Affordable Organic???

An issue that almost always surrounds organic food is the price of it and whether it is worth the money. This whole discussion is really vast and can be incredibly vague or too particular. Of course this discussion isn't only the case for organic food, but for 'good food' in general. In this post I don't necessarily want to go into too much detail about my views regarding this argument, but simply suggest a few tips and ideas about how to make the most of your organic food or how to live cheaply on organic produce. And this is also true for free range etc, or anything which costs more than your basic food.

1) The first point is where you source your food from. Where do you buy your organic fruit and veg? Where do you buy your meat and animal products? What do you buy and how much?

Living on a budget and buying organic produce is more than possible, but you have to put some effort into it and be prepared to inform yourself and to talk to producers and to haggle with people. Buying organic produce from the super market is very convenient, and for many ingredients, can be affordable. But especially for fresh fruit and veg I believe the best option is to find a local organic grower.

Organic Box Schemes are quite popular and can be very affordable and offer a seasonal variety of locally grown fruit and veg. Farmers' markets are also a good choice, and frankly my favourite way of getting the cheapest organic fruit and veg. What is important when you go to a market is that you should be quite discerning with your ingredients. Ask the salesperson where the produce comes from, how much it costs and how long it keeps. Find out as much as you can so that you make the right choice for yourself and your budget.

Imported goods are generally more expensive than locally grown food, but this doesn't have to be the case. I have been to Farmers' Markets where the local organic produce was outrageously expensive, very good quality though, but ten times the price that I would pay here in Northern Ireland. Of course your personal situation, according to country and climate will determine how much it costs the local growers to produce their fruit and veg. But even though one can say that locally grown produce which is bought straight from the producer is usually inexpensive, one must not expect to get organic food for basic super market prices. Food is not meant to be incredibly cheap, but it can be very affordable. 

2) Now that you've found an affordable source of organic produce, it is very important to consider how you use it. Using your ingredients as resourcefully and creatively as you can can make a seemingly expensive product become affordable.

Let's look at chicken for example. If you buy a slow growing organically reared and fed chicken from a local supplier, the price of the chicken can very often be at least double the price of a chicken in the super market. So how can this chicken be affordable? For a start, there is often a difference in weight between super market chickens and slower growing ones, with super market chickens being quite small and the alternative being far heavier. So one thing you might be paying extra for is more meat.

Roasting such a chicken sure makes for a tasty meal and it is a good idea for feeding a larger crowd, but if you're living alone or it's just two of you it really makes sense to buy a whole chicken and then to joint it yourself. Jointing means that you cut the individual joints of the bird, like thighs, wings, breasts etc. Jointing is very easy to learn, and gives you many cuts that you can use individually and creatively. And using these individual joints for different recipes means you get a lot of meals from one chicken. And you can also use the bones to make a stock, which then makes another dish like a risotto.

For example, a 3 kg organic chicken, which costs about £14 here, will provide about 6 meals for two, with each meal being a bit more than £2 worth of meat. That is not expensive. And it is incredibly tasty!

The same goes when using other ingredients. Make sure you make the most out of all ingredients, and you can also make seemingly boring but affordable ingredients incredibly versatile with a bit of inspiration.

Take beetroot for example. If you can get fresh locally grown beetroot it is normally super sweet and it’s very inexpensive. Not only can you cook beetroot, you can also eat it raw, juice it, process it, bake with it…

Beetroot pesto, beetroot juice, beetroot curry, beetroot brownies, beetroot chutney and the famous beetroot and goats’ cheese combination are all good examples of making this seemingly boring vegetable an incredible food experience for very little money. Experimenting with ingredients is not only fun and tasty but it makes seasonal and local ingredients as interesting as expensive and exotic ingredients.

3) What you eat and how much you eat also makes a huge difference in how much you’re paying for organic ingredients. Cooking for two is much cheaper than cooking for six. Having meat or fish for every meal is more expensive than having the vegetarian option. Although this seems fairly obvious, it’s really not up to me or anybody to tell you how much you should eat or that you should eat more or less meat, milk products, sweets and so on. But I do believe that it is always good to be open to suggestions and to change your habits now and again.

Living on a mixed diet of mostly fruit and veg, carbs and less meat and animal products is not only deemed healthy by most specialists but it also is a lot cheaper. And if you also source your ingredients cheaply and use them creatively then you can really end up making tasty meals for very little money. Also, making things and cooking from scratch does take time but it almost always makes everything a lot cheaper. And the more you practice the faster and more confident you get in the kitchen, which in turn makes cooking from scratch a joy and not a chore.

Just to summarise everything, organic food can be very affordable when properly sourced, when nothing is wasted and everything is being creatively used, when buying seasonal and locally grown ingredients instead of expensive and exotic, when cutting down on portions and animal products and when you cook and prepare everything from scratch. This summary is really not supposed to be a guide on how to live your life, but rather provide you with options and ideas that suit your life and your preferences. Making small changes to your daily routine and trying out something new can make a big difference, and it can be fun and interesting and very tasty!

I would like to add however that it really isn’t all about money. Yes, buying organic, free range etc. is never going to be dirt cheap and you have to spend time and effort when cooking creatively and resourcefully, and this is really the way it should be. Making food an important part of your life and cooking from scratch is such a rich experience that it is worth every penny and every second of your time… or at least in my opinion. Food for us is not only fuel for our bodies, it’s a real lifestyle. We grow it, cook it, preserve it, eat it, talk about it, read about it…and the list goes on. It’s not just about the end product which makes it worth our time and effort, it’s the whole experience.