How to go organic on a budget?
Sep 07, 2010 in
FAQs
I want to go organic, mostly for meat and dairy products but have a tight budget.. how do I go about it?
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2 comments
Ohiorganic on September 7, 2010 at 10:04 pm
You will need to spend some money for "infrastructure" to eat organically cheaply. You will also have to learn to cook and learn how to can and freeze your food.
You will need to have a chest freezer-cost around $500, a canner (5 gallon pot with a specialized lid)-cost around $200, canning jars and lids -cost around $75 to start but you will need more over the year (but the jars can be reused over 10 x).
Freecycle is a great place to get these things for free
http://www.localharvest.org
http://www.eatwild.com
these sites will hook you up with farmers raising pastured meat locally. Stay away from grocery store organics. This meat will not be cheap-it is not subsidized and raised in small batches so the cost of raising it is a lot more than factory farmed meat. But it is much higher quality meaning you will use less. lso you will have to train yourself to use as much of the carcass as possible. This way you cn get many many meals from one piece of meat
Buying in bulk, i.e. a 1/2 side of beef or a whole or half pig is the money saver and why you will need a freezer. You will still pay around $3 a pound for a variety of cuts of meat which is more than conventional but far cheaper than buying by the cut
Milk is a bit harder to find. but there are more and more small dairies getting their label into grocery stores. You will not find raw milk at grocery stores and if you want to go that route you more than likely have to join a farm share and pick up the milk at the farm as most states think of raw milk as nearly illegal
For produce buy in bulk in season at farmers markets and preserve the harvest yourself vis canning and freezing. You can eat really good food all year round for about 1/2 (maybe less) what you would pay at the store fpr similar items. granted, this is a lot of work but it is very satisfying.
Oh and the other thing put in a small garden and learn how to grow your food. Not easy at first but a very good skill to have and as you get better at growing you will save more money on food and eat better.
Dane on September 7, 2010 at 10:04 pm
slaughter your meat urself