Question from MaryLou Flake

Hi Debra,

I just want to thank you for sharing, I too have gout and fibromyalgia and arthritis they are coming onto thinking it rheumatoid. I am worried the next thing they will be saying is MS. I am trying to use diet to reduce inflammation and head off some of these symptoms and episodes. My husband receives our only income from disability due to seizures and back injury and it is imperative I stay within a food budget. Could you perhaps address the issue of finding organic foods at affordable cost? Thank You for sharing your journey with us.

Debra’s Answer

I’m going to give you a whole spectrum of answer, starting with the easiest and ending with what costs the least money.

First, if what you are looking for are organic packaged foods, then try  Trader Joes. They don’t sell online but they are opening stores all over the country now. When I lived in California (where the chain started), they were always the hottest store. Everyone loves Trader Joe’s. They have a lot of fresh and frozen prepared entrees and packaged foods and packaged ingredients, some fresh ingredients, too. A lot of what they sell is organic. But the great thing that everyone loves is the prices are very low compared to natural food stores. I used to shop there a lot when I lived in California, now my closest Trader Joe’s is about 15 miles away. It’s the kind of store people drive to once a month if it’s not near by, and stock up.

Online Thrive Market has 3000+ healthy, natural products, always 35-50% off, delivered free to your door. You get 15% off your first order. You cans search by a variety of different choices such as manufacturer, special diets, made by hand, sourced direct from farmers, certified organic etc. It’s all packaged products you would find at any natural food store, they just cost less. Also personal care products and household cleaners, remedies and supplements. You have to register to look at the site (but it’s free), then with your first purchase you start a fress 30-day trial membership. See how much you save, cancel at any time. At the end of the 30 days, it’s $59.95 to shop at Thrive Market for a year, but the idea is you should save much more than that.

I don’t shop at either of those places because I don’t buy much packaged food.

You can immediately cut your food bill when you buy only fresh ingredients and prepare them yourself at home. Even if you shopped at Whole Foods (the most expensive place to buy organic food) you would still reduce your food bill by purchasing only fresh ingredients. And you will be eating the highest quality food. I just continue to be amazed at the ingredients in packeged foods sold at natural food stores. Even some packaged foods that have basic organic ingredients then have processed salt and flavoring ingredients to make them edible. It’s much better to learn how to cook.

Now once you are in the zone of preparing food yourself from fresh ingredients, here are some options.

Look for a local, independent natural food store. Their prices are often less than Whole Foods.

Shop at your local farmer’s market. Very good prices on local organic food and you can meet the farmers.

Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where you buy a share in a farm and then get a weekly share of the harvest. These farms often let you work at the farm too and participate in harvesting and sorting and delivering the harvest. You get a variety of foods and learn new foods you might not know, but come to love. I loved my year eating out of my CSA basket when I lived in California. I wish there was one here where I live in Florida.

Grow your own. Seeds cost only pennies and gardening is great exercise. Nothing tastes better than food foraged straight from your own garden.

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