December 7th, 2007 - Eating organic
I liked my comment on Six In The Country’s post about starting to eat organic fruits and veggies that I wanted to post it here, too. She asked for advice about how to go about doing it frugally. My advice is
A) Buy in season.
B) Buy local.
I’m sure you can buy organic strawberries right now, but if you wait until next June, they’ll be cheaper! I can buy organic bananas, but I don’t since I live in WI. (We do buy regular bananas for Maggie, because they keep her regular. She’s only 3 and it’s the only thing we’ve found that works. But I’ve eaten only one or two bananas in the last year.) Instead, I eat an apple almost every day Sept-April, bought at an orchard near my church. I eat carrots in the summer and fall. I eat lettuce and other greens only in the late spring-summer. I eat tomatoes only in late summer-fall. Etc. [Oh shoot! I’ve totally neglected the ones I put in the basement to ripen. I bet they are all rotten by now. Aack.]
And boy, do tomatoes taste better! And I can eat salad 5 times a week, since it’s only for about 5 weeks. And boy do I treasure my every other week blueberries I froze in pint containers last July after picking them in bulk at a U-Pick farm. Just pulled one out this morning and can’t wait to eat it with breakfast tomorrow!