The Soil Association Organic Fortnight, is the UK’s biggest celebration of all things organic. This year the Soil Association are encouraging us all to try something organic everyday.
Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
- Sign-up to an organic box scheme. Get local, seasonal and organic fruit and veg delivered straight to your doorstep, many are greatt value for money too.
- Cook fresh fruit and veg from scratch. Avoiding over packaged convenience foods is usually both healthier and cheaper. Have a scout round this (and other) blogs for some inspiration.
- Eat less meat, and when you do try lower cost cuts such as belly of pork or neck of lamb. Offal too can provide tasty nutritious meals. Get friendly with your local butcher for advice on cuts.
- Cook in bulk. Make meals in larger batches, use herbs and spices, and cheaper ingredients like tinned tomatoes or beans and pulses to bulk things out, and then freeze left over portions. This is a great way making less into more.
- Join or create an organic buying group. Bulk-buy your store cupboard staples with a group of friends at wholesale prices.
- Join or start your own local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in partnership with a local farmer. CSA is a partnership between farmers and the public where you make an annual investment for a share of the harvest and can prove great value for money
- Grow your own, for the freshest, most local food you can get, right on your doorstep.
- Keep your own chickens and enjoy a great house pet and super fresh eggs every day.
- Write a shopping list. As a nation we we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year. By planning meals in advance, buying what you need and not what you ‘fancy’, and using left-overs you should be able avoid the need to throw away any food at all, and save up to £50 a month
- Take a walk on the wild side. There’s plenty of free wild food available, and identifying and picking it is a great way of having fun outdoors so get foraging.
I buy organic as much as I can, believing it to be better for us in terms of the lack of chemicals even if the nutritional value isn’t all that much different.
What about you? Do you go for the organic option and why?
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I buy organic where I can and do try to be as ‘eco’ as possible. Not always easy when I have little people who want to know why they can’t have ham shaped like a teddy face on their packed lunch sandwich….. Good food choices need to start young!
That is so true Wendy, good education in food is vital … too many people don’t understand where our food comes from or how to make informed food choices.
I’ve tried to be organic for as long as I can remember, before I even knew the word probably. It just makes total sense to be as natural as possible and care for oneself, others and the environment. It’s not always easy of course and it can be expensive, but I do grow some of our food and buy less so that I can buy organic products when I need them.
I couldn’t agree more Choclette. Growing your own is a great way to try and reduce food cost and food miles but it isn’t always easy.
I buy a few organic products but tend to sway back to non organic as it’s cheaper. The only organic product I tend to buy consistently is Yeo Valley yogurt. I’m trying to make a habit of sticking to organic milk and carrots though. It would be nice to buy everything organic but it would cost so much more and unless I can definitely tell the difference, hard to commit to all the time.
I’m always surprised by how much more organic food costs, but then I suppose it is much more costly to produce.