A Healthy BudgetFeeding natural and organic meals to a family of four—without breaking the bank!
By Kirsten Henri
Tight budget.
Are there two more anxiety-producing—and familiar—words in the English language?
No matter what tax bracket you fall into, you've probably got a food budget. If you're like Jennifer Martin, a stay-at-home mom from Haddon Heights, New Jersey, you've got a very tight food budget: $90 a week to feed a family of four. Moreover, you're trying to make sure everyone in your family gets three healthy meals a day, made with organic ingredients whenever possible.
"Buying organic is really important to me," says Martin. But that's not always easy when she's juggling the preferences of her husband Matthew, a high school history teacher who is "meat and potatoes" kind of guy, a three-year-old daughter, Katie, who's something of a picky eater (no peanut butter!) and a 15-month-old son, Patrick, who eats "smaller portions of whatever we're having."
Martin already has some cost-saving tricks in place to help her stay within her budget. She prepares meals from scratch and does all of the cooking herself. She makes extra portions of dinner, which she then packs for lunch the next day for Matthew to take to work. When possible, she buys her fresh fruits and vegetables from a local farmers market where the prices are lower than at the supermarket and the quality is generally better.
Like many people, Martin hasn’t been able to go entirely organic because the food costs more. Instead, she makes her buying choices based on quantity of consumption. "If we eat a lot of it, I try to buy it organic, mostly fruits and vegetables, and cereal. I haven't been able to make the switchover with milk and meats because of trying to keep costs down, but I'm nervous about the hormones in cows."
Martin's doing a great job, but KIWI thought she could get an even bigger organic bang for her buck with some help from an expert. We teamed her up with chef Akasha Richmond, a cookbook author and chef-owner of Akasha's Visionary Cuisine, an organic catering company in Los Angeles. Chef Akasha took Martin to purchase groceries at Wegman's in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. As a guideline, Chef Akasha used Martin's $90 budget as well as the "10% organic" goal set by Mission Organic 2010, a campaign launched by The Organic Center, a nonprofit founded to promote organic products. Mission Organic 2010's objective is simple: for 10% of every food dollar spent to be on organic food production by the year 2010. As a consumer, the easiest way to do this is to make sure that one out of every ten items in your shopping cart is organic.
After taking a look at what foods Martin prepares, Chef Akasha saw a few areas that could use improvement. "She could use more 'foods that swell.' Beans and rice, for example, are more economical and can be stretched farther, especially in soups. I also see some more room for better quality meat and more vegetables. For example, organic top sirloin is roughly $6.99 a pound—they don't even need a pound for two adults and two kids for a stir-fry." Chef Akasha suggests 12 ounces, plus bulking up the dish with whatever vegetables are on sale. "I'd also like to see her use more ethnic ingredients to spice up her dishes."
Martin was thrilled with the results of shopping and creating a meal plan with Chef Akasha: an entire menu for a week that includes three meals a day. While the final tally came in about $6 over Martin’s usual budget, the quality of products greatly increased. KIWI chose only natural foods for the Martins, 30% of which were organic, whereas the family purchased little organic in the past. We also put an emphasis on produce and whole grains.
"There were some ingredients I usually blew right past because I assumed they were out of my budget, like avocados or fresh ginger, but I was surprised to find just how reasonably priced they are—and they open up a whole new variety of foods that I can prepare," says Martin. “I was also surprised to see that I can actually manage to make the switch to organic dairy. And I'm definitely going to pay more attention to the bulk foods section the next time I go shopping—I was shocked to see how much more affordable it is to buy things like whole grain rice that way rather than prepackaged!"
We've included the weekly meal plan below, as well as a shopping list—as Martin says, "Moms like me LOVE making grocery lists, they help us stay organized!"Even better, KIWI's money-saving tips for natural and organic grocery shopping will help you stay within a budget.
Weekly Menu
Monday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas
Lunch: mac ’n’ cheese and veggie chicken nuggets
Dinner: slow-cooked beef stew, green salad, bread
Tuesday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas,eggs
Lunch: whole wheat pasta and tomato sauce, slices of pear
Dinner: turkey meatloaf, whipped sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli
Wednesday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas
Lunch: meatloaf sandwiches, coleslaw, yogurt
Dinner: vegetarian soft tacos with black beans, brown rice, Monterey Jack
cheese, homemade salsa and guacamole
Thursday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas, eggs
Lunch: black bean burritos
Dinner: whole roasted chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, green beans
Friday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas
Lunch: grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, potato wedges
Dinner: split pea soup, Caesar salad with chicken
Saturday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas, eggs
Lunch: grilled cheddar cheese and ham sandwiches, yogurt
Dinner: tofu ginger stir-fry with assorted vegetables (green onion, cabbage,
red pepper) and steamed rice
Sunday
Breakfast: cereal and sliced bananas
Lunch: whole wheat pasta and tomato sauce
Dinner: cornflake-encrusted baked chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet corn and
edamame succotash, rice pudding
Money-Saving Tips for Shopping Healthy and Organic
Prioritize: Check out which fruits and veggies have the highest concentrations of pesticides using this handy list from www.foodnews.org. KIWI’s pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene, has developed his own list of the top ten most necessary organic products. In order of importance, they are: milk, potatoes, peanut butter, baby food, ketchup, cotton, apples, beef, soy and corn. For detailed information visit www.drgreene.com.
Buy Local and In Season: Organic produce in season and locally sourced tastes better and is less expensive. To find the peak season for individual fruits and veggies, visit www.fieldtoplate.org. Freeze or preserve what you don't use.
Buy in Bulk: Purchase organic dried goods and pantry staples like flour and lentils in larger quantities to cut costs. Discount warehouse chains, which sell in bulk, are now starting to carry more organic and natural brands.
Join or Start a Buying Club: Buy direct from wholesalers and save. Visit the National Cooperative Business Association's website, www.ncba.coop, for more information.
Coupons: Check store circulars and newsletters for coupons. Some retailers even provide coupon printouts from the register when you are checking out. Other great resources for coupons and specials are manufacturers' websites, such as www.organicvalleycoop.com or www.equalexchange.com.
Shop Store Brands: Many stores, including Wegman's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway and ShopRite now offer their own lines of organic or natural items, which are often cheaper than name brands.
Join Mission Organic 2010 for more information and tips: www.mo2010.org.
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