Money Saving Monday - How to save on organic foods!

One of the great things about using coupons and some of my other strategies for saving money is that it has allowed me to have extra room in my budget for more organic foods.  Even so, organic foods can be expensive, so I've had to figure out ways to save money on organic foods too. 
Today I'm sharing my tips for saving money on organic foods.  Hopefully they will help you to be able to afford more organic foods in your budget too.  A lot of the things I do to save money on organics are the same things I do to save money on groceries in general (like cooking from scratch and stocking up when I find a great deal), but a few of my "tricks" are unique to shopping for organic foods...

Tips for Saving on Organics

1.      Buy in Bulk 

Don’t pay a premium for packaging… use your own containers and save tons of money while saving the environment!  Buy organic yogurt in quarts rather than 4 oz. – 8 oz. cups.  Annie’s Organic crackers cost 3.2 cents per ounce in a big box at Target or 30 cents per ounce in individual packages in the big box at Costco!  (Costco does have great prices on organic raisins and sugar.)  Always pay attention to the cost per ounce!

2.      Stock up when you find a great sale

I never pay more than 49 cents for Annie’s Organic mac ‘n cheese because I stock up when Smith’s (Kroger) has their $5 off 10 promotion. (They usually run this promotion 2 – 3 times a year.)

3.      Cook from scratch

Why buy a box of organic frozen waffles, when you can buy organic flour, eggs, milk, and oil and make them yourself for half the cost?  I always double or quadruple my recipe and freeze the extras so I only have to make waffles once a month.

4.      Shop at Sunflower Market and Fresh Market (if you’re in Utah)!

·       Sunflower Market has “Double Ad Wednesdays” when their weekly flyers overlap, so twice as many things are on sale!  They have great produce prices and wonderful quality.  I can almost always get organic apples and carrots for 99 cents a pound and often get organic lettuce for about $1.50 a head.

·       Fresh Market’s “Natural Directions” organic prices are very affordable. (This line is also sold at Harmon’s, but generally costs less at Fresh Market.)  I generally buy my organic canned goods at Fresh Market.

5.      When it comes to produce, buy only the “Dirty Dozen”, not the “Clean 15”

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Let’s face it… organic produce is expensive!  Try to spend the bulk of your organic budget on those items with the highest pesticide residues.  Clean all produce well before eating.  (Follow these guidelines.) 

6.      Subscribe to Saving Naturally and other organic deal blogs

This where I find out about the current organic deals available on amazon.com and other online retailers.  This is also a great resource for links to coupons for natural and organic foods.