Choices will need to be made

As things stand, I won't ever be able to afford to buy all organic foods.  I intend to buy dried beans and learn to use the pressure cooker, because organic tinned beans are a horrible price compared to what I have been paying.  So I have a solution there.

The best price for organic brown rice I've seen online so far is no less than 6 times as much as I have been paying until now for non-organic white.  I know that white rice is almost devoid of nutrition, but honestly, 6 times as much?  To leave the bran on?  I can't buy in bulk because I am one person short on storage space and probably only eat rice once a week, so I'll just have to suck it up and pay the difference, but trust me on this - there will be not so much as a single precious grain wasted!  Which, of course, is as it should be.

K has told me that non-organic bread is not good.   Very convenient of course, a wholemeal loaf from lidl or Co-op can be had for 75p or less and is still perfectly edible 5 or 6 days later.  Of course there's a reason for that - preservatives.  Not good, so I will be eating organic bread whenever possible, which should be most of the time.  I'd love to think that in future I will have the time, patience and skill to bake my own, not to mention being able to buy organic wholemeal flour locally, but at the moment all I can do is look at that desirable attributes list and laugh.  Maybe flatbreads, in time. :)

There's a dirty dozen and clean fifteen list of (non organic) fruits and veg most and least polluted, but so far I've only found it for the US, and I'm sure it must vary from country to country with different pests and different growing conditions.  For the moment I will stick with the organic box, organic bananas from Lidl and take my chances with a few other conventional fruits.  The only dried fruit I really like is dates, and although they are a horrible price organic, I don't use that many - they are treats and to sweeten porridge, so a pack will last a long time and I can live with that.

I really should buy some organic tea, because I have a tea bag each day (makes 2-3 mugs) and I have a feeling that tea might use a lot of pesticides, although I don't really know.  I also drink herbal/fruit teas and have started to buy organic because they are not a bad price really.  Organic soya milk can be had for about twice the price of supermarkets' own value brands.  With beans comprising such a small part of the overall product, I'm not sure how much benefit is gained from changing.  If soya is a heavily polluted crop then it's worth the swap, but if not then I'll stick with "value" brands and save there.

At the moment all my storecupboard condiments are conventional - salad dressings and the like.  Not sure where I'll go with this at the moment.

I've not yet investigated the costs of things like nuts, but I suspect I'll be horrified.


I eat several 100g bars of non-organic dark chocolate each week and I can't see that changing any time soon.

However I tackle this, there is no doubt that my food bill is going to be more.  I already spent as much this week on fruit & veg as I used to spend in total for a week's groceries just for me, and woman cannot live by kale alone.  Well, this woman certainly can't!

One way of offsetting some of the extra is by eliminating waste.  For example I already saved some bouillon powder by refrigerating the water in which I cooked carrots and swede and using it a couple of days later to make soup.  A small saving, not only in terms of money but also nutrients.  That pleases me.  And no leftovers will be thrown away, no matter how bored I may become of something I've made too much of!  Expensive ingredients will be used carefully and to their best advantage, rather than casually chucked in and binned if I don't like the results (although to be fair I've been one to throw away leftovers).  The waste I have been guilty of is more along the lines of veg bought and forgotten (particularly aubergines which look so wonderful in the shop that you have to buy them, but then don't use them and find them beige and shrivelled 2 weeks later).  That sort of waste I cannot deny, but now that I am so much more aware of the food I have in the house, that is unlikely to happen.

There will I am sure be times when I have no bread and little money, and the 75p loaf it will have to be.  I can only do my best with the resources I have.  I am really the only one who needs to be convinced because I am the only one who will shout at me for being less than perfect.  I need to remember that!