Organic groceries inexpensively??

I am wondering if anyone out there has done true comparison shopping on groceries, item to item type thing... Whole Foods Vs. Berkeley Bowl or others in the East Bay, Vs. Farmers Markets, Vs. CSA's for produce, meat, and dairy? What creative things are families doing inorder to eat high quality, healthy food within a reasonable budget? What are your tricks? What CSA's and Farmers Markets do you love and find to be less expensive? Thank you for doing the hard foot work! sadie

Berkeley Bowl has better prices on organic produce than either Whole Foods or even Safeway. I do not know about how it compares to the Grocery Outlet. There are different quality levels to organic, but some things I even prefer to get at Trader Joe's, based on price alone.

The small farmer's markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays in North Oakland, run by Phat Beets, have farmers that are transitioning to organic, so their produce is well priced and pesticide-free.

I got really into the locavore thing and started getting friendly with my neighbors and joining groups (actually I formed a group of like-minded friends) and joining email lists of people who are into gardening and urban farming. I've found an entire network of people with fruit trees to go pick from their tree each year (and a cheery group of friends to harvest, can, preserve, dehyrate, and share the bounty with). My family eats a lot of fresh organic food all summer long for FREE.

I also garden. I know the food is heirloom, organic, fresh, and local.

The last two options have a bit more time intensity to them then just popping into the grocery store, but I really enjoy finding food at it's source, and discovering fruit that my family would have never eaten (and loved!) had a neighbor not been growing it in their yard and offered their excess to me. frugal foodie

Second, I actually went to each grocery store in Berkeley charted 25 commonly held items to see who really had the best prices. My results were: Andronico's is by far the most expensive, especially for produce, Berkeley Bowl and Safeway were kind of middle of the road, Whole Foods produce was way overpriced but their dry goods were actually competitive with Trader Joe's (whose produce is normally priced -- and not very good). Your best bet for produce, by leaps and bounds, is Monterey Market. This applies to both conventional and organic produce. My favorite thing to do is to swing by the ridiculously overpriced farmer's market near by house on the way to shop at the Monterey Market just to be amazed at how much money I'm *not* spending on locally grown, organic produce (MM almost always tells you where the crop came from, and they always offer local options when possible).

One last thing - Monterey Market doesn't sell meat, but just across the street is Magnani's Poultry which is an excellent butcher carrying quite decent meat at decent prices. It's more expensive than shrink wrapped Tyson Chicken at Safeway, but it's all from farms with a modicum of responsibility and commitment to quality. There is also a great fish market and a bakery a few stores up.

I hope this helps! Shoshana

Cheapest organic produce: NOT Whole Foods. Try Berkeley Bowl, Monterey Market and Trader Joe's. Sometimes Costco, but you can't count on the selection.

Cheapest meat/fish: Not positive, but probably Berkeley Bowl. Maybe Trader Joe's, but they have a more limited selection.

I don't have much experience with CSA's and I have not found Farmer's Markets to be all that inexpensive. I shop there for the experience, not so much the cost.

I would say I do 95% of my shopping at Trader Joe's and Berkeley Bowl. The other 5% is at Whole Foods (because of convenience, not price). Frugal, mostly organic shopper

Healthy Eating on a budget

I'm really having trouble rationalizing buying healthier food for my family when it's so pricey! I want to buy organic. I want to buy all natural. Any idea of how I can cut down on my bill and still buy natural, organic, and healthy groceries? Lena

Maybe not everything you buy HAS to be organic. See http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/organic_natural/12_foods_you_should_buy_organic for a list of produce that gives you more organic ''bang for your buck'' (they also have a list of items that don't have to be organic - typically, items with a thick removable peel don't absorb a lot of pesticide residue.)

Also, where you shop makes a difference. Monterey Market, Berkeley Bowl and Farmer Joe's all have inexpensive produce that's of high quality. And don't forget about farmers markets. The Berkeley ones tend to be expensive but the Friday one in downtown Oakland as well as the Civic Center one in SF are cheaper. There are lots of markets popping up all over so shop around. Try to buy what's in season. (Also, I love Trader Joe's - affordable eggs, dairy, snack foods for kids, nut butters...)

Investing in a slow cooker isn't a bad idea - you can soak and cook dried beans (super-cheap) and make lots of different tasty curries and stews.

Good luck! yum

1. Go to the farmer's markets at the end of the day or end of the market. Usually, there are farmers who will let go of their produce for much less as they're packing up to leave.

2. Go to ethnic produce markets and look for organic produce. Generally, these markets are more affordable than the supermarket and often is local, if not organic.

3. Berkeley Bowl has an area of ''old'' produce that is marked down. Dan's Produce of Alameda also has an area for very good deals on old produce. The trade-off is that it may or may not be organic.

4. Try to buy and prepare more bulk foods -- brown rice, lentils, black bean soup mix, etc. are usually pretty affordable.

5. Meat and animal products tend to be expensive, especially if they are free-range, grass-fed, organic, etc. That's the way it goes. Look for deals. Generally, cheap meat is usually not free range, but sometimes you luck out. Otherwise, you may want to simply cut down on the animals and dairy you consume.

6. Try not to buy too much processed food. Something can be organic and called ''natural'' and yet still be very expensive and not very nutritious! You can usually make these items at home and save some money. Prime examples: granola, processed tofu, dried fruit, canned soups, energy bars, yogurt with fruit, spaghetti sauce, etc. One thing to look for is excess packaging -- make sure you're paying for the food, not the packaging!

7. Look at labels and shop all the shelves. It takes some time, but you may spot a great deal hidden away! hope this helps!

-Cook and bake. Everything. Processed foods are far more expensive than fruits & veggies, and certainly more expensive than whole grains. I go so far as to make my own crackers, refried beans, and soup stock from the saved end bits of veggies. I keep a big ziplock in the freezer and when it is full of veggie bits, I throw it in a pot of water with herbs. I do the same with bones. I use it instead of water to make more flavorful and nutritious rice or freeze it for later when I want to make soup. The strained-out solids go in my compost.

-Eat seasonally. In season locally is far cheaper than shipped in out of season.

-Freeze and preserve. Cut up some cheap in-season fruits or veggies and save them until the winter. You can also freeze meals for quick reheating later. Learning to can, dehydrate, or pickle, can also save you money. I learned to cure my own olives, a huge money saver.

-Price compare. I stopped shopping at the Berkeley Farmer's Market as it is too pricey. If you are in North Oakland, try the Phat Beets Farmer's Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays instead. If not, find which local market or grocery store near you has reasonable prices.

-Do your research and pick your battles. Berries & stone fruit carry the highest pesticide load so I always get pesticide-free or organic of those. I purchase conventional avocados, as there is much less issue with pesticides affecting the fruit. GMO freaks me out so I only buy organic of foods that are likely to be GMO.

-Garden & Compost. If you have room, aim for growing a few of your pricier favorites and herbs. Buy seeds and little starts in 6 packs instead of larger plants. There are seed libraries and seed saver groups throughout the bay area as well as the opportunity for free or traded plants and seeds, free manure, and free dirt on craigslist. Berkeley or San Francisco residents can get free city compost for starting a garden. Low income West Oakland residents can get free help setting up a garden through City Slicker Farm.

-Step outside of the box. The Bay Area is literally dripping with food. The climate grows a huge range of food year round. I forage in Oakland and get fruit from neighbors' trees. When I see a tree dropping fruit all over the ground, I go and meet my neighbor and ask if I can pick their fruit. I have also gathered nuts, seeds, olives, greens, edible & medicinal herbs, and edible flowers. There are books, regional online maps, classes, and groups dedicated to food foraging both urban and wild. You can also consider raising your own chickens, quail, or ducks for eggs and food. budget organic mom

- if you don't already, try to buy your produce at farmers markets - it's generally cheap because it's in season - and if you go shortly before closing sellers will often offer or accept prices lower than posted. There are markets in the east bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Kensington, Albany, El Cerrito ...) pretty much every day.

- try to buy dry goods from the bulk bins (I usually shop at Natural Grocery or Andronico's but pretty sure Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods and others have them too)

- if you're having a hard time always buying organic, make sure to look at fruits/veggies that are most important to buy organic (see http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/) - you can fudge on others, at least from a health (if not an environmental) perspective. Good luck!

The irony is a friend of mine, who is a scientist and works in genetics, was telling me that this is actually safer than buying organic. Reason bieng that bacteria like e-coli will actually get into the DNA of produce and can't be washed off.

Other than that I do grow my own lettace (very easy) and what ever else I can. Good luck lisa

Organic Natural Foods Buying Club?

I read about a buying club for organic and natural foods, where families join together to buy in large enough amounts to qualify for the minimum for the distributors, whose prices are really, really cheap. It sounds like a possibility for saving a lot. The trouble is, when I checked out the distributor I read about, they only serve the East Coast. Here are my questions: 1. Anyone know of a buying club like that around here? (We're in El Cerrito.) 2. Anyone know of a distributor that serves our area, with a small enough minimum and a large selection of of organic and natural items? 3. Anyone interested in joining if I form one? El Cerrito, Kensington, Albany, N. Berkeley? Jenny

Organic food store for family shopping

We recently made an informed decision to only buy organic food for our family, and tried a few stores around. What we discovered is that in order to stay within organic food we have to go to several stores just to buy the most regular items: milk, bread, vegetables, fruits, breakfast cereal. Two questions I cannot figure out myself and want to ask to share with me:

1. Where can we find ''certified organic'' meat: beef, chicken, pork, turkey?

2. Is there a store that sells organic food in family-size packages, since those would make more economic sense for a family rather than buying multiple tiny pieces of cheese, for example?

Thank you for your advice. Maria

I can usually find everything organic that I need at Berkeley Bowl on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley. They have a large selection of organic produce, some organic breads, canned goods, snack foods, cereals, etc. I know they have certified organic chicken and I believe they have certified organic meats. If you get there on the earlier side of the morning parking and check out lines are not too bad.

I think also Whole Foods on Telegraph and Ashby has organic everything. Their prices are also high.I rarely go there but the times I have they seemed to have lots of organic. Good luck June

Why Organic Produce?

I've read in books I trust that strawberries are the worst fruit/vegetable for pesticides and other (?) chemicals. Because of this, I don't feed my son strawberries unless they are certified organic. Just thought you might like to know. Peggy