I was in the supermarket the other day picking up a few essentials. I grabbed a packet of organic sultanas and as I did so a little girl pleaded with her mother for a six pack of sultanas in little boxes. You know the ones I mean? Anyway they're not organic. This supermarket shows the Kilo price as well as the unit price. My organic sultanas were $9 /kilo and the individually packaged sultanas that the mum bought for her little girl ... well they were $11 kilo.
I'm often told that organic food is too expensive. The above is just one example that shows that this is not always true. Mark and I are not earning a wage. We live off what we make from the farm. This is not a lot, so we do have to be careful with our money, but we still eat 99%organic/ biodynamic. Sure we grow a lot of our food but not all of it. I find if I buy fruit and vegies in season that it is no dearer and sometimes cheaper than you'll find in the conventional supermarkets. If it's not in season we do without, which makes it all so more exciting when it does come into season. I buy food in bulk where I can . I can get 5kilos of biodynamic wholewheat flour for $15, That's only $3 a kilo. Organic flour at the supermarket is over $4. It does mean that I have to shop around a bit, but to me it's worth it to have clean food to eat, and knowing that I'm supporting farmer's who are, on the whole using sustainable farming practices.
What are your thoughts on the cost of organic food?
I shop the way you do, only in season. I have heard that organic food is expensive and then I see how many cars are parked in front of fast food places [shudder]. I guess it's just a matter of what is really important to you. I would rather spend my money on Good Food and not doctor bills! xx
ReplyDeleteI have found it a choice between organic, fresh food and convenience. It's easier and quicker to buy everything from the supermarket than to cook things like snacks for the kids or find a source of bulk organic meat or flour, but the result is that we eat better than we used to, and know where our food comes from, how it was grown or raised. We spend less money (but more time) on mostly organic food now than we used to buying non-organic food from the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on your priorities. Good, real food is for us, but sadly not for many others. I think/hope it is changing though. xx
ReplyDeleteGreat post , Kate!!We think the same. I am not working much at the moment but we really haven't noticed the difference because like you , we shop seasonally. Sometimes things are even cheaper in the organic shop .I find buying supermarket fruit, it sits in the bowl for weeks and no one eats it.....when we get our organic feast order the kids gobble it up - I am sure they can sense something better in it. Organic food just isn't good for you...it simply tastes better!!
ReplyDeleteI look at what children have packed in their lunchboxes sometimes and my organic spelt flour chocolate cake works out much cheaper for a lunchbox snack than sealed up packets with little or no nutrition.
An excellent and timely post.
I think too much emphasis can be placed on the "lable" organic. We need to get our food from the back yard of from someone we have a relationship with and can be confident of the sthic with which the food is grown. This also ensures seasonality. IMO
ReplyDeletedont rush when you are typing Mark - you make too many mistakes
ReplyDeleteEven though mark made spelling mistakes, he is right.the word 'organic ' has scared people off because they think it might be difficult to do , it's a bit trendy etc.. I met a girl who was really surprised when i told her she had an organic garden ... she thought organic was 'tricky' and had just been growing things in her backyard quite happily without pesticides etc..
ReplyDeleteSo true Kim. (And just so you know the 2 comments above you are a conversation going on with just himself Just Mark being a smart alec. I like to think that I wouldn't be that abrupt with my blogger friends) We live in a sad world really when we have to give something as natural as growing food without chemicals a special name - organics.The conventional food should be labelled non organic or grown using pesticides!
ReplyDeleteI always like to say foods grown without chemicals too .... because even the label "organic" has been taken over by the monoliths! sourcing is so important .... finding those suppliers is the hard part .... but once you've got them, and you build your food community around relationships with them it makes all the difference in the world. and like you've pointed out .... folks just see a bottom dollar, they don't think about the price per kilo, or even the ongoing stuff like being healthier means less doctor visits, etc. .... it really is a big picture thing ... and the more we talk about it, the more folks will start to think about it and perhaps, gradually, inch-by-inch, start to change their ways.
ReplyDeleteWell, you know my thoughts on the subject -- I learned from the best!
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