The economy is rough and budgets are tight, but there are things you can do right now to save money while still living an organic, non-GMO lifestyle.
Here are three of the biggest ones that can save you money not only this year, but year after year:
#1) Invest in nutrition to reduce health care costs
It’s hard for us to notice expenses that are prevented through nutrition and healthy supplements. After all, if you’re taking vitamin D that prevents cancer, you never see the cancer so you don’t really notice is was prevented.
And yet, if you really think about it, nutrition buys you health and disease prevention for pennies on the dollar compared to the cost of prescription drugs, doctor visits and expensive health insurance.
Astoundingly powerful nutrients like zinc, magnesium and vitamin D cost mere pennies a day, yet they deliver a small fortune in health care value in terms of the savings in long-term health care costs. Much the same is true with medicinal herbs, physical fitness and even holistic therapies like chiropractic and acupuncture.
It’s amazing to me that many people are ready and willing to spend $1,000 or more each month on health insurance, but they scoff at spending $200 a month on organic foods, nutritional supplements or a gym membership.
Trust me: I’ve done the math on this, and the returns are huge on investing in quality nutrition, superfoods, physical fitness and preventive holistic treatments (including therapeutic massage).
#2) Shop for organic, non-GMO foods at Green PolkaDot Box
In business for over a year now, Green PolkaDot Box now ships frozen organic, non-GMO foods (as well as non-frozen foods and even fresh produce) all over the USA. Just as importantly, their prices are way lower than Whole Foods, where everything seems to be disturbingly expensive.
Over the last year, GPDB has quietly become a powerhouse online discount retailer of organic, non-GMO foods, supplements, personal care, pet care, home care and even baby foods. They’ve got fast shipping, outstanding customer service, and an ever-increasing selection of truly outstanding brands including Nutiva, Amy’s, Late July and hundreds of others. I call GPDB “the Amazon.com of organic, non-GMO products.”
Click here to check them out now, and remember that shipping is FREE on orders of $75 or more (in the 48 states only). There is a small surcharge for shipping frozen items, but it’s still amazing because the boxes arrive with the foods still frozen inside!
I’ve been using GPDB to buy Ezekiel sprouted grain breads, organic nut butters, premium olive oil, organic pet food, truly natural shampoo, manuka honey and all sorts of other things. GPDB has actually become my #1 source of groceries. It has vastly reduce my need to go to the local grocery store where everything smells like laundry detergent (know what I mean?).
#3) Grow some of your own
You’d be amazed how much money you can save by growing some of your own food. With sky-high food prices these days, the payoff for home gardening is more enticing than ever.
Think about it: Organic red bell peppers sometimes cost as much as $5 each at the store. You can grow them for practically nothing!
It’s also easy to grow organic tomatoes, okra, green bell peppers (those are all summer crops) or in the cooler times of the year grow your own broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.
Sweet potatoes are also ridiculously easy to grow, and they produce like crazy. Lots of culinary herbs are also super easy to grow, including rosemary, parsley, cilantro and savory.
Believe it or not, in warmer climates it’s also super easy to grow your own tobacco! I used to grow huge tobacco plants in South America, and we also grew neem and cayenne peppers to make our own organic insecticide liquids. (We also threw in some castor bean oil that we grew ourselves, too.)
Growing some of your own food also gives you contact with the soil, healthy sunshine and enjoyment of nature. You’ll learn some self-reliance and you’ll reduce your food bill. Think about it: Gardening is the process of turning seeds that cost mere pennies into wholesome, organic foods that are worth big dollars. Make this the year that you grow a garden!
Summary
There are lots of other strategies for saving money while staying healthy with organics. You can buy in bulk instead of smaller packaged sizes. You can buy unprocessed ingredients instead of manufactured organic foods. You can also grow and sell some of your own chem-free produce at the local farmer’s market so that organic gardening actually pays you back.
Living an organic lifestyle doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, and if you’re spending a lot of money on organic products right now, you may be paying more for them than you need to. Find creative ways to cut costs without compromising on your health. Keep buying organic, in other words, but find opportunities to save money along the way.
Jerry,
We were also the Founding “Trust” Members. And I am still so pissed at them for doing that!!! No warning, no promised 30 days for any changes – just a notice after the fact. Obviously, I will no longer be shopping there, even though it is cheaper than Whole Foods etc. – they completely lost a customer now. I would have stayed and kept shopping even after I went through all my rewards points, but not now, not after what they’ve done. It’s not the best business practice to make your customers feel helpless and screwed.
Ugh, can’t trust anyone apparently.
Since you are associated with the Green Polka Dot Box, I thought I would tell you what GPDB did last week. On September 30th the CEO of GPDB, Rod Smith, sent an email to the Founding Trust Membership, stating that the balance of their Reward Points are being converted to the company stocks. Founding Trust Members were those that invested money in GPDB with the agreement that the invested money would be available as Reward Points to use to purchase items at GPDB. Suddenly, overnight, those Reward Points are gone, converted to stock, and are not touchable for a year. As a Founding Trust Member I planned on that initial investment to purchase the health food I wanted for a particular time period. What I was told I could use to buy my food is now not available. I was not asked if I wanted to exchange my points for stock. It was done without my consent.
After expressing my anger to GPDB, their response was:
“We understand your disappointment in the changes we are making, but I would like to explain a few things to you. Converting your PolkaDot Points (plus 10%) to shares of stock will enable us to add Living Produce Centers throughout the United States; it will allow us to open up a second distribution center in New York, which will help us get our products to our members faster; we will be able to offer more products at even lower prices. All of these exciting changes are so our members will be able to have organic and non-GMO products that are fresher, delivered faster, and are discounted even further!”
I understand their desire to expand, but I am strongly opposed to confiscating the immediate availability of my funds. When signing up for this program, it was mutually agreed how it would function. This is nothing more than the shady business practice called “bait and switch”. Lure you in with an appealing offer, and suddenly, over night, change the rules. Very evil, in my opinion.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Don’t know who first said it long ago, but it’s so true.
SO GLAD TO KEEP RECIEVING THIS HEALTHY INFORMATION ON HOW TO BUY AND EVEN SAVE ON ORGANIC FOOD AND YES, THERE ARE MANY OF US WHO CAN’T AFFORD ORGANIC BUT APPRECIATE ALL THE WAYS WE CAN STILL BE HEALTHY!! THANK YOU!!