Have you ever had a moment in time where you were so paralyzed over the fear of making the wrong choice that you made no choice at all? I’ve been there! Instead of risking making the wrong choice, you just wallowed in your worry? Today, I want to help take the worry of at least one thing off your plate. Stop worrying over the organic label and just buy the food.
Stop worrying. Stop the guilt. JUST BUY THE FOOD.
Buy the food, guys. Cook from scratch. It sounds simple – and it is! But we need to spend less time worrying about whether or not the labels are organic and more time worrying that it’s ACTUALLY food. The most important food lesson that I hope to teach, preach, and speak out loud is that you should be striving to cook from scratch.
Cooking from scratch is best.
It helps you avoid processed foods. It helps you avoid eating out. It helps your budget. Sometimes I feel like the “organic” label is over-used and abused to the point that for me it doesn’t mean much any more. It’s okay to buy organic. But, it’s also okay NOT to buy organic. I fall on the second side.
Buying organic food doesn’t make you a better Mom.
It doesn’t make you a better citizen. It doesn’t make you superior. It just means you have a bigger budget than other people might have. We should be focusing on feeding our families and ourselves, real, whole foods. An apple is better than organic apple flavored gummy snacks.
When I posted on Instagram about my recent once-a-month shopping trip to Aldi, I had some questions about my food choices:
“I’m timid about Aldi brand of meat, what do you think?”
“What is your opinion on their meat and eggs? I usually buy organic.”
“Aldi seems like all processed foods.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that this isn’t ‘special’ chicken?”
Short answer – no. I’m not bothered. I used to be. But I kicked that guilt to the curb. There is too much food fear. STOP IT! The fact is, some people can afford organic and some people can’t. We could fix our budget so that I could purchase everything organic. But…that would be at the expense of other things that we find more important: savings, paying cash for cars, and other items we need or want instead.
Let’s focus on what’s important here, and what I’ve always said to be true.
- Buy the eggs instead of the Egg Beaters. Conventional eggs are real.
- Buy the chicken instead of the pre-made chicken meal in a box. Conventional chicken is real.
- Buy the apples. Conventional apples are better than a snack out of the vending machine.
- Food is not our God. Let’s do the best we can, and realize that God controls our lives.
Good. Better. Best.
Sometimes you can’t achieve “best.” Sometimes you can’t achieve “better.” So, let’s all just do the best we can. We can strive for best. In fact, we should! Our bodies feel better when we feed them good food. Buy the food. Say good-bye to food fear. Quit worrying about the label. Do your best. Please pass the apples.
Thank you so much for writing this! I needed to read this. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
You’re welcome! 🙂
I agree with you totally Stacy! All that organic horsehockey is just that! Just buy the food and eat it!
Organic food comes from big industries too! The former-peasant (now entrepeneur) families have to buy the organic fertilizers from the same industry that creates GMO. And then the products travel across the world to be sold to people who can afford it. Please just buy local food.
PS: and that same industry is the one that certifies the food and gives them the label.
Stacy – thank you SO much for saying what so many of us are trying to say. If you can stretch and get organic – great, do what you can. But DO NOT feel guilty if you aren’t because you’re trying to make your budget count and eat GOOD food over crap. THANKS!
Do you still buy organic corn? I remember that was one thing you use to do – wasn’t sure if that’s one you don’t worry about any more?
We buy organic corn because it just seems better to me, at least the quality of what is available to us. Plus the prices of organic frozen veggies at Costco are phenomenal.
I LOVE LOVE Aldi. Target is my favorite for markdown meats though. And while most meat at Aldi is decent, there have been some duds, so I’m sometimes wary.
I’ve not had a dud meat there yet, but I don’t buy a ton of meat…except chicken. I had a sirloin roast yesterday and it was excellent! I no longer buy organic corn unless I can get a super good deal on it. Farmer’s daughter here. 🙂 Serving up some good ole crow!
I’ve got grandma’s sweet corn in my freezer right now, yum yum!
Thank you for this post. It is about time someone eloquently put it out there. Do your best because that is all you can do.
Well, thank you for this. I feel like a load is lifted off of my back. I mean, if Aldi chicken is good enough for Stacy, it’s good enough for me. 😉
I CAN’T HANDLE THE PRESSURE! 😉
When I moved from MO to FL I grieved the loss of Aldi’s. My bill went way up because of it and, well, honestly food is just more expensive in FL. Anyway, one arrived about 50 miles from the house and so if I can combine that with some other business, like a trip to their awesome Goodwill where I can almost always score a new dress, I’m on my way. When I went yesterday, I saw they are now carrying some organic produce like apples, grape tomatoes and carrots. Word is, they’re coming to the city where I work which is only 25 miles and could go on my way home from work. Yea!
Mine is about an hour away, but closer to family. So when I’m visiting family, I make sure and take the opportunity to go.
Thanks, Stacy! Sometimes I feel guilty about not buying organic — like when my friends say they “always” buy organic berries, eggs, etc. But at least I’m mostly cooking from scratch.
I’ve found that when I say “always” it gets me into trouble and I end up eating crow for dinner with ketchup. So, I try not ALWAYS NEVER (lol) say that.
Hooray! Thanks for presenting standards that make sense and that won’t drive us crazy.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!! I get so tired of seeing people almost condemn those who do not buy organic everything. I am a single mom of two teenagers and have struggled for the last several years with even putting food on the table…we would go out to grab fast food because I just didn’t seem to have enough time in my day (that’s gotten better). When I’m buying groceries, I’m constantly “hearing” those people who shout buy organic because it’s healthier. I often wonder though…how much in the grocery store is actually organic?? Again…thank you so much for confirming it’s ok. 🙂
As a farm wife, thank you so much for this article. Here in Canada and I’m sure down there in the States too, ‘organic’ is basically just a marketing ploy. I get so tired of hearing how our crops are crap because we use pesticides (when necessary and applied by my husband with a license and in the correct amounts) and ‘organic’ is so wonderful because they don’t use anything. Well guess what? “Organic” farms have a long list of approved pesticides, herbicides, etc that they are allowed to use. Even ‘organically’ grown animals can be given antibiotics “if there life is in danger”. Guess what? That’s the very same reason regular farmers treat their animals too. All these things cost far too much money to do for no reason. In Canada anybody can call anything ‘organic’ so long as it’s sold within the province!! There is no organic oversight for non-registered ‘organic’ farms.
The only time I would pay extra for an ‘organic’ anything is if I bought it directly from the farmer and could ask (and believe) what they had used on the item.
You are so right. People need to worry less and buy real ingredients. I’d go a step further and tell them to buy only Canadian and US ingredients. You really can’t trust food stuffs from any where else.
Hi Paula! I wonder if you know or follow Nurse Loves Farmer? She talks about these things exactly and her husband is a Canadian wheat and canola farmer?
I recently discovered your site and I absolutely love it!! I live in the Cumberland Gap part of TN and our closest ALDI is in Knoxville (although one is being built in Morristown and that makes me giddy.) I miss ALDI. Regardless, I have a question and hopefully you can point me in the direction of a post you’ve written about your once-a-month shopping. How do you buy fresh produce and keep it fresh or do you just make quick runs for that each week? When the new ALDI’s opens, I would love to justify traveling to it for the savings if it is the only time I grocery shop for the month- the savings would negate the gas if I did it weekly. Also, since hard apples are off the list due to braces, you could make applesauce and then maybe drizzle a little caramel on it- YUMMY!!!
Jiminy Cricket… I just found the link in this article. Good grief! I need more coffee… Thanks!
Were you able to find all that you need? If not, let me know. Also, our kitchen is in remodel mode, so I don’t even have a sink. 🙂 Applesauce will have to wait till next year.
I appreciate all your tips however I really would like caution people to avoid GMO foods; not all non-GMO foods are organic however ALL certified organic foods are non-GMO. I would rather have no apple anything than a GMO apple. I do realize the article is geared to getting more people to cook from scratch, which is great, but buying a piece of chicken loaded with chemicals from a genetically modified bird is going to reap illness for years to come regardless if prepared from scratch, we’re only seeing the beginnings of the damage to our bodies, earth and future generations.
Thanks for your comment, Sue! 🙂 I respectfully disagree – science hasn’t really given us an answer one way or the other. I don’t say this lightly, as I’ve spent hours and hours and hours reading about it…and I come from a farming family. http://www.nurselovesfarmer.com/2013/08/gm-foods/
I totally agree. When my son was Diagnosed with leukemia One of the first things we looked at was diet. He had always eaten what we thought was a fairly whole food and clean diet, but it wasn’t organic. I’d rather now for sure pay a little more and have more peace of mind about the food going into him and that it’s not bogging down his system more getting rid of the bad stuff in food. There are tons of research and articles that support this so I respectfully disagree Stacy. I too say now no Apple over a Gmo apple. Is it perfect? No. But it’s better and that’s the point of the article. I’d much rather not save as much and feed my famy the best I can while they’re in my care, which won’t be for long enough!
It’s okay to disagree! 🙂 We can still all get along, right? Thanks for the comment, Chrissie! 🙂
Hi Stacy! Thank you so much for sharing this post! With food prices soaring higher each week, it seems, Aldi has become my number one store! I agree with you! It is so much better to eat a piece of fruit than something packaged! I feel so much better knowing there are other people who feel the same way I do about organic! I wished I could afford it, and free range meat, but after recently pricing a whole organic free-range chicken for $40, I’ll stick to Aldi! Don’t forget to add some caramel to those apples! Blessings from Bama!
Oh how I wish! Caramel and apples are off my list for a while…it’s on the no-no list for braces. 🙂