My organic grocery…accessible

Eating organic at a reasonable cost: in three steps
You are aware of the benefits of eating local, organic food and you would like to change your eating habits?

Changing our daily routines isn’t done automatically, and could even take years, but it’s possible! The best approach is to take small steps and go one step at a time…

Accessibility and price can often be obstacles to eating organic. So, where can I find organic food? How do I start? Can I introduce more organic foods on my shopping list with the same or almost the same budget?

The answer is YES! Here are some little tricks that will permit you to shop organic without emptying your wallet. Follow these simple steps that will benefit not only you, but your children and your community as well.

Equiterre's Organic Agriculture Team

STEP 1

“I think I’d like to eat organic, but…it seems complicated and it costs a lot!”
For those of you on a tight food budget.

Trick # 1
Replace one portion of conventional meat with a portion of certified organic tofu or with organic legumes. (see Trick # 5)

Tofu contains 8 essential amino acids and 14.5 grams of protein (for an 8 ounce portion). In addition, its benefits are enhanced if consumed in combination with cereals or green vegetables. Tofu is a good source of calcium and iron. One portion of tofu is equivalent to1/2 a cup (or 120 grams, about a  1/4 of a typical package) .
Cost: around 1.99$ for 454 grams even less expensive than bologni meat slices!

Here’s a recipe Idea:
-Replace meat in your spaghetti sauce with tofu.

Sautéed Tofu (Serves 4 people)

Ingredients:
1 package or block of tofu
400 grams of feta cheese
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons of tomato pesto (or 1/2 a cup of tomato juice)
2 red peppers (or other seasonal vegetables), chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
3 tablespoons of tamari sauce
Seasoning (black pepper, thyme, etc.)

Heat oil. Add tamari sauce, peppers and onions and sauté for 1 minute. Add tofu and finely chopped feta, and then add the pesto and seasoning. Stir gently while still heating until the feta is melted. Remove from heat and serve!

Trick # 2
Replace your conventional flour with organic flour milled in Quebec!

Cost: on average, 3.79$ for 2 kg of organic flour, compared to 4.17$ for 2.5 kg of conventional flour, so 0.22$ more per kilogram: reasonable!

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:
170 grams (or 1 and 1/2 cups) of organic flour
30 grams (or 6 tablespoons) of Fair Trade cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
A pinch of natural salt
1 cup of Fair Trade sugar
1/4 cup of flax oil (or vegetable oil)
1 organic egg
1 cup of Fair Trade espresso or strong coffee

Grease and dust with flour a Geneva cake mould (9” in diameter). Preheat oven to 325 °F. Mix all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix oil, egg and coffee; gradually add the dry ingredients. Whip together for one minute. Pour in cake mould, and baked for 30 minutes. Once baked, remove mould and allow cake to cool completely.

Trick # 3
Replace one single in-season conventional fruit or vegetable that you normally buy with a certified organic one. Apples, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, spinach, peppers, celery, potatoes and hot peppers are particularly good choices since in conventional production they contain the largest amounts of pesticide residues .

During 19 months, Équiterre has done a price survey for various fruits and vegetables sold in health food stores, in supermarkets, by wholesalers and via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) baskets (see trick 4). The fruits and vegetables found in the CSA organic baskets revealed to cost lightly more (4,3%) than their non-organic counterparts found in supermarkets. They revealed to cost 69% less than their organic equivalent sold in health food stores.

Comparison table of the average price for organic versus conventional (non-organic) fruits and vegetables :

For urban dwellers: sign up with a community garden or a collective organic garden in your city or get in touch with the “Table de concertation sur la faim” in your neighbourhood to learn where you might be able to cultivate your own little parcel of land!

1-Environmental Working Group, U.S.D.A. Organic, 2003, Foods you’ll want to buy organic. www.foodnews.org
2- Statistics on Prices, Equiterre 2002-2003.
4-Price as part of a Community supported Agricultre (CSA) basket from a participating organic farm

STEP 2

“If I can afford to buy more organic foods, what is available?”
For the vigilant planners...or for those with less restrictive food budget.

Trick # 4
Become a partner of one of the farms in the Quebec Network under the project known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and eat organic vegetables, that are local and in season, from July to November!

The idea is to become a partner or a sharer of a farm by purchasing a share in advance of the season’s harvest. During the season (generally from July to October), the farm delivers an organic basket of varied vegetables for each of its partners, once a week. The way it works is the farmer brings the baskets to a collection point in the part of town where their partners generally live. The partners then meet the farmer at the collection point to receive their basket during pre-set hours.

All the farms that are part of the Quebec Network under the CSA project are certified organic and each farm has its own specialities. The price to become a partner of a farm and receive a basket of organic vegetables once a week varies across farms.

Why do prices vary? Because the format of the baskets vary from farm to farm. For example, a family size basket at one farm may not necessarily have the same quantity of vegetables as that of another farm. In addition each farm has different production costs. For example, some farms lease or rent their land, whereas others own their land. Some have more employees; others have none…so as a result the price of baskets varies as a function of these factors. Payment for a share of the harvest is due prior to the season, usually in the month of April.

The price of baskets for a season of 14 to 20 weeks varies from between 200$ for the smaller baskets to 650$ for the larger baskets, so about 14.50$ to 32.50$ per week.

Trick # 5
Reduce your meat consumption per week, for example from 5 times to 3 times, and buy organic meat (chicken, beef, lamb…) for one of your three portions of meat. The two meals with meat can be replaced with organic legumes (red kidney beans, peas, lentils…) and prepared in combination with cereals, dairy products or nuts and seeds (especially sesame seeds and Brazil nuts), in order to get full protein.

Some recipes for your legumes…
In general 1 cup of well-cooked legumes provides the protein needed for one adult in a meal. It’s recommended to accompany the legumes with green vegetables to improve iron absorption.

Example of costs of portions of meat for a family of four

* Calculated using the lowest price found at the grocery store (5.84$/kg) (Based on prices from the summer of 2003.)
**Optional: if you choose not to buy organic meat, use the savings to buy more organic fruits or vegetables in your grocery.

What can I do...
with red kidney beans:
It’s possible to purchase organic red beans in bulk, dried or pre-cooked in a can. To make 2 cups of cooked red beans, you’ll need to soak one cup of dried beans in 3 cups of water for 6 to 8 hours. Next you’ll need to cook the beans for 1.5 hours (on medium heat) before your beans will be ready to use in a recipe.

Chili sin carne (without meat)

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 package of organic tofu, cut in cubes
1 tablespoon of oil
1 portion of stewed tomatoes, 19 ounces
1 portion of tomato sauce, 7.5 ounces
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 bay leaf
Chili powder to taste or a small jalapeno pepper
2 cups (500 ml) of organic red beans (cooked)

Heat oil. Add onion, pepper, garlic and tofu. Add other ingredients and allow to simmer for 1 hour.

Green lentils…
To make 2 1/4 cups of cooked lentils, you’ll need to cook the lentils for 1.5 hours (on medium heat) in 3 cups of water before they will be ready to use in a recipe.

Lentil “Creton”

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked lentils
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup of celery, finely chopped
1/2  cup of chicken bouillon (or more depending on consistency desired)
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper
Basil and parsley to taste

Mix all ingredients. Place in a greased pan. Cook for 45 minutes at 350°F. Serve with a tomato sauce.

Trick #6
Grow your own herbs indoors; organic fine herbs are available in the spring for a cost of about 3.00$ each compared to 2.00$ for conventional fine herbs. If there are no organic plants available, buy organic seeds or seeds that have not been treated.

If you are growing a garden, you’ll need to consider the cost of soil, tools and seeds. The productivity of plants will vary as a function of the plant variety, the type of soil, climatic variations and the care given.

STEP 3

“If I’d like to go further, is it possible?”
For those with larger food budgets.

To eat more than 30% organic, for example, is possible, but those that have the means will need to augment the part of their budget allocated to food. For example, Europeans allocate nearly 24% of their budget to food, whereas the average for people in living Quebec is only 17%.

It is possible to buy other organic food items such as:

• Organic yogurt 750g: between 3.65$ and 4.19$
• Conventional yogurt 750g: 2.99$
• Mild organic, local cheddar cheese: 2 x 200g = 9.58$
• Mild conventional cheddar cheese: 400g = 4.89$ on average
• Sliced, organic bread: between 2.19$ and 4.00$ on average
• Conventional, sliced bread: between 1.79$ and 2.29$ on average

Trick #7
For food other than in-season fruits and vegetables, create a buying group with your friends and neighbours, and buy from an organic food cooperative. You’ll have a good chance of realizing savings this way…

Trick #8
Create a cooking group. One time per month, assemble to cook large amounts of food, that can be packed for later consumption. To obtain your supplies, buy fresh organic in bulk from a local producer. For help starting your cooking group, contact le Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec: (514) 529-3348.

SOME TOOLS

Short-term tools
To view a list of available resources, consult “Equiterre’s Directory” for locations where you can buy organic, local and fair-trade products and services. Available on the Equiterre website at http://www.equiterre.org/outils/consommer/bottinEquiterre.cfm

In Quebec, there are now daycare centres that get their fruits supplies from farms that are CSA members. To obtain the list of the participating daycare centres, consult the Équiterre website at http://www.equiterre.org/agriculture/garderieBio/listeFermesCPE.html

You can also find the guide “pourquoi et comment devenir une garderie bio” in pdf format (in french only) at http://www.equiterre.org/agriculture/garderieBio/

Medium term tools
If you need help making a budget plan to pay for your share of the harvest with a CSA farm, contact “Option consommateurs” in Montreal, for free one on one consultation for planning your budget (514-598-7288), or “l’ACEF” in your region.

Long term tools
Don’t forget that one of the best ways to make organic foods more affordable and accessible locally is to voice your desire to your elected officials and your grocer.

Actions that you can take:

• I buy products from Quebec. I suggest to my grocer that they communicate the source of the products they offer. I ask them to favour the purchase of local, organic products.
• I support the little merchants in my neighbourhood by making my purchases from them.
• I signal to the elected officials at all levels of government my interest in greater support for organic agriculture in Quebec, by letter, by phone or as part of the agriculture platform of candidates running in the next election.
• I communicate with food companies to encourage them to use organic, local, non-GMO products.
• If it’s not already done, I encourage my child’s day car centre to provide organic, local food. If I don’t have children, I encourage the parents around me to do so.