W e all have people in our lives telling us to go organic. Whether it's a friend, a family member, or even just an article you read online, organic is the new cool. The issue is, switching to organic products is just way too expensive for most of us, and it’s not often that you’re told that eating organic on a budget is actually possible.
However, not all organic products are expensive. Due to the ethical way organic products are produced, they do end up costing more, but there are ways to make your consumption organic, and plenty of affordable options for buying organic products as well!
First thing’s first, many people who’ve heard of organic food might not even completely understand what it is, but no worries, we’re here to tell you all you need to know about organic food today.
Organic foods are food that has been grown without the use of artificial chemicals, pesticides, hormones, and other unnatural substances. Organic foods are completely free of any sort of preservatives, sweeteners, and any artificial substances that change the food’s natural state.
These foods are much more nutritious and safer to consume as compared to conventionally grown foods since they are grown in controlled environments with completely natural methods.
Growing your food is a huge money saver, and it's quite easy to do so too! Buying seeds costs next to nothing and most vegetables take up very little space to grow! In fact, you can grow most in tiny pots that will take up very little space in your home.
You’ll find that vegetables and herbs that cost loads in the farmer’s market, can be grown and enjoyed with little expenses on your own! And since you grew them yourself, you can be certain that there are no inorganic or unsafe substances used in its growth.
While the use of pots is encouraged, seeds can be planted practically anywhere. For seeds that grow into small herbs or smaller plants, you can use places like window sills, or virtually any spaces that have good access to sunlight.
Produce that is in season is generally much cheaper than out-of-season produce. This is because it is much more easily available and there is more in stock.
Out-of-season produce is usually much more expensive and is also often unfresh, so despite how bad you want those mangoes, only buy them when they’re in season, in the summer!
People waste tons and tons of food every single day! Whenever we see food that's going slightly bad or we don’t want to eat a particular food, we throw it away. This practice is incredibly wasteful, not only in terms of eating organically but even ethically speaking.
To deal with this issue, make sure you don't buy any new foods until you’ve used all the food previously available to you completely. This way, you won’t keep piling on food that you don’t need and will end up having to throw away old unused food much less often.
While you buy new stuff, make sure to only buy as much as you need. Buying too much food, whether it's organic or conventionally grown, is a major cause of food wastage.
Make sure you store your food in a way that maximizes the amount of time it remains fresh. For example, keep food in your fridge on warmer days so that it doesn’t spoil as easily.
If you’re buying organic foods from a supermarket, you’re bound to get low-quality food that is heavily overpriced. That’s just how the supermarket business model works, they don’t have time to carefully pick out organic food from trusted sources for such a niche market. This is why you should make sure you only buy from designated stores that only sell organic products or farmers' markets.
With farmer markets, you’re bound to get the freshest produce available since they’ve carefully grown it all themselves and supervised it, however, buying from a farmer’s market will be a bit more expensive than the stores as the low-income farmers have a larger profit margin.
By shopping at organic stores, you can find all your organic product needs under one roof. You’ll find a wide variety of organic products that are sold at very reasonable prices. The only downfall is that they might not be as high quality as shopping at a farmer’s market.
We hope these tips help you in finding better-priced and better-quality organic products for your consumption. Eating organic on a budget isn’t easy but hopefully, this article makes it easier for you!
