Saturday, December 29, 2007

Eating healthy = high grocery bill

We have been doing more and more organics for months now. This month however we are trying some new stuff in reference to even more diet changes for Brae. This meant a trip to Tulsa to Wild Oats. Wow some of the things I just could not justify on a few things I went with natural as opposed to organic, rationalizing that the natural was still better than normal store brand that had perservatives, etc. Example organic chocolate chips $6.88 a bag, natural $1.99, store brand $1.24...so see I can justify the extra 75 cents after reading the ingredients on the back but not the extra 5 dollars.

All in all I think we did good comparing prices, labels, etc. I was ready for the higher bill but still yikes. I did get some of the things at WalMart and I noted it was the same brand that was at the "health food store" for cheaper. I am thankful they are carrying so many more organic products.

I am also going to be doing several recipes out of the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" so I will let you know how that goes. It looks like such a neat cookbook. I am going to be doing the pureing that it calls for tommorow and putting the pureas in the freezer to grab as needed.

Of course it goes without saying if the diet changes make the big differences that we hope they will it doesn't matter we will do what we have to and make the higher grocery bill work for us. I was also pleased with the amount of gluten free items that they carried. Harps is also starting to carry more gluten free and organic items at a reasonable price (or at least reasonable in terms of organic foods).

5 comments:

Stacey said...

thanks for your thoughts on "natural" as well as organic. increasing our organic intake even more is on my 2008 goal list as well, but may have to not be snobby towards "natural" as we make the transitions. my other goal is to minimize my spending at wal-mart as much as possible, or at least to "made in the usa" products.

don't forget to pick up some organic baby food to use instead of purees when you are short on time. it works at our house!

Jody said...

Yeah I have priced organic stuff myself and it can get pretty expensive. Natural is a little better. Good luck with things. ((HUGS))

BarnGoddess said...

Wild Oats is a good store! I shop there quite often for Wee One. Ive also had Adkins deliver food to our home when I cannot make it to Tulsa or Bartlesville.

We spend an average of $300 a month on Wee One's food. It sucks. But its worth it.......

Unknown said...

Just be on guard when it comes to meats. Some evil companies will advertise that their brands are "hormone free" when pork and chicken aren't allowed to have hormones anyway. But they are still full of antibiotics. Cipro is the most common.

Perdue is the biggest culprit of this. Hormel also makes this claim with one of their pork lines. It's pathetic.

With the prices of corn going up, conventional foods are almost as expensive as organic in my area (GA). But as far as milk goes, we don't consume a lot of it since it's not exactly the world's best thing for you. There are five of us, and a 1/2 gallon of organic milk lasts a week.

I've posted several tips on my blog for saving money when you follow a natural/organic lifestyle.

rofkahr@gmail.com said...

Ok girl you keep changing your blog site! Is Matt experimenting? I love it but you are making me want to change mine now!!! Or is that Matt change it?