Top 10 Healthy Yet Cheap Organic Foods
Cheap organic foods? In the face of global economic struggle, the issue of personal finance is at the heart of the average consumer. But do you really have to shed an exorbitant amount of your money to purchase organic foods over conventional? The answer is no, and there is a surprisingly large amount of high quality organic foods that are quite cheap — even when considering low income families. Even families on foodstamps have been able to live entirely on an organic diet on the foodstamp income alone.
There’s even a documentary about it called Foodstamped, which is hosted free online. The couple in the film eats a 100% organic diet on as little as $40 a week. There are keys to keeping costs down such as buying from farmers markets when possible and always buying whole food options as opposed to pre-made or processed meals, but I am going to give you a list of 10 key items that are really quite cheap. In fact, they purchased many of them in the film to keep their costs down. When you get the opportunity, you can even store up on some of these items in bulk and cut costs even further — not to mention that many of these foods are capable of acting as long-term storeable foods.
Here are the top 10 healthy yet organic real food items that won’t break your budget:
1. Brown Rice
Brown rice has a lengthy shelf life when stored properly in a sealed container, and can make for a full meal simply by eating it alone or adding in some of the vegetables in this list. Organic brown rice when purchased in bulk, or at least not from pre-packaged bags, can be extremely cheap while able to be incorporated into many meals.
2. Assorted Seeds
Highly nutritious and beneficial food items like organic flax or organic sunflower seeds are available for a very low price — especially when you bag them yourself. Flax has a great deal of healthy fats and other nutrients, and can compliment a diet lacking in real nutrition while being easy on the pocketbook.
3. Eggs
Certified organic eggs are extremely cheap when you consider how many meals a regular carton of 12 eggs can provide. This is amplified even further when it is locally harvested. At Whole Foods you can find local eggs on sale for around $2 a dozen or even less. If that’s too much, then go straight to the source and buy in bulk. When considering that around 2-3 eggs can make a meal, an entire carton can provide a lot of quality nutrition for a very low price. It also doesn’t hurt that eggs are known as powerful superfoods.
4. Carrots
Chop them up and include them with the brown rice, or juice them for a great morning drink. Carrots can be purchased in bulk size for less than $4 and will last quite a long time.
5. Apples
Great for flavoring up juices or combining with peanut butter (see next down the list), apples are a tasty fruit that literally do keep the doctor away. Plus, they also happen to be really inexpensive.
6. Peanut Butter
High quality organic peanut butter can help keep your taste buds happy while shopping organic on a budget. It can also be combined with other food items like seeds or apples to alter the snack altogether, and is often a favorite among children.
7. Nuts
Nutritionally dense and great to snack on as a meal or inbetween one, nuts like almonds and cashews can be found for close to nothing when packaged yourself or purchased in bulk quantities. Another food item that stores for a very long time.
8. Olive Oil
Long hailed as a key remedy to multiple conditions and used in cleansing activities like oil pulling, you can find organic, extra virgin cold pressed olive oil for less than $5. You may be surprised how much you can get, too. Don’t look for fancy brands, but try your best to ensure that it contains the wording ‘cold pressed’, ‘extra virgin’, and of course USDA certified organic.
9. Grass-Fed Meats
The best bet with grass-fed meats, if you choose to eat meat, is to purchase from a farm directly. You can find meats like bison and buffalo for a low price when dealing with the source. These meats are particularly of high quality as buffalo and bison are not administered the same degree of medical intervention as cows and chickens. In fact, federal law protects buffalo meat from a great deal of antibiotic use and even hormonal injection.
10. Onions
Onions are known to pack a nutritional punch that rivals many superfoods within the fruit and vegetable family. They are also excellent flavor boosters and can be added to your brown rice vegetable mix, topped off with some olive oil, and make for an absolutely delicious meal that is both free of harmful ingredients and nourishing to the body.
It doesn’t have to drain your bank account to avoid toxic additives like high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, aspartame, genetically modified ingredients, and so on. Instead, checkout these top 10 cheap organic food items, shop in season, and find local farms and farmers markets to go straight to the source. Also, please share this article with anyone who thinks that organic simply cannot work for them as it is too expensive. For less than 20 dollars you can purchase a considerable amount of organic food items that are both delicious and contaminant-free.
Really appreciate this Anthony, thanks for helping me feed my family
^ I concur, but the powers that were do need someway to certify that their food isn't gmo and pesticide laden…so what other way?
Many folks claim its too expensive, but they base that amount on industrial farm food which lacks nutrition and they're still hungry after eating smaller portions. You can eat less when you eat organic because its packed with the nutrients your body needs.
article should mention in point 7 that nuts should be soaked in water for several hours before eating
#8 How much extra virgin cold pressed olive oil can you buy for $ 5.00???? Not much where I live. I have never seen organic olive oil where I live.
Where in the world does Anothony live? Walnuts at $9 lb, pecans $12 lb, buffalo $9 lb where I live. Eggs from the farm are $4.50 lb and I doubt that Whole Foods has any eggs that are organic for $2. I buy organic but inexpensive? Not on your life.
This is almost possible and I've done this for 2.5 years while on food stamps. $200/month all organic food for myself, 10 and 5 yr old. Along with work-share at a local CSA farm.
Nowadays food prices are higher and one needs to order bulk to get a good deal. Shopping at Whole Foods isn't easy to pull of the $20/wk limit.
@ Norma Morrow – I AGREE! Im in CA, and maybe four of those items are 'low for organic' (Apples, Onions, Carrots, Brown Rice) but 'cheap'?? No way.. my grocery bill easily trippled when I went organic – thats with alot of adjustments to curb the bill…!
Still, I appreciate the promotion of organic foods and promoting ideas/incentive to those who may feel they cant afford it.. what I did was replaced a regular food item (one expensive item, or a few items each month) with the organic version of that item from Natural Foods – untill I ended up replacing everything on my shopping list with pure certified organic. It feels great. It took me about a year, (condiments were last). Go slow! and watch your energy grow, your allergies go away, and your digestive system cheer!! LOL
How could be forget dry beans, even canned beans? A can of black beans with some rice and onions; lentils in garlic with potatoes; baked beans with ginger and onion.
I live in the wilderness. Chickens from people's yards are a dollar a dozen if you can get that, but they make wonderful dog food.
Thank you for the article.
Well I have not found any of those items cheap where I live but it is possible like a few have said as you tend to eat less when it is organic. I would think it would be much harder if you had a house full of kids. It is easier however if you live close to local farms. Also many farmers farm organic however are not certified because to become certified is quite a bit of cash and then they have to charge more for their products. I say talk to the farmers check out their farm. If they won't let you come to their farm that is a red flag right there. And yes farmers markets can be a good place to find some deals however that has on the whole not been my experience. You have to really shop around. This is much easier to accomplish if you live in the Country or close to it. Don't forget gas is 3X higher than it used to be too.
Where I live 12- eggs organic cost $10 ,capsicum 1-kg $22 so it is not cheap , it is mo then expensive .
Regarding Eggs. I raise chickens and yes they are true cage free and range free. Most folks buy those eggs thinking that the chickens are running everywhere… NOT. What you buy and are lead to believe as a consumer are chickens who run cage free in a 4×4 pen. IF, ha-ha that!!! NOT ORGANIC. These eggs ARE NOT ORGANIC as they label them. Why I charge $4 for my eggs here… my chickens run in a 4 acre farm, that redtail hawk eats about 10 of them over the winter. Add that to the droughts and my feed plus the heat lamp in the winter…. maybe some of you will get the cost. My eggs are prized by the color of the yolk. Pure organge…. not a milky sick yellow color. AND THEY ARE THE BEST!!!!
"You can eat less when you eat organic because its packed with the nutrients your body needs."
Yes how true ! and may I add there's more in our power : we need to eat even less as soon as we stop eating in a hurry, in watching a screen, and especially in thinking about troubles and fear, but instead start thanking the whole Nature for the precious present of the food that is being given to us, then eat slowly with joy, feeling deeply the taste of life energy in every food. I don't belong to any church, but I believe this is Religion : feeling deeply our belonging to the whole of Creation.
I hope this means something in English ! Here in France in the Paris suburb we get a dozen organic eggs from the farmer who delivers four our group for 4,40 euros (5,80 dollars). The eggs are big, but we also take them while the hens are young and lay small eggs, so the farmer always has a foreseen income.
We may find the cheaper organic food that is specific and different depending on the place we live. The food listed in the article are not engraved in marble.
Debbie you are right there is a huge difference between the farmer's eggs and those of the organic shop !
Not to forget the to die for organic vegetable we can grow even on narrow window sills, more delicious than from the organic farmer, even though grown over the street.
Can this be done in Portland, OR? Interesting challenge!
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