I Will Pay for Organic Food Now; Instead of Paying the Consequences Later

Regular grocery store shoppers can not fail to have noticed the consistently rising costs of food. Slowly creeping prices in all departments mean that families are now paying more for the food they have always bought, or are making changes in purchases to try to stay within their budgets.

It is cheaper to eat the less healthy choices. If you could stomach a diet of high sodium, high preservative, flavor-pack seasoned noodles exclusively, on a daily basis; then you could probably cut your food bill to around $2.00 a week per person. Probably not the most healthy diet, but an affordable one.

Most of us want more variety, more flavor and more healthy options. You can go canned or you can go frozen. You could buy those $1.00 a box microwave meals and pay slightly more, but you won't be getting what you really need from that either.

As for me and my house; we will choose to purchase organic food when possible and locally grown whenever we can. The health benefits of choosing organic and locally grown are much more appealing to me than having to deal with the long-term health problems, obesity or the lack of energy that you would get with the cheaper foods. Regardless of cost, I feel the benefits to me and my family are just too important.

I primarily start my food shopping at the local fruit and vegetable store. I can get locally grown, in-season produce and fruit at a much better price than grocery store offerings. While eating organic and locally grown is very important to us, we make it more affordable by purchasing at the right times for the right prices.

I don't place as much importance on organic if I am purchasing items with thicker skins, that are therefore not going to be contaminated with pesticides the way thinner skinned fruits and vegetables will. Items like bananas, oranges, melons and other fruits that you end up peeling the thick outer skins off of and throwing away.

Fruits that are thin-skinned are more likely to be contaminated and should be bought organic when possible. Grapes and berries are the ones that come to mind when considering this factor.

When considering if you will pay for organic and locally grown, you should consider that these types of foods, while more expensive, are generally more filling and satisfying. We eat much less when we are eating fresh and organic foods versus canned and processed. Not to mention we are getting much more nutritional benefit and are getting great energy from them.