Our Organic Journey Part 1: Produce & Pantry

This post has been a long time coming. Over the last year or so, Dan and I have been transitioning to a totally organic life. It's still a work in progress but I'd say we're 80% organic and loving it. I want to talk about that journey and what we've learned from the changes we've made because it's important.

As I started writing this, I realized had way more information than I could fit into one post so I broke it up into three. This is going to veer from being strictly about eating organic and also about eating cleaner in general. My goal is to provide tips to help you clean up your diet (and other areas in your life!) and doesn't strictly mean eating organic. There are ways to make better decisions even with non-organic food and I just want this to educational and accessible.

Organic delivery day!!!!

Some Background

Dan and I have eaten healthy for years. We eat a ton of vegetables and exercise often. We eat virtually no sugar or processed foods. I had been taking multi-vitamins and probiotics for a while (just the cheapest ones I could find). Despite all of this, I was getting sick ALL THE TIME. Between October 2017 and March 2018, I got sick 4 times - each for about a week. That's a week without going to the gym, or leaving the house much, or having energy to do basic things. It's debilitating and I was OVER IT.

Where it all began!!!

I decided to take a good hard look at my life, and all I could think was that I drink a significant amount of wine (but doesn't it have antioxidants?) and I work from home so maybe my low exposure has made my immune system vulnerable. That didn't seem to be enough to make me get sick so much. I talked to my doctor and all she could recommend was washing my hands more.

So I started washing my hands whenever I got home and after working out at the gym just to be safe. Around the same time, I was starting to read books on pregnancy because we were going to start trying. They all said the same thing: "STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GO ORGANIC NOW." Maybe not quite in all caps but they went into detailed explanations about why non-organic products and food are SO bad and tips on what to switch to and how to clean up your life. I was shook.

We made changes slowly over a several month period of time but in the process we found out a lot of really cool stuff. I also got sick WAY less often. I went from getting something every month or two to barely getting sick at all (even while pregnant, with a lower immune system, I got two very mild colds all winter). I wanted to share some of our tips and experiences to help anyone else thinking of going this route.

Healthy AND Organic!

Produce

When people think organic, produce is the most obvious thing that comes to mind. Grocery stores have big produce sections divided by organic or conventional and it's to see. Since college, I've seen this area and avoided it and it's high costs. After reading my books, I learned why this may have been a bad idea. To start out - not all conventional produce is bad. In fact, there's an annual list of which fruits and veggies are more likely to be susceptible to pesticides and other issues, and what's generally safe. As you can imagine, anything with a thick rind or exterior tends to be ok but here's the latest Clean 15/ Dirty Dozen list so you have an idea where to start.

Now what are the best places to buy your organic Dirty Dozen? First up - Costco is amazing for organic produce and other groceries. Generally, they always have an option of organic or not, and if they don't, it's because the organic option is the only option. Cost wise, it's easy to see side by side what the difference is (with green beans I bought recently, they were the same price). When there's only one option, it's not bad either. We love bell peppers but they're not the cheapest vegetable. However, the organic ones from Costco are always competitive with conventional grocery store peppers.

Imperfect but still looking good!

We also found a service called Imperfect Produce. I've been unhappy with other CSAs despite loving the concept. Imperfect Produce works a little differently. They take the produce that grocery stores don't want (weird size, different shape, or simply just a surplus) and sell it at a discount. This makes organic vegetables more affordable and delivered straight to my door. As with anything, it has pros and cons. Everything is completely customizable and it's easy to skip weeks if you don't need it or don't like the options. On the cons - don't expect perfection. I know it says it in the name but I still get caught off guard when I get a beet the size of my head or a butternut squash smaller than my left hand. In any case, here's a referral if you're interested.

A look at the Flipp app!

Lastly, I've recently discovered Sprouts. I mean, I've known about them forever and it's been a great, inexpensive healthy food option, but thanks to a Facebook post from a gym friend, I've discovered their weekly deals. Their weekly flier comes out every Monday or Tuesday and is good Wednesday-Wednesday. That means that every Wednesday, this and the previous week's deals are both available. I've been going to Sprouts every Wednesday to maximize my benefit. I use an app called Flipp to mark things in the ad I'm interested in and use it as a shopping list.

Stores like Trader Joe's, Aldi, and Whole Foods are also great for a lot of organic options at reasonable prices. Now that Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, they have a lot of surprise deals on high quality produce. I recommend still using apps like Flipp to check for deals before you go. You can plan your shopping list and menu around what you already know will be on sale.

Another solution is growing your own!!! I don't feel like you totally need organic seeds or an organic starter plant (although this would help) but when you're managing your own garden, you're in control of the fertilizing and pesticides so you know you can keep it clean. I'm going to talk more about gardening in another post, but since it's technically produce, wanted to mention it now too. Even if you have a small space, there are a lot of hanging gardens and window box options so you can at least do a small herb or pepper garden!

I have some bias here because I don't really mind grocery shopping (I know some people hate it), but now that I have my grocery "schedule," it's been even easier. I go to Sprouts on my lunch break every Wednesday. I get my Imperfect Produce box every Thursday. I can coordinate these because I've picked my Imperfect Produce by Tuesday and also used Flipp to decide what I will be buying on sale at the store. I usually also go to Vons or Trader Joes at some point during the week to fill in any gaps of things that aren't available at Sprouts (TJs and Sprouts are pretty similar so I'm 100% talking about TJs' chocolate covered coconut almonds and freezer items which are unparalleled).

Disclaimer: it can be hard to know
how much you're getting from Imperfect!

Pantry Items

The pantry is really where this journey began years and years ago. Before I went Paleo and now organic, my original goal was just to not eat chemicals. When you word it like that, I think most people would think, "oh gross, yea, I don't want to eat chemicals." I started by just reading labels. If there were long chemical words I didn't know, I didn't buy it. It was pretty eye opening. From there, I found other weird trends in food labels. Have you ever read a pasta sauce label? I challenge you to go read a label for a big brand pasta sauce. Most of them have sugar. Why? Pasta sauce shouldn't be sweet. But sugar is an inexpensive preservative and... it's addictive. It's the reason you keep going back to foods you know aren't good for you.

SAAUUCCCEEEE

With the pasta sauce, I started with just reading labels. I found other sauces that had ingredients that make more sense for pasta sauce: tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, herbs.... real things that I'd expect!!! When I moved to San Diego, I decided to up the game and try making sauce from canned or fresh tomatoes. That didn't go so well... however, cans of plain tomato sauce are inexpensive and provide a great blank canvas. You can get a box of cans at Costco for ~$10 (to contrast, one jar of pre-made stuff is like $6) and it lasts months. It's also organic. I love adding my own seasoning, herbs, veggies, and meats to a can of plain tomato sauce. And the only ingredient? TOMATOES!!!!

So if you're trying to clean up your pantry game, here is my step by step to buying items that are better for you:

1. Read the label
2. Is there one with fewer, purer ingredients?
3. Can I make this myself for not too much work or money?
4. Is there an organic option?

And of course... I have some money saving tips!!

Not my dream pantry but I'm stocked up!
Including a few extras that I got on sale

First, Costco is always gold. I've been shopping there for myself since college and I'm amazed year over year how much more of their stock is becoming organic/natural/clean. For just about everything, there is an organic option (either this is the only option or they have a regular and an organic). For the meats and things listed above, this can have a price increase... but in the pantry area it's usually really comparable! If you're not a Costco member, I'd see if a friend can take you. With Venmo and things, it's easy to pay someone back and being able to do a test shop before committing to the membership, is a good idea. You also get two cards per membership so it could be worth joining with another household. If you're doing that and buying a lot, the executive membership gives you a voucher every year. Ours just about covers our membership and that's just for two people (who also are using services like Butcherbox, Imperfect Produce, and other grocery stores for a lot of shopping). Unrelated to food - Costco also has a travel service where you'll get things like Costco gift cards (we booked our honeymoon this way and got like $200 to Costco in addition to it being the cheapest site to book the trip and some bonuses during our stay). Likewise, they have printing site (cheapest photo prints and cards around), optometrist, and pharmacy.

If you're not ready to join Costco, or they just don't have what you're looking for (or in the size you need!), I also highly recommend just paying attention to deals. I already mentioned Sprouts but I'll say it again - check out the double deal Wednesdays!!! Pantry items are on sale more than fresh ones and they last!!! If you know you eat a lot of a pantry item and it goes on sale, there's no harm in stocking up. I use an app called Flipp to mark items on sale that I'm interested in. When I'm shopping, I just open the "list" part of the app and see if I want to get anything that I clipped. I always go on Wednesday so I have my two weeks of deals and whatever is in the monthly ad all saved on my phone.  I use it mostly for Sprouts but if I'm going to another store to stock up on groceries, I'll scan their deals as well in case there is anything really good.

Lastly, Amazon can be a great place for organic pantry items. You can use the Prime Pantry service to get a discount on a variety of pantry items. I personally like subscribe and save though. I get a few of my pantry staples and seasonings on subscription which gets me an extra 15% off of the price. Sometimes I don't need items as frequently as the subscription is set but all I have to do is update it a week before my monthly delivery date. With such a big database of products though, it's a great place to search for organic items and compare prices.

Like most things, pantry discounts come with buying on sale and buying in bulk. If you have a nice sized pantry or storage, this is way easier. I've been able to take advantage of more deals since we started living in houses instead of apartments. I DREAM of having a butler's pantry some day though so I can really go nuts in this department. Right now I have to carefully keep in mind how much cabinet space I have. I'd love to stock up more, but for now, just adding something to my list when I'm running low is good enough.

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I have one more pregnancy post that I'd like share before the baby comes but then I'll get back to parts 2 & 3 of this series so stay tuned over the summer for more on how to slowly change to an organic lifestyle.