If you had to pick one thing to buy organic/natural... - Page 2

[mumkenna&lucas]

Originally Posted by jenerationx

For me, it would be milk.

That would be my #1, then produce and meat following close behind

[sofiabugmom]

If you can only go with one product for body care, try organic shea butter. A little goes a long way, and it works great on dry skin and hair, adults and children.

[purple2008]

This is a very interesting discussion, and I've learned a lot of good economical tips. It is really very helpful to hear some of these suggestions.

I have to agree that for myself, I'd focus my money on steps that I felt would have the most impact on my health first, before environmental concerns or things that would have a less significant impact on my health.

For me, I have to agree with others, that that would be milk first for sure. Then meat and heavy-pesticide fruit/vegetables. I would sacrifice everything else to do those.

[purple2008]

Sorry, I didn't complete my thought on the last post.

What I meant to say also, was to suggest that you replace as much as you can of these items with organic, rather trying to overhaul your food purchases all at once. I know you said you couldn't possibly switch to all organic milk. But if it were me, I'd spend that extra few dollars you'd spend on organic cleaning products on replacing 1 or 2 gallons of milk a month, or pesticide free fruit. Not everything maybe, but just some.

[binkin]

Subbing! This is a great thread. I am, as I've posted in a few other areas, trying to make some major changes to our lifestyle, just in small steps. This is really a helpful thread.

While I am switching to family cloth and more natural cleaning products and personal care stuff, my major focus this year is probably going to be food. I am trying to grow a lot of our produce and find local suppliers for meat, dairy, and eggs. The links posted upthread are really helpful - I found quite a few farms that are not right nearby but are probably close enough.

I agree that the initial investment for meat is a little scary, especially when there's just the two of us, but until we have our own land (and maybe even after, depending) I don't see any other solution for getting meat other than buying halves or quarters.

[macly]

One of our local grocery stores puts the whole organic/free range/no hormone chickens on sale fairly regularly. They usually need to be used or frozen within a day or two. A whole bird is between $4 and $6. When I see them I snatch up as many as I can, and freeze them. I roast the bird and use the meat, then use the carcass for chix broth. Huge money saver since I get a dinner and at least 3 quarts of broth.

This thread has tons of ideas, and thank you for starting it!

[JamSamMom]

: notes:::

[PapayaMom]

ShareBear- Here is Dr. B's for $30 a gallon http://www.vitaglo.com/db0004.html free shipping for orders over $50 and they have a ton so maybe there is something else on there you need.

As for the rest of the discussion

For us we called a local dairy who advertises as being hormone free. The farmer offered all sorts of information about how they adhere to organic standards their cows are pasture raised no antibiotics etc. they aren't certified because it is such a costly process so their 1/2 gallon sells for $2.09 vs $3.99 for a certified organic version. I am comfortable giving him my business because a) he clearly knew what he was talking about and b) I like supporting the locals.

Sometimes it takes a few calls but local sourcing can save a ton of money.

it is daunting but if you use Dr. B's, baking soda and vinegar for cleaning, you have already saved a lot in cleaning supplies. That money can be put to use in buying produce or meat that is better.

It was very hard for me to get over the sticker shock of natural and organic stuff. But I have found happiness in comparing what organic meat sells for at the grocery store vs what I pay from a local farmer $8lb ground beef vs. $4 sometimes less. It really is a great deal.

At the end of teh day if I can keep my kids mostly natural/organic I am doing a good job, I figure if I can take care of waht they eat at home and school then when we go out to eat I don't worry as much. But that's me I am a "everything in moderation" sort of girl.

[xekomaya]

I was going to say dishwashing powder, but it looks like you've already mentioned that. I like Ecover MUCH better than 7th gen. - just works so much better for us (maybe its our water though).

If you're using extra powder, and getting soap residue on your dishes, it might be time to pull out the manual for the dishwasher (or look it up online). It should tell you what to do for certain problems in relation to your water quality.

Family cloth is a great idea - I use it just for pee which saves TON of toilet paper/month, but doesn't gross me out I made all my family cloth out of old teeshirts. I estimate it saves us about $6/month.

The coffee is a good idea too. You might also switch to a bulk organic tea, which I find cheaper than coffee - and healthier, and yummier.

If you do switch to dr. bronner's, try putting it in a foaming hand soap dispenser so it lasts even longer

I find organic flour very close in price to regular. If I bake my own loaves, I can have an organic loaf for $.54 (or less if i bought bulk yeast I'm sure)

For us the biggest thing is being patient with the transition. I've been working on switching us to a healthier and more environmentally friendly lifestyle for about 3 years now and it's a slow process. The biggest thing I've learned is that it's not just replacing the things you do, but changing the way you do things, and especially changing the way you eat. For example, organic ground beef is 9.99/lb for me (ha!) so we don't eat meat unless its on sale now.

Good luck

[anne1140]

For us, it is definitely dairy and eggs. (We are vegetarians, so we don't buy meat at all.) My reasoning is that the animals that produced the dairy/eggs are getting better treatment, and it is healthier for us, so there are 2 positives there.

[anne1140]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the organic cheese at our grocery store is rennet free, which is a big thing for me.

[PlayaMama]

i would say... skip the cleaning products and go for the food.

costco is great for this (if you don't have a membership you can go with someone who does) and the best cheap organic products i have found is at
grocery outlet.

i don't know if they have one in your area, they are in california and nevada for sure, but i have found lots of name brand organic soaps for a LOT less. like a 5.99 bar of soap for 1.49.

also!! read the ingredients! lots of organic products have nutty chemicals anyway.

one other suggestion is to check out the mdc co-op section. there are often food co-ops that offer organic things for much less than you can buy them.

i think the idea of getting some organic some of the time rather than all the time is a good idea. do what you can.

[iamloved22]

I started us out with the organic fruits & veggies as much as possible. It in the long run has saved us $ since I've found that they seem to keep for longer rather than going bad a few days after purchase. For example, my organic romaine lettuce lasts over a month in the fridge while the regular non-organic will start to wilt & stink after about a week.
We are still in the process as our budget can't afford it all at once. I'm slowly using up cleaning products & personal care items and replacing them with more natural items.
Some things I had to replace for personal family reasons, my DH & DD have very sensitive skin, no detergent is gentle enough so I bought the t-wave laundry discs and they are working great! They cost about $40 and should last for at least 5 years, I even wash my CD's with them, although I do add a drop of detergent to the diaper loads. And I had cut out the Partially Hydroginated Oils from our diet some time ago after reading up on how awful they are, most commercially produced items do contain those, most organic products do not.
I think the best way to make the most out of your $$ is to make as much from scratch as possible, I know I CAN buy organic brownie mix at the store for $2.50/box but I also know I already have all the ingredients at home to make it from scratch (including left over easter chocolate bunnys in the freezer to chop up for them). Try to use up everything you have and think of what you can do with something before it hits the trash can, even if it only means tossing it in the freezer for now (just don't forget about it!).

[iamloved22]

Oh, and get (or make) yourself some reusable grocery bags!
If you have a medium sized backyard consider keeping a chicken or two, mature hens will lay 1 egg every day or two. We live on 2 acres and have 14 hens & a rooster (just cause he's fun and good tempered with the kids), we get about 10 eggs/day much more than we can eat and I sell the extras which pays for the chickens food & then some.

[RydersMama]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by ShareBear

Milk would be a big budget buster though. I currently get like 10 gallons of milk a month for free through the WIC program. Organic costs what? Three-four bucks a half gallon? Or more? (I really don't know, just guessing.) So that would be sixty or eighty bucks a month for organic milk? Or maybe we could cut back on our milk usage...but still, fifty bucks?

You should be able to get goats milk through WIC. I do and DS loves it and it really isn't that bad. Tastes like regular milk to me. Just tell them you would like to switch and if they ask why tell them you don't want to give your kids milk with hormones. Worked for me and we have good milk without the hormones/antibiotics.

[AKMOMOF3]

raw milk

All this talk of pasteurized Organic Milk.. Have any of you looked into purchasing right from the Dairy farms.. FRESH Organic RAW MILK ??? COW or Goat!!!???

i would think that if its a matter of cost, that you may be able to strike a deal with the farmers.. at least around here the smaller farms are the ones that offer the OG Raw milk. exchange out house cleaning, or child care, or yard work, trade out help.. who knows but i would think that with working with a smaller co. that one would have a better chance of bartering and trading of goods


http://www.realmilk.com/


later taters

[AKMOMOF3]

one more thing.. TP?

HEY so whats the deal here,,, ?

Im not making fun, i swear! jsut trying to figure this one out..

Does your husband go along with it?

You use old clothing cloth like tshirts to .. make tp instead of the flushy kind?

and thus your making more laundry for your self? does this really add up?

Have you guys added up actual cost of water, electricity for water being pumped and machines ran both washer & dryer.. oh yah and laundry soap.. (whichever hm made or bought) to actually equl out to less money and HOW Much less? then just buying BULK tp like at Costco?

I supose you could add in the extra expensis of eviroment pollution when the tp is being made into your conclusion..

I think my husband would unscrew his head from his body wack it on the floor a few times screw it back on and leave in utter wonderment of what the hell will i think of next to over work myself with too many things to do as is, and the house will still be a mess! but the kids are fed, and he has supper.

I can reduce & reuse more but to go back to the horrid days of cloth diapers but now with big people ness of that.. i dont think i could do that. the laundry pile creaps out and trys to attack if not washed at least three enlarge loads a week.. let alone a pee pee pile of lil cloths that will be needing attenchen more offten then that.. YIKES my house really will smell like a sewer..
ok .. anywho ..im not saying h*ll NO.. but its really a trying thing for me to do that at this time.
a batch of kirkland tp lasts us at least six months. unless we are houseing alot of company. then sometimes a lil longer. usally i only buy it twice ayear.

but now with two more potty trained it may go a lil faster.

ok.so thats my omgosh rant.

later

[5terre]

Any change you can make is valuable, no matter how small. Even the fact that you are thinking about it and want to is fabulous. I found myself feeling ill when I spent a lot of time wanting to change everything at once (money was an issue and change is harder than I thought!). Here are some things I started with:

1. Dr Bronner's liquid soap to make diluted hand soap. I bought it at Wild Oats (which is now Whole Foods). The small 8oz bottle diluted lasts me almost a year for two bathrooms, and it is about $5-6. So this would probably cost you nothing more than you are already spending on hand soap. I use foaming pump bottles that came with different soap to begin with (hence I can really dilute the Dr B's a lot and make it go a long way). I boil water and let it cool, then add it and a little soap the the containers. Maybe you could ask for foaming containers on your local Freecycle group.

2. I started cleaning with baking soda and vinegar. Easy, cheap, and so much healthier. I bought a scrubbing brush from Target (I chose one made in Italy rather than China) and that keeps my shower clean with no chemicals necessary.

3. I got some reusable grocery bags. My grocery sells them now for $1 (albeit made of plastic and from China). I also bought some cute ones on eBay. We've forgotten our bags twice lately, and I was so surprised to see how much waste they create. Again, you could ask for these on Freecycle (maybe someone bought a pricier bag and has cheaper ones to give away).

4. When we could afford a little more this year, I started buying organic, partly pastured eggs and milk that come from the grocery store but are still 'local' companies (they come from NH, we live in MA near NH, so this is the next best thing since I can't find a farm to buy directly from). I never even thought about organic higher up the food chain, that's a good point. Glad I started here!

5. A local friend of mine joined Frontier Coop and a bunch of us place orders often to get free shipping. This is a great way to be able to afford better things. Many of the products are half off the retail.

6. My next step is to start considering more organic produce (and hopefully find some local stuff this year). A friend gave me a short list of priority for organic produce two years ago. I need to find that list now that I'm ready to move on!

Iamloved - why does organic produce last longer? I have always wondered the opposite; it often seems overly ripe at my local grocery store (due to fewer people buying it?).

AKMOMOF3 - Would a few rags from family cloth really cause that much more laundry? I would think you could just add them to your loads and not even need to waste additional water or electricity. It's funny to think of the days when each family member had one tiny rag in the outhouse to use all the time.

[5terre]

Here are some lists that I found. A friend once gave me a little card she made with a column for 'organic' and one for 'conventional'. I used to have it in my wallet for shopping.

Buy ORGANIC:

http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcou...ting_well.html
Peaches
Apples
Bell peppers
Strawberries
Pears
Grapes
Spinach
Potatoes
Eggs
Milk

http://www.treehuggingfamily.com/bes...o-buy-organic/

If you only buy two produce items organic go with potatoes and apples. Both are big bads when it comes to pesticides.

* potatoes
* Edamame (soy beans)
* Raspberries
* Strawberries
* Potatoes — all colors and varieties (including frozen like tater tots).
* All types of apples
* Celery
* Grapes (imported)
* Pears
* Peaches
* Nectarines
* Green beans
* Any color bell peppers
* Spinach
* Lemons and lime when used for zest
* Tangerines

Buy CONVENTIONAL:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/TIP02559
1. Asparagus
2. Avocados
3. Bananas
4. Broccoli
5. Cabbage
6. Corn (sweet, frozen)
7. Kiwi
8. Mangos
9. Onions
10. Pineapples
11. Peas (sweet, frozen)

[5terre]

Double.