
Pineapple
Cabbage
Broccoli
Bananas
Asparagus
Corn
Mangoes

Foods not worth bothering to buy organic are seafood, water and anything you don't eat that often

HTH!