Life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. We got hit with a nasty game changer on Friday. There is major upheaval in our life for the foreseeable future.
We will live off of our food storage and the only grocery money I will be spending is on fresh produce. There will be no room for organic in the budget, unfortunately.
So, how do you make buying choices when you’re strapped so tight you can’t consider organic? You shop the low-pesticide produce items that are in season.
The Environmental Working Group regularly tests the pesticide levels of fruits and vegetables and puts out a report that has the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen. The produce is peeled, washed or otherwise treated as you normally would prepare it before eating, then they test each piece. They also have a complete list of all the produce tested, so you can look up other items.
The only exception I make to their list is corn. Because almost all conventional dent corn is GMO and I haven’t yet seen a straight answer as to whether or not sweet corn is included, I choose to only buy organic. Because corn is a grain, we only choose to eat it on rare occasion, even when it is organic.
So this week, we will be sticking to cabbage, onion, sweet potato, cauliflower, banana and broccoli. As much as I love kale and potatoes, we will not get them unless the salvage has organic for the same price as conventional or less. That does happen occasionally. The salvage also occasionally carries bags of frozen, organic produce for $1 a bag, so I will pick up some if they have it this week.
When your grocery budget gets tight or you have an unexpected financial event, where do you cut?
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I do much the same as you do. I shop the in-season, non dirty dozen, I look for onsale organic items. For meats, I do my best bust I can’t afford organic most times. Thankfully most of the meats around here are at least hormone free, so that is something. I also can’t afford organic, raw milk (not to mention it is illegal here in Maryland last I hears). So again I look for hormone free.
I stick to making as most of the meals as possible so that I know they are chemcial and preservative free. I feel doing the best I can and prayer will keep the family healthy. I also feel I am doing better than the previous generation because I know better and am doing the best that I do at this time.
If the financials situation improves, then I head back to buying organic as soon as I can.
Donna recently posted..Menu Monday
Ah, Kerry, I’m sorry that’s the situation for you. I was there for an extended period of time and it’s scary and hard. I think you’ve got the right idea on the veggies. As for the meat – regard actual hunks of meat as a rare treat or make it an ingredient in a dish rather than the centerpiece – and turn to your homemade broths instead. (Even when you can’t afford a pricy pastured roast, farmers that sell their meat usually are happy to sell the bones cheaply). I also pretty much constantly kept my crock pot working to cook a variety of beans and freezing the result in can sized portions so that I always had a whole lot of beans to either fill n with meat or to replace it. Eventually – and I know I’m preaching to the choir – your grocery budget can handle one or two ‘non-negotiables’ because you’re putting back a lot of pantry basics. You’re so ahead of the game now, that I know you’ll handle this well once you’ve had some time to think it out.
LyndaB recently posted..Cheddar Corn Chowder
I think that if it weren’t for our food storage, we’d be having to choose between our mortgage and food and power. It’s a tough spot to be in. I’m thankful I have the storage to depend on.
KerryAnn Foster recently posted..Get Real: Oatmeal? AGAIN?
Sweetheart, we are praying for you.
Thank you, Claire!
KerryAnn Foster recently posted..Get Real: Oatmeal? AGAIN?