I would love to buy organic food for my family but they eat so much - we'd be bankrupt by the end of the month with all the extra expense.
One way I do manage to get organic fruit and vegetables into them is to grow our own but I realise not everyone has the space or the time to do this.
Is organic better for them anyway? And if I can't afford to fill my trolley up with food labelled 'O' what should I be concentrating on buying that is?If I ponder those questions too much I do find I start to feel guilty. If I could manage the budget better, be a more canny shopper, perhaps I could feed my children organic food.
Admittedly, when they were weaning it was more of a priority, but since they've grown up - and what they consume is increasingly out of my control - I have replaced the organic food with ordinary stuff in my trolley.
There are many reasons to buy organic: taste, environmentally friendly farming practices and better animal welfare are all valid reasons.
In a bid to feed my family a healthier and in part more organic diet, which I appreciate not everyone believes is more beneficial, I am planning to do the following:
Buy locally, at farm shops and farmers' markets and avoid the supermarket for perishables. Vegetable box schemes are also worth looking into (for when our veg patch can't provide what we need).
Eat less meat.
We have decided to join a group of friends that are raising pigs. Not everyone has the space or the knowledge to do this but perhaps buying meat direct from a farmer (the ones round here seem to sell whole lambs) with a group of friends might be a viable alternative.
Avoid foods with more than five ingredients or that are designed to have a long shelf life as these will be heavily processed.
Concentrate on buying the food that we'd benefit most from being organic. This would be eggs, dairy and meat.
Vegetables that we plan on eating organic include: apples, strawberries, peaches and nectarines, peppers, lettuce, pears and potatoes.
Fruit juice and coffee are also said to contain high levels of pesticides so we shall be looking at organic alternatives to those too.
Obviously, once you start thinking along organic lines you look at everything you and your family come into contact with including toiletries and cleaning products. But for now, we're focusing on food.
Does your family eat an organic diet? Have you found it to be more expensive or have you come up with a way of cutting costs?