You’ve chosen to eat organic and local to reduce your impact on the earth. If you also want to eat on a budget, how can you eat frugally and be green?
Switching to organic food reduces the amount of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones used to grow your food. Switching to local food reduces the travel distance and greenhouse gases emitted when your food travels from far away to your plate. However, for many people eating organic and local food seems totally out of reach. How can you go organic and local without breaking your budget?
Create connections with local farmers. Whether it is a local farmer’s market, a community kitchen, or community supported agriculture, local food is becoming more popular. Visit a farmer’s market to connect with local farmers and peruse the wares. A share in a community farm is an excellent way to get local, seasonal vegetables at a budget price. You can often visit and help out on the farm as well, so you and your family develop a real connection to the land that feeds you.
Buy in bulk! When you make connections with local farmers, ask them if they ever sell in bulk. It’s almost always better for your budget to buy more of a food item at one time. Berries are particularly good to buy in bulk. They are expensive during the winter and come pre-packaged, but if you pre-order berries in the summer you will have them all winter at a very reasonable cost. By investing in a small freezer or learning how to can or dehydrate fruit, vegetables, and meat, you will be able to be frugal and preserve your produce for the winter.
Start a buying club. You don’t always need to be a store to get wholesale prices. Check with your local natural foods and organic distributors. Start an organic buying club to get budget prices on household staples that will last for a long time. If you get together with enough people, you can easily meet a minimum order requirement if there is one. Share carpooling to a pick up spot to make it easier to collect your order.
Tomorrow, we’ll have more ideas to green your eating!
Image Credit: [heyhey]