Shop 'Til I Drop

I took on my first official "organic" shopping trip earlier this week. I know what you're thinking, "geez, she hasn't gone shopping since the January 1 Organic Proclamation?" And the fact is, outside of a quick stop at my local Safeway and a pass through Whole Foods in the past couple weeks, I didn't really need to get much.

Nonetheless, I was sticking to my organic guns at the two aforementioned stores and chose to shop at Wild Oats in Boulder for my big stock up this week. It is markedly easier to buy organic items at Wild Oats or Whole Foods than it is at Safeway. Safeway had zero organic produce and their displays of "natural" boxed cereals kept luring me in. I remained strong and only bought a handful of items including organic milk, yogurt and I can't really remember what else (hey, you try remembering what you bought at the store 2 weeks ago).

Whole Foods was easier - lots of organic options (I just went in for some greens and the fixings for my Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce) but you have to be careful: Those large, juicy produce displays can distract you from the tiny sign down below that says "conventional." And forget about the bakery area - most of the stuff is laden with white sugar. Although I did manage to get a delicious loaf of organic pumpernickel bread from the fresh counter. I was surprised at the number of organic grains they had available in the bulk bins, too.

Wednesday's big shop at Wild Oats proved that organic shopping is easy! Actually, easier than conventional/occasional organic because it limits the number of choices I have. I can focus on getting just those items I need and don't get drawn into impulse buys of crap! Plus - the produce was phenomenal! I did discover that organic cheese is expensive ... $6 for an 8 oz. brick of cheddar was an expense I couldn't justify. (Not right now anyway.) I opted for the natural cheese with no colors, dyes, added growth hormones, etc.

Everyone claims organic shopping is "way" more expensive than conventional. I'm not convinced of this yet. It's hard to compare my organic shopping trip this week to the typical cart-full of Safeway items because I stocked up on vitamins, supplements and dog food at Wild Oats. I typically spend about $100 on a big cart of food, and I feel like my organic experience is in line with this amount (when you don't include the non-food purchases).

And overall, I feel better about the food I bought. There aren't those impulse buys of HFCS-laden products filling up my cabinets. Instead, I'm stocked on lots of fresh produce, whole grains, nuts and all the good stuff we're actually going to eat.