ruin snowdrift: Eating Organic on a Budget

organic 300x225 Making Room in Your Budget for Eating Organic In a perfect world, we would probably all feed our babies and toddlers all organic and healthy foods to give them the absolute best start in life we possible can. They?d eat organic fruits and vegetables as snacks, drink organic milk, and eat meat and eggs from pastured, organic sources. And of course, they?d eat it happily without a hint of complaining or pickiness.

Right! Wouldn?t that be nice?

Unfortunately, we don?t live in a perfect world, whether it?s picky toddlers, or a limited food budget, sometimes the ideal of healthy eating can seem so far out of reach.

For our family, I know the biggest reason that we aren?t able to eat all organically, all the time, is the cost. It?s no secret the organic food is a little pricier than conventional.

But, I still think that eating organic is really important, especially for for young children, and so we?ve made some changes, and found ways to save money in other areas of our life so that we can have the room we need in our grocery budget to purchase organic food for our family.

We have made a lot of changes in our family?s lifestyle toward more green and natural living over the past four years, and most of those changes have ended up saving us lots of money, maybe not at first, but definitely in the long run, and have made room in our limited budget to be able to buy organic food.

Here are just a few simple examples.

1. Cloth Diapering

We cloth diapered both of our kiddos which has saved us thousands of dollars. Even if you can?t commit to cloth diapering full time (we didn?t), you can still reap the benefits of saving money by using reusable diapers.

2. Making Homemade Cleaning Products

By making our own homemade and non-toxic cleaning products from inexpensive ingredients like vinegar and baking soda, we save ourselves the cost of both conventional brand cleaners, and the more expensive green and non-toxic brand cleaners. And guess what ? our homemade cleaners work just as well, if not better, than their conventional counterparts too!

3. Simplified Personal Care Products

We have switched to using safe and non-toxic personal care products, which can be more expensive, but we have greatly simplified the products we actually use (especially me!), from having bathroom cabinets filled with the next best beauty product or makeup item that didn?t quite work out and just ended up wasting money, to just having a few basic, necessary items. I also make some of our personal care products at home for a fraction of the cost of buying either conventional or green products.

4. Decreasing Disposables

By reusing items all around our house, we have eliminated the need to buy one-use items like paper towels and napkins, disposable cleaning cloths, and more. We like to live by the motto: Use it up, Wear it Out, Make Do, or Do Without ? and that really helps us to evaluate the cost of something before bringing it into our home, and to try to find something that we already have that will work for us.

5. Cooking from Scratch

Buying pre-made food items is expensive. And buying organic versions of pre-made food is even more expensive. Cooking at home, from scratch, using organic ingredients is one of the best ways to save money while still feeding your family healthy and organic food!

These are just a few of the ways that our family fits organic food into our budget. What to read more? Here are ten ways you can feed your family natural and organic food on a budget.

How does your family eat organic on a budget?

A big thanks to YoBaby for sponsoring this campaign. ?Click?here to see more of the discussion.

Photo Credit: Tim Psych

Read more from Emily on Live Renewed!
Follow Emily on Facebook and Twitter for updates!