do you buy organic only for your kids?

[pugz]

This is something we need to think about and possibly adjust our grocery budget for as Squirmy will start solids in the next couple of months.

We do not buy organic food, grass fed beef, organic milk or anything like that currently but I'm not opposed to changing that for her.

How have you approached this issue? Any good articles/websites I should check out? Do you just do organic with some things (like fruits and veggies) or EVERYTHING (like meats and dairy too).

[doctorsbaby]

When DD started eating solids, I tried for organic on as much as I could. The main produce I only bought organic were those on the dirty dozen list.

[pugz]

ooh can you link me to the list?

[h]

We do organic for milk, yogurt, and the dirty dozen. Beyond that, it just depends. If there is a reasonably priced organic alternative, I buy it, if not, I don't worry about it too much.

[CloudBee]

We don't have kids yet, but started eating mainly organic a few years ago. Unfortunately the past couple months I've been working crazy hours and have had to rely on grocery delivery, so my organic options have been limited. (I do most of my in-person shopping at Whole Foods.)

Here are some basics that I started with, that are reasonably priced:

-one brand of organic milk is usually on sale
-stock up on organic butter and freeze when it's on sale
-organic ketchup isn't much more expensive
-store brand organic canned tomatoes are about the same price as name brand non-organic
-cabinet staples that you don't purchase often, like spices, soy sauce, olive oil, etc.
-organic bananas are cheap
-organic apples lately have been expensive, I'm not sure why
-store brand organic cereal at Whole Foods & Trader Joe's is very reasonably priced
-jars of organic pasta sauce at TJs and Whole Foods is a good price
-organic pasta at Whole Foods is not much more than name brand non-organic
-American cheese is on sale at WF about once a month
-organic tortillas at WF are cheap
-Costco sells organic chicken and ground beef at a great price
-my local grocery store has a good price on organic white & brown rice
-Trader Joe's is an awesome place to get a good price on frozen organic veggies (corn, peas, broc)
-sour cream tends to cost more, but the organic taste better, IMO
-yogurt also seems to cost more UNLESS it's the kid's version, go figure
-organic apple juice is a good price if you buy it in the exra big container
-if you do organic OJ, WF seems to have the best price, & their OJ/pineapple juice is even cheaper
-Aldi sells a ton of frozen wild caught frozen fish that is the same as what TJs has, but diff packaging
-Aldi tends to have random items here and there that are organic, so stock up when you see things

You just have to get yourself into stores that sell a lot of organic items like WF and TJs often, to get a good sense of what's reasonably priced and organic. WF brand mayo, pickles, soups, pasta sauces, flour, frozen veggies, and many other freezer & pantry staples are really pennies more, or the same price as non-organic name brand items in a regular grocery store. TJs has similar values. You just really have to expose yourself to see where the savings are. You may not need to adjust your budget much. If you drink a ton of milk you may end up spending $5-10 more per month on that. And meat - it depends on how accessible Costco is. Sometimes I order in bulk online from farms.

ETA: Eggs! We probably spend $4 more per month on eggs because we eat organic, but they taste SO much better.

[Deleted]

I do organic eggs, dairy & some produce (carrots, apples especially since they eat them the most) but not much else consistently.

[pugz]

I should also ask what your grocery budget is I suppose! We budget $450 currently
(doesn't include formula) and have trouble sticking to that. Costco trips are what kill me.

[Deleted]

I buy organic on the dirty dozen list and when prices are similar.

I focus more on local than organic.

[anna7602]

Dec 13, 2012 0:59:18 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Our budget for groceries is $800/month

We buy mostly organic, and locally grown when possible. Our budget is similar to this. I should note that in neither of the two cities I've lived with DD (NY and Paris) is Costco or any kind of bulk place an option for us. We don't have a car and I shop a lot at farmers' markets.

[cjeanette]

Dec 13, 2012 0:14:45 GMT -5 pugz said:

I should also ask what your grocery budget is I suppose! We budget $450 currently
(doesn't include formula) and have trouble sticking to that. Costco trips are what kill me.

We limit Costco. Price Chopper has local free range eggs and local organic milk for a decent price. So B usually shops there. I do like Costco for their organic chicken breasts.

Items like a banana? Non-organic works for us.

We aren't super diligent about it but it is something B thinks is important.

[marclovesme]

DD had only organic when she was first on solids, but now that she's almost 2, we are really only vigilant about milk and meats. I've even become more lenient with milk and have bought hormone-free milk a few times (still WAY more expensive than regular milk but only a little less than organic).

[karinothing]

Dec 12, 2012 23:14:13 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Def organic dairy and most meat. Produce it depends.

This is us. My issue is hormones/antibiotics stuff like that vs. pesticides.

[badtzmaru22]

The only thing I'm strict on is making sure the milk says it was made from cows not injected with hormones. But honestly, I don't know how much I trust that label, since all the milk at Wegmans says that now, and it used to be just the local brand.

[rosetyler]

We already do, as much as possible. Especially meat and most produce.
Sometimes what I need isn't available in an organic option, or it's like 2-3x the price. We don't have a TJ's or a WF in the city I'm in now, so I take what I can get at Costco and SuperTarget.
I am extra careful around anything that could be GMO - like I won't buy soy products unless they're organic.

[bunch]

We made a major switch last January just as kiddo started solids. For veggies I go all organic, fruits if I can get them, we drink local, hormone/ anti b free milk, I have 100 lbs of organic, grass fed beef in the freezer and we even buy those stinking $15 local free range chickens. For us the change was so sudden because we discovered a local food exchange where we can order online from 40 local farms and pick it all up at once. The change has been awesome for us. We eat a lot less meat because its so expensive. I'd say our grocery budget is about $500 a month, split pretty evenly between food exchange and grocery store, but that doesn't include the $500 we spent on beef in August. I know a lot of areas have food exchanges. It might be worth looking into. Ours only sells chemical free, has great quality and very reasonable prices.

[Deleted]

I don't think you save money shopping at costco. I think a lot of food gets wasted etc.

That said, I do organic dairy and meat. For veggies, I pick and choose based on the dirty dozen. I worry more about hormones and high fructose corn syrup.

[lizlemon19]

Our kids officially move in next week, and I think we will try to buy organic when possible. I will do organic milk and beef, and certain veggies. I won't do organic bananas, avacado, etc where you throw the peel away. I also like the Annie's organic and Late July snacks and stuff for kids.

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2012 4:32:34 GMT -5 @kimbus22 said:

No. My cousin is an organic farmer and he told me that buying "organic" in the supermarket is a joke. The standards for the organic label are not very stringent. He said the only way to really buy organic is to know the farm you're purchasing from and do it directly.

So my kid eats whatever is on sale. I just wash it.

Yeah, my dad is a farmer and has said the same thing. He did say the rules are better in the US than Canada.
I do notice a big difference in organic apples though - they taste real!

I focus more on local, which I find tastes better and they use less Chemicals.

[SusanBAnthony]

We do. We didn't go 100% the day DS started solids, but we were die hard about organic dairy for him. M

Since then, five years now, we buy most stuff organic. We are not near a co-op or whole foods, so there is certain stuff we just can't get organic, but it is probably 80% organic. It is well worth it to us, both for our health, and to support the local and organic foods movements which are important to us.

We spend about 600$ for a family of four a month. I can't compare to pre-organic since we didn't have kids then. I do buy a lot in bulk and make a lot from scratch. If I worked FT still, and was buying organic convenience foods, our grocery budget would be insane.

[pamela]

No. We don't do organic for either of us as I don't believe there is a legitimate difference in farming practices for most things you can buy in a store.

[SusanBAnthony]

A few more thoughts: we buy the following t Costco and save a lot: organic butter, organic eggs, organic milk, organic whole wheat bread, organic frozen veggies, tillamook cheese or organic cheese (huge huge huge savings on these), and when DH ate meat, organic chicken. Oh, also wild salmon.

That is about it. We cannot buy their produce, it doesn't all get used, with the exception of sometimes they sell single things like pineapples. We don't so the conniver foods, even though they are cheaper per oz, bc we eat more of them when the is more in the house, so we spend way more than if we had just gotten the small box at the regular store. For examples, Annie's gone crackers are way cheaper at Costco, but in a week we will either eat the small 5$ grocery store box, or we will eat the whole big 10$ Costco box in a week if it is there. Fail!

I also garden and can a ton, and that helps keep our budget down. If I was buying all from the grocery, I think we would be 100$ more a month.

[water*drop]

We do organic dairy, eggs, meat, the dirty dozen, and whatever else is reasonably close to the normal produce price. Our food comes from Costco (dairy, some meat, and they have lots of organic frozen berries and veggies that we like to have on hand), our local co-op (meat, mostly), farmers markets (fruits/veggies), coworkers (eggs, honey, seasonal fruits/veggies), and Meijer (whatever we can't get someplace else).

[Deleted]

I only buy organic if the price is close - like 88 cents a pound vs. 78 cents for bananas. And then I'm not really doing it for DS, I'm doing it to support the agricultural practice. Canada doesn't allow the same hormones in dairy cows, so I have no problem with regular milk. Sometimes I buy organic frozen veggies. It's really not consistent enough to pretend I have an impact. Some of our meat (the beef and pork) comes from my family's farm, so it's near organic.

Really, I think feeding a healthy, varied diet matters more than going organic. And even that I'm not so good on since DS is so thin that if he wants to eat a box of Ritz crackers, I let him.

[everam01]

I buy organic milk, those little organic pouches, and the dirty dozen organic produce for the boys. I buy organic produce for all of us, but my husband drinks regular milk. I also buy organic eggs, but usually not meat.

[froggy76]

Right now, the only thing we consistently buy organic is milk. I would like to start buying more, but the cost for organic produce is crazy.

[drloretta]

Mostly organic, but I don't make it my hill to die on. DD has organic milk, mostly "natural" (not necessarily organic) meats, and a combination of organic vs non for everything else. Esp during the growing season we grow a lot of produce or buy from local farmstands/farmer's markets. Most of which is organic.

There's the "dirty dozen", which is the top 12 things you should buy organic, and I think we follow that pretty well.

[Saudade]

We don't have a lot of options here. That said, I try to do local over organic for meat and eggs. I want the animals to be treated with abx if needed but not prophylactically. Organic regulation does not allow for that. Unfortunately I do buy organic milk and we only have one brand available. We don't even have the full Dirty Dozen available in organic. I hate where we live.Truthfully we don't eat much meat so the change in cost hasn't been an issue.

[aspentosh]

I generally try and buy organic for us, so yes, I try and do the same for her. I don't live or die by it, but I do try my best.

[Deleted]

We buy locally for the things we can from the Farmer's Market. All meat and eggs, most produce and fruit. I know the farmers I buy from, so even thought (for example) the meat isn't certified organic, it's free range, hormone and antibiotic free. Same goes for produce. Small farmers can't afford organic certification, but I know from talking to them that they don't use pesticides or herbicides. Plus the food tastes FANTASTIC. We also grow some food ourselves.

For the stuff I buy from the store, I buy organic if I can and if it's reasonably priced. We live in a small town, so no WF or TJ. So I'm limited in that aspect also. We don't drink much milk so I buy a small container organic. Same goes for sour cream. I splurge on organic butter at my bimonthly trip to Wegman's. But organic deli meat and cheese? Nope. Way too expensive. I buy organic bananas b/c they're like 0.20 a pound more than conventional. Potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery are also reasonable priced organic. But not lemons, limes, herbs (of which we use A LOT), and exotic fruits like pineapple or mangoes.

Our food budget is very high, like $800 a month for the three of us. I always go over But, we only eat out once or twice a month and I SAH, so that's three people eating all their meals at home. So food goes fast.

[dragonfly08]

I don't buy organic unless it's on sale for a comparable price to the non-organic version, because why not if it isn't costing me anything. I don't go out of my way or spend more, though, since most things I've read say it isn't that helpful (and a couple of pps who know farmers seem to support that), so I can't justify the increased cost. I do buy milk at stores that get it from farmers who don't use hormones in their cattle feed, etc. but it's not organic per se.