Affordable Organic

I try to buy organic food and cleaners when I can. I have switched to organic apples, pears, bananas, baby carrots, grape tomoatos, milk, macaroni and cheese, animal crackers and yogurt 97% of the time. When I can I buy other organic products as well, but they are more expensive than non-organic products. To help with the higher cost of organic products there are a few things I do.

I mostly buy store brand organics because they often cost less, no other reason. One brand I do buy that is not store brand is Stonyfield. To offset the cost, which is usually higher than store brands, I print of the coupons from their website. You can only print each coupon one time but they refresh each month.

Another way I try to offset the higher cost is to shop in bulk. Stonyfield sells their yobaby yogurts at BJ's and are cheaper than at the store, plus I can combine with coupons. My older kids love yobaby yogurt so we make sure to buy some each month when we do our BJ's run.

I also utilize the Stonyfield rewards program. Each product has a rewards code on it and earn you points. The amount of points earned depends on the product- a 32 ouce countainer of yogurt earns more points than a 6 ouce yogurt. You can then trade in points for different rewards. My favorite is to trade in points for free yo baby yogurts. They also offer coupons for other organic products. If you are interested in trying just go to the Stonyfield website and sign up. Print off coupons and earn rewards points.

I also watch OrganicDeals. This is an awesome website which lists many ways to buy organic for less. She talks about amazon.com deals, target deals, different grocery stores, coupons, and other ways to save buy buying organic. And she doesn't stay simply with food, she takls about organic toys, cleaners, and clothes as well. Check out her website if you are trying to find ways to fit more organic products into your lifestyle!

I was not compensated at all for this post. I am simply sharing a program that I find VERY helpful.

Amazon Deal

I have written about how I am trying to incorporate more organic products into my household but budget constraints make it difficult at times. Today I found a deal that I needed to pass along. Amazon.com is having a sale on Seventh Generation products. They are 15% off for Amazon.com Mom subscribers and an additional 15% off if you sign up for subscribe and save. To give you an example a box of toilet bowl cleaners (you get eight 32 ounce bottles) costs $26.32 After you save 30% the cost is $18.42 which is just$2.30 a bottle. yes this is a ton of toilet cleaner (and even with five people in this house it will take me awhile to go through it) but the savings are great and I can either stockpile it or find someone who wants to split a case with me. They have several other of their Seventh Generation cleaning products on sale, this is just one example.

Also, thanks for the comments on my decision for Lent. The positive thoughts are very helpful! I am hopeful to keep it well under the 90 minutes, but with the online commitments I have made I think 90 minutes will be just enough time some days!

Going Organic

Since we hae decided that we will eat as much organic food as we can I have noticed one large problem- I cannot find coupons for organic food! I have found some on Stonyfield's website but that is about it.
I am convinced now after what I have read and heard (and there is still so much more I want to read) that eating organic food it what is best for my family. But I am frugal by nature and am having trouble at times reconciling myself to my new grocery bills. I normally shop the sales and we are taking the changeover slowly, but it is still sticker shock. This week regular milk is on sale for $2.50 a gallon. Depending on where you live this may seem cheap or expensive. Here that is cheap, almost a $1 off of the normal store brand price and the sale is for garelic (name brand). Now when I go buy my organic store brand milk I will pay almost $6 a gallon. The frugal part of me wants to shop the sale this week. The go-organic part of me says don't go back to the cheaper stuff, each time you do it will be harder and harder to spend the extra money even though I know it is better all around.
I switched the milk because my kids drink so much of it. I knew it would be expensive but it is something we drink multiple times a day so it seemed like a good place to start. I also switched my fresh fruits to organic this week and will be working on vegetables next. Meat will be the last organic thing I buy. I want to do some research and find a place where I can buy organic meat in bulk and get a better price. There is a Whole Foods store about 45 minutes away, but if it is a good price I will make the trip every month or so and stock up on meats and non-perishables. This weekend I will make my trip to Wal-Mart and check out there organic supplies.
So far we have switched:
apples
bananas
carrots
milk
yogurt
eggs
mac and cheese (I know, random)
canned beans
canned tomatoes

This week I would like to look into organic flour and sugar as well as other fresh veggies. I am going to investigate organic snack foods as well. I want to deplete the supply that we have at home before I buy organic things. I just cannot throw out the food I have already bought, I can't donate it either, we just can't afford to to the change that way. But I really believe that the slow change will be better and easier to stick to in the long run.

Stonyfield Event in Boston

This post is really really late. The Stonyfield event at the Boston Children's Museum was on the 17th. And now I am getting to the post ten days later. But I have been running behind in everything lately.
The event was excellent. We got there with very little trouble. My mom went with us because I am unfamiliar with Boston and was not up to the 1 1/2 hour drive on my own. We found the right room and got M and O settled in to the free daycare with little trouble. O was a little anxious at first but I was quickly replaced by the toy cash register. M found the stamps and crayons and was on her way.

The first thing they did was give us samples of the yo Baby Meals, the new line. It was great. I was a little uncertain at first. The meals are yogurt with a fruit and veggie puree at the bottom. Something about the combination of pears and green beans was a little unsettling. But they are great. You can barely taste the grean beans, just a hint. The yogurt is great as always and is a good comb and cover for the vegetables.
Afterwards we got to listen to Gary Hirshberg, the Ce-yo of Stonyfield. I need to say taht originally I went for the free museum passes. I have been reading more about organics lately, but I was not really inclined to it. After listening to Gary talk I am much more interested in going more organic in my food choices. He is a very interesting man to listen to. One thing tha really cuaght my attention is how focused on organic he is and how committed to it. He talked about how important it is for your health, but he didn't solely push stonyfield. He talked baout how many stores are developing their own roganic lines and how great that is and how it is becoming more affordable because of it.
It was interesting to listen to how the company was started and how committed to organic foods Gary is. He didn't simply talk about Yo Baby Meals. He also talked about how and why Stonyfield was started and why roganic si good for the environment as well as people.
After listening to the information I came home and talked to Jon about it. We are making more of a commitment to eat healthier. One point Gary made was that there are tons fo reasons to go organic and only one reason not to, the cost. The cost is coming down, but it is still more expnesive. Of course in general the healthier food costs more than the junk food so it makes sense. One main reason we have not done much organic is becuase of the cost. But after listening to Gary and reading more about it Jon and I are going to try and buy more organic products. I am doing it slowly. Last week I made the switch to organic milk- it hurt the look at the price because I love to shop the sales, but it is a commitment we have made. AFter doing some reading this summer I was trying to read more lables- something about not being able to pronouce some of the chemicals in my food is a little unsettling. I began making my own bread this summer, started buying organic macaroni and cheese as well as organic and cage free eggs. And I was making a point to only buy hormone free milk, but organic is the next step. I have heard that WalMart has organic products so I need to make a trip out to the one that has a foodmart inside and check it out. This week I am going to add organic fruit into my cart and watch my bill. If going organic means we eat less junk food (because I have less money to buy it with) maybe it will help my waistline as well!
AT the event they gave us an awesome lunch and some great goody bags to take home. My mom and I spent the afternoon chasing my kids around the museum and eveyone came home exhausted. Jon is still jealous that he couldn't manage the day off of work (we have a family trip to the Big E planned next week and it is only the third week of school) but he loved looking at the pictures of Madeline and Owen playing around.

I was going to post pictures but I am having issues. If I get it fixed I will post them later.