Saving Money on Organic Food (Deals, Discounts, and Delivery)

I recently ran across an article on the Internet entitled, How to Eat Organic on a Budget. Since this is the tag line for my Homemade Life workshop, I clicked on over. This article listed 75 ways to save money while eating organically, most of which I already do and a few that caused me to chuckle (get a couple of chickens and hatch your own eggs - really that's all there is to it? and skip the Starbucks -duh). It also listed sites where you could find discount coupons and deals on organic products. I was excited – this is useful information! So I spent the better part of an afternoon exploring these sites. And I learned two things –

If you spend two hours tracking down a coupon for 50 cents off a product, you probably haven’t really saved anything.

Most sites that make big promises are either for products you’ve never heard of and have no need for, or are full of dated information and expired coupons, but plenty of advertising.

And here’s the thing about coupons – they’re only useful if you were planning to buy that product anyway. Otherwise they’ve done exactly what the company had hoped when they hired that fancy advertising genius – they’ve tricked you in to buying their product.

A few of the sites did actually garner real coupons on products you might actually find in your grocery store. Now, I make no promises that your grocery store accepts these coupons. The world of coupons is lost on me mostly because coupons are for processed food – organic or otherwise, and I avoid processed food – organic or otherwise- as a rule of thumb.

All of that said, I will share with you the sites that looked promising because I know I’m an oddity and most people have no choice but to buy processed food (or starve) so I’d rather you bought organic processed food if you must buy processed food at all.

How Fair is Fair Trade?

How Fair is Fair Trade? Depends on who you talk to. The optimistic masses will say unequivocally “yes!” But in a complicated world driven by profit, no matter how noble the initial idea, one does have to wonder.

I, personally, look for fair trade when purchasing products I can’t buy locally. Bananas, tea, coffee, chocolate are some of those items. There are approximately 6000 fair trade products available to consumers, though, and keeping tabs on all those farms and all those buyers, is a mammoth undertaking.

What does Fair trade propose to do?

-         guarantee farmers fair prices

-         guarantee consumers the assurance that products were grown under fair labor conditions using environmentally sustainable methods

-         allow for direct trade between the producers and the importers without costly middlemen

-         encourage community development (farmers invest Fair Trade revenues into community projects like scholarships and organic certification)

If Fair Trade operates as it was intended, it allows us consumers to invest in the farms, communities and environments that need our help the most. While Fair Trade certification does not necessarily indicate that a product is organic, in all likelihood it is close to organic, if not the real deal. Small farmers can’t afford the chemicals or the means to applying the chemicals, plus Fair Trade practices demand that certified farmers grow their products in environmentally sustainable ways. Round up and Miracle Gro are definitely not sustaining the environment in any way.

Farms become Fair Trade certified by agreeing to the Fair Trade standards for labor conditions and environmental practices. They pay a fee for this certification. In return they receive a minimum fair trade price and steady customers which allows them to have some stability in what is, many times, an instable farming environment. Small farmers in third-world countries don’t have the access to consumers or the ability to get business loans that are necessary to stay in business and thrive. Fair Trade levels the playing field so they can compete with the big corporate farms that sometimes bully their way in to dominance.

Sure, there are definitely some people taking advantage of this system. Anywhere there is a system, someone will figure out a way to abuse it. But buying Fair Trade is a vote in favor of all that Fair Trade stands for – human dignity and respect for the environment. I’ll take my chances on my bananas’ origins and have faith that my purchase made a difference.