Comments on: Organic on the cheap http://greencouple.com/2009/02/03/organic-on-the-cheap/ Learning to live green and live together Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:16:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Quick Tips for Eating Organic ? Get Rich Slowly http://greencouple.com/2009/02/03/organic-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-2989 Quick Tips for Eating Organic ? Get Rich Slowly Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:00:58 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=506#comment-2989 [...] For more tips and for more detail (including advice from Grist readers), check out Bendrick’s article on how to maintain a green, healthy diet on a budget. You might also be interested in GreenCouple.com’s recent post about buying organic on the cheap. [...] [...] For more tips and for more detail (including advice from Grist readers), check out Bendrick’s article on how to maintain a green, healthy diet on a budget. You might also be interested in GreenCouple.com’s recent post about buying organic on the cheap. [...]

]]> By: Andy http://greencouple.com/2009/02/03/organic-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-2987 Andy Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:20:14 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=506#comment-2987 You-pick is great. There's a biiiig one about a mile from here where you can pick all sorts of things. I got peppers, peaches, and tomatoes, but I know they also do just about anything a CSA would have, plus a big apple and pear orchard and tons of tomatoes (and varieties). I dried all the peaches, but those went in a month, and the tomatoes are frozen and being used for soups. I still have some of the peppers dried that I use in soups and stews too. You-pick is great. There’s a biiiig one about a mile from here where you can pick all sorts of things. I got peppers, peaches, and tomatoes, but I know they also do just about anything a CSA would have, plus a big apple and pear orchard and tons of tomatoes (and varieties). I dried all the peaches, but those went in a month, and the tomatoes are frozen and being used for soups. I still have some of the peppers dried that I use in soups and stews too.

]]> By: Will http://greencouple.com/2009/02/03/organic-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-2986 Will Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:55:34 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=506#comment-2986 It's hard to compare food prices because it varies so much across the country. Trading farm work for food is a great idea. I know that most famers who sell at market do a LOT of work the day and night before to get everything picked and packed. If you help out with that, they'd probably be pay in produce. Public fruit trees are cool too. For those of us who don't have such an enlightened local government, it's often easy to pick extras from people nearby. This summer, we got a ton of apples from Maggie's aunt. And, of course, there's always you-pick fruit in the summer! It’s hard to compare food prices because it varies so much across the country.

Trading farm work for food is a great idea. I know that most famers who sell at market do a LOT of work the day and night before to get everything picked and packed. If you help out with that, they’d probably be pay in produce.

Public fruit trees are cool too. For those of us who don’t have such an enlightened local government, it’s often easy to pick extras from people nearby. This summer, we got a ton of apples from Maggie’s aunt. And, of course, there’s always you-pick fruit in the summer!

]]> By: Andy http://greencouple.com/2009/02/03/organic-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-2985 Andy Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:00:53 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=506#comment-2985 In the summer of 2007, we tried to eat as local and organic as possible. We joined a CSA, and always shopped at the Farmers' Market first, the coops second, and the big grocery store last if needed. As a result of this challenge, I also started new challenges such as not buying packaged food, not buying anything with corn based ingredients other than on the cob or cornmeal, and eventually avoiding processed food. Our monthly food bill got down to $120 for a few months as a result. The CSA provided waaaay more veggies than 2 people would generally eat, so my diet became mostly veggies and much less carb based, which was great for my health since I'm diabetic. We made all of our own bread, crackers, granola bars, soups, salads, and desserts. The trick was buying food in large enough quantities to be cheap by the pound but not wasting it. The result was that over two thirds of the food was organic, and over two thirds was grown within 100 miles. It was an amazing summer! I'm not quite as extreme with food now, and we do buy a lot of nice things and our food spending is around $350/mo now. I'm not sure if that sounds expensive, but either way, it's great food that's often fresh, local, and organic. A few other ways I do organic on the cheap: I volunteered 60 hours last year on an organic farm, and in return got a CSA worth of food throughout the growing season, some friends, knowledge of how to farm, great conversations, and it didn't cost $300+ like most CSAs. The city of Ithaca has a bunch of planted fruiting trees, and I created a map of all the ones I noticed. When the fruits came in season, I would ride my bike there and fill my panniers with 16 quarts worth. This got a lot of apples, pears, juneberries, cherries, raspberries and mulberries. I froze a lot of it, and make pies about once a month. I think the trees saved me over $200 this past year since we got soooo many apples and made apple/pear pies a bunch, and cherries are very expensive normally. The juneberries make great pies, but I have no idea if any stores sell these or what price they would go for. -Andy In the summer of 2007, we tried to eat as local and organic as possible. We joined a CSA, and always shopped at the Farmers’ Market first, the coops second, and the big grocery store last if needed. As a result of this challenge, I also started new challenges such as not buying packaged food, not buying anything with corn based ingredients other than on the cob or cornmeal, and eventually avoiding processed food. Our monthly food bill got down to $120 for a few months as a result. The CSA provided waaaay more veggies than 2 people would generally eat, so my diet became mostly veggies and much less carb based, which was great for my health since I’m diabetic. We made all of our own bread, crackers, granola bars, soups, salads, and desserts. The trick was buying food in large enough quantities to be cheap by the pound but not wasting it. The result was that over two thirds of the food was organic, and over two thirds was grown within 100 miles. It was an amazing summer! I’m not quite as extreme with food now, and we do buy a lot of nice things and our food spending is around $350/mo now. I’m not sure if that sounds expensive, but either way, it’s great food that’s often fresh, local, and organic.

A few other ways I do organic on the cheap:
I volunteered 60 hours last year on an organic farm, and in return got a CSA worth of food throughout the growing season, some friends, knowledge of how to farm, great conversations, and it didn’t cost $300+ like most CSAs.

The city of Ithaca has a bunch of planted fruiting trees, and I created a map of all the ones I noticed. When the fruits came in season, I would ride my bike there and fill my panniers with 16 quarts worth. This got a lot of apples, pears, juneberries, cherries, raspberries and mulberries. I froze a lot of it, and make pies about once a month. I think the trees saved me over $200 this past year since we got soooo many apples and made apple/pear pies a bunch, and cherries are very expensive normally. The juneberries make great pies, but I have no idea if any stores sell these or what price they would go for.

-Andy

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