Can I Feed My Family Organic Food for a Week on $100?

How much does it cost to feed your family organic food for a week?

Since buying organic isn’t usually a priority on my grocery list, I had no idea what that answer was. So I posted a Facebook status asking the question of my friends:

A few of my blogger friends replied. Thanks to Kim at TheySmell, Roo at Nice Girl Notes and Emilie at Baby Loving Mama for chiming in!

I have to say, I was shocked at the people who responded with their real weekly/monthly costs for organic food.

I only buy organic food when it costs roughly the same as the non-organic equivalent, but I didn’t realize exactly what some families spend on groceries each week.

I posted that question to Facebook right after Whole Foods Market challenged me to feed my family of four organic food for a week for just $100.

The responses from people were a bit discouraging, since my shopping adventure hadn’t yet started.

At the same time, it came to me that I obviously don’t aspire to be rich beyond my wildest dreams: It actually gave me a bit of a thrill to know that Whole Foods thought I could spend far less than my friends and still feed my family three quality, organic meals a day for a week!

As part of the challenge, my little ones and I got a thorough tour of our local Whole Foods Market in Minnetonka, Minnesota, complete with some useful savings tips, value-minded recipes, the Whole Foods Market store coupons that are available to everyone and a $100 gift card to fund our week’s worth of groceries.

Then, I did what all smart parents do if they have the opportunity: I brought the kids home so I could prep and do my grocery shopping by myself after my husband came home.

Whole Foods Market offers several tools and tips to save moneyand stretch your dollars as much as possible when shopping in stores. Here are my favorites:

• The Whole Deal value guide is an in-store newsletter with coupons, savings tips, recipes and product information. The newsletter can be picked up right at the front of the store or it can be viewed online.
• Budget-friendly recipes: The Whole Foods Website has nearly 100 value-minded recipes that help keep money in your wallet.
• In-store daily specials and promotions: There’s a Weekly Values flyer that features discounts on particular items for the week. This flyer can be found near the Whole Deal newsletter at the front of the store. You’ll also usually see lots of signs all over the store highlighting the Weekly Values.
• Whole Foods Magazine: The Whole Foods Magazine (I found a big stack in the coffee area with the tables and chairs) had a handful of valuable coupons in it!
• Reusable Bag Refund: You’ll get $0.10 off your total for every reusable bag you bring from home to use. I learned that you can usually get the credit if you bring your own box or anything else to carry your groceries home that saves the use of one or more disposable bags!

In addition to the store-provided tips, I had a few more ideas for ways to save money at Whole Foods Market:

• Buy in bulk when the price is right: I was very surprised to find dried organic black beans in the bulk food section for just $0.99 a pound. That’s an excellent price, so I bought three pounds. I prepared them all at once, used some right away and froze the rest in 1-cup portions. Whole Foods Market also offers 10% case discounts if you buy an entire case of any item!
• Find and use Whole Foods coupon matchups: Don’t spend your precious time trying to combine all the sale items with available coupons–there are websites who have already done the work for you! The Thrifty Mama’s Whole Foods coupon and deal matchups show you the best ways to easily save cash with coupons.
• Eat less meat: Meat is expensive and we don’t necessarily need it. Find other ways to consume enough protein and try to provide meatless meals more often than not.
• Menu plan

In my opinion, the key to successfully feeding my family organic food for a whole week with a budget of $100 was planning each and every meal.

The coupons and deals provided a basis for the meals I could make around the food I could get at deep discounts, and the rest of the menu plan was formed after those meals were figured out.

My menu plan: feeding my family organic food for week on $100:

Monday
Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs, milk
Lunch:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, raisins
Dinner:  Black bean chili, cornbread muffins
Snacks:  apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese

Tuesday
Breakfast:   Cereal and milk
Lunch:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, milk
Dinner:  Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Snacks:  apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese, leftover corn bread, Clif Bar for my husband

Wednesday
Breakfast:   Cereal and milk
Lunch:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, grapes, milk
Dinner:  Pasta with tomato sauce, parmesan cheese and ricotta cheese
Snacks:  apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese, Clif Bar for my husband

Thursday
Breakfast:   scrambled eggs, milk
Lunch:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, raisins, milk
Dinner:  Green salad,balsamic vinaigrette Bruchetta with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella
Snacks:  apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese, Clif Bar for my husband

Friday
Breakfast:  Cereal and milk
Lunch:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, turkey sandwiches apple slices, milk
Dinner:  Grilled chicken and veggie kebabs, brown rice
Snacks:  Apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese, bananas

Saturday
Breakfast:  Brown Sugar Baked Oatmeal or cereal with milk
Lunch:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, apple slices, milk
Dinner:  Quesadillas, black beans, chips and salsa
Snacks:  Apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese, bananas

Sunday
Breakfast:  Baked oatmeal or cereal with milk
Lunch:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, apple slices, milk
Dinner: Chicken nuggets, frozen waffle fries, fruit
Snacks: Apples or celery and peanut butter, cheese

Menu Plan Notes and Challenges:

The only ingredients I didn’t buy that I needed for this menu were brown sugar and chili powder. I would have bought chili powder from the bulk spice area, but it wasn’t available the day I shopped. I estimated that I would have spent roughly $0.25 buying the amount of organic chili powder I needed. I didn’t buy the brown sugar because I fogot to add it to my shopping list. 

After I got home and reviewed the groceries and my menu, I realized we’re lacking in snacks that are quick and portable. Grapes work well, but I only bought a pound to stay within budget. My kids make a mess of bananas in the car, so those aren’t an option either. If I had more wiggle room in the budget, I would definitely throw in granola bars, crackers, fruit snacks and other fast munchies.

One issue that you might have with the menu is the appearance of a lot of meatless meals. My kids generally don’t care for meat, and I like that meals can prepared much faster when raw meat isn’t an ingredient. My husband and I used to eat a lot more meat, but we’ve inadvertently phased much of it out of our meals and neither one of us miss it!

As for the repetitious lunches, my little ones and I are total creatures of habit.

There was a period of time when my son would actually cry if he didn’t have a PB&J for lunch, so he and Piper have had the same kind of sandwich for lunch for a long time! I could live off of turkey sandwiches, so I can easily have one for lunch every day.

A few personal challenges to the $100 organic meal plan:

Expensive milk: Organic milk is $6 a gallon. There were no cheaper options, and I didn’t have any coupons for it. I had a coupon that landed me a free quart of soy milk, so I used that it the baked oatmeal and cornbread.

Using free or cheap “milk alternatives” when baking or cooking is a good way to save money on milk. (You’ll also avoid the protests you’d usually hear when serving anything other than the milk your little ones are used to!).

Expensive eggs: I was overwhelmed by all the egg options at Whole Foods, and I was surprised that the cheapest organic eggs were a whopping $3 a dozen! I used the eggs when I baked and for a few breakfasts.

Limiting Produce Spending : It’s very important to only buy the fruits and veggies that are in season and on sale.

In season helps ensure top quality, and on sale keeps your grocery budget in check. You need to plan around both of these factors or you’re almost guaranteed to bust your budget on fresh produce.

Was I able to get all the groceries I needed for a week of organic eating for $100?

Answer: YES! I spent $101 on all the groceries pictured above. The caveat is that it was time-consuming process.

I know eating organic on a budget would likely get easier as I had time to monitor sales, stockpile certain items and gather coupons for items my family liked.

Doing it all in one shot with little lead time meant I spent  a while before shopping finding coupons and reviewing matchups.

Shopping also took a few hours. I compared shelf prices for nearly everything on my shopping list, calculating unit prices and if the name-brand with coupon was a better value than the store brand.

My long answer is: You can feed a family of 4 all organic food with a weekly budget of $100…

But you’ll spend time making that happen. Is it worth it? I think so! We ate very well the week we dedicated to our organic menu plan, and it felt really good to know that there was no extra “junk” in our foods and in our diet!

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Disclosure: This article and giveaway were provided by Whole Foods Market. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.