Organic and local produce is sometimes portrayed as a very middle-class preoccupation, and some might say with good reason: a comparison of the ‘standard’ aisles with the organic section in any supermarket will quickly reveal the difference in cost, and there are certainly some very overpriced pre-packaged organic goods out there that are best avoided. In many ways it’s no wonder that sales of certain organic products dropped by up to 31 per cent since the recession took hold.
But does cutting costs have to mean cutting out traditionally-grown food that’s native to your own area? Put that way, it sounds ridiculous, and fortunately it is quite possible to find honestly produced food at honest prices. The two main obstacles are knowing where to find it, and taking time to prepare it economically. Here are some tips on cost-effective organic and local shopping, for financial, personal and environmental health.
Know what’s in season
By sticking to products that are in season, you’ll be able to find them cheaper and tastier whether you go for organic or not. Keep a close eye on Eat the Seasons until you start to get an instinctive idea of what you should be expecting to eat as the seasons turn. If you’re already ordering direct from a box scheme or visit a farmers’ market, you’ll already have a bit of a feel for this.
Buy Direct
While supermarkets may charge a lot for organic and local produce, the best way to get them is direct from the growers. Nobody can sniff at the £12-25 price tag on a weekly box that’s stuffed full of ripe organic produce, delivered to you from a neighbouring farm. It’s a great way to introduce variety into your diet and to get into more seasonal eating. It also helps the producers, who get a fairer deal through these schemes than when dealing with larger stores.
Brush up on your cooking
The inevitable comeback to all of this advice is that it’s not always practical to cook meals from scratch, even if ordering organic ingredients via box schemes is affordable. There’s no easy answer to that one, other than stressing that if you really want to do it, make the time to get your cooking up to scratch so that putting together a delicious supper made from fresh local produce soon becomes second nature. If your confidence is shaky, you might want to enrol in a class, but it’s also worth making meals in bulk portions so you don’t have to start again every day.
Some organic is better than no organic
If a box scheme isn’t for you and you don’t want to pay the premium for organic all the time, it’s worth knowing that some foods are more likely to be coated in pesticides than others, so you may at least want to go organic when you buy them. This list is especially helpful, and explains how peaches are more likely to be heavily treated than onions.
Again, if you can’t afford organic, having an idea what’s in seasons will at least mean the veg you do buy in the shops is more likely to be sourced locally, but keep an eye on labels for those sneaky imports!
Image: Wordridden
