Toddler Dinners: Organic or Not?

TomatoesThis week’s segment comes from Kristine from The Fischer Family. She wanted to know if we bought organic and if so, what all do we buy. Great question Kristine and a great time of year to ask!

I am not a 100% organic girl. I just can’t get over the price. Not gonna lie. I actually started thinking about this before Landon was really eating real food yet. We have always done organic milk as a family but beyond that, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. This is where I turned to the internet. I have talked before about the pregnancy and new mom podcasts I love. A few I really liked were about making your own baby food as well as overall know how in this new world. I remember one specifically from Happy Baby food company about organic foods and making your own baby food (also one from Sprout as well). They talked about their philosophy on organic and no preservative foods.  Here I learned about the dirty dozen and the least contaminated produce items. Basically where I need to focus an organic budget vs not. This helped me calm down a bit and decide if I can’t do EVERYTHING, I can do something.

The Girls and LandonNow that was baby food times and now we are on to eating as a family. I am learning more and more every year. Luckily my in laws have a pretty large garden with organic produce and even 6 chickens for an endless supply of eggs. WINNING! Also they are retired and I have been known to send them to the state farmer’s market for goods as well. But this time of year is my favorite. The little local farmer’s markets have popped up around town and I can make a fun Saturday morning of it. A couple of weeks ago we headed out to the North Raleigh Farmer’s Market. I scored some fresh kale, cucumbers, honey and strawberries for maybe $20. Saweet! THEN we hopped into a little general store right there next to it for some local beef (and candy). The Red Hill General Store is adorable and some place I hope to keep helping out. MOM NOTE: They have the largest selection of Melissa and Doug toys I have ever seen in one place. Check em out! This past weekend, we hit up my favorite little farmer’s market at Midtown. They have a larger selection of vendors PLUS there is a Starbucks and Chick Fila RIGHT THERE. Andplusalso? A Target!

North Hills Farmer's Market

Landon and I were accompanied by Aunt Sasser (honorary aunt since Landon has no real aunts) this past weekend where they also had a kid’s concert and activities. Landon was in hog heaven. So now I am buying great local produce, meats, breads and pastries AND making it a fun family eve
nt. Best of both worlds.

So a long answer to a simple question. I am learning to eat more seasonally and choose organic when it makes sense. Some other options in your areas may be local agriculture co-ops or even local community gardens. Get creative about it. I know I can get some stuff from my in laws and to fill in the rest.

So what is your view on organic eating? Any tricks to save some money while keeping your family healthy?

This week in toddler dinners (notice we have fresh spinach from the garden…so all spinach salads. Also local strawberries and even local meat in some instances):

 

Toddler Dinner 1
Toddler Dinner 2
Toddler Dinner 3

Toddler Dinners is my weekly series of posts to explore the world of feeding munchkins. Each Monday I will post our previous week’s meals and a rating on how they went as well as discuss numerous issues we all face. Find out more here.
Also be sure to follow me along throughout the week with your creations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #toddlerdinners.

7 thoughts on “Toddler Dinners: Organic or Not?

  • May 7, 2012 at 11:14 am
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    I have the same philosophy. We ALWAYS use organic milk but it varies based on cost and what’s available the other organic selections I’ll choose each week. We don’t have many farmer’s markets here except for mid and late summer but there is a local organic food store with good selection.

    I love your toddler dinner ideas. We eat very similar foods and it’s nice to get ideas!

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    • May 7, 2012 at 7:18 pm
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      Yeah I left stores out because I go so infrequently except trader joes. Whole foods and earth fare are just so expensive.

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  • May 7, 2012 at 11:40 am
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    Luckily, our area has a coop that we can buy fresh organic produce from. We started in the winter last year and are now doing the Spring Veggie Share and a Fruit Share. It’s all organic and local and it comes to about $28 or so a week for half a veggie share, which includes about 9 different veggies. It’s called Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop and I believe they deliver to other areas nearby, down through Philly and DE if anyone from that area is reading. It’s a good deal for such freshness!

    We also drink organic milk (what a difference) and my husband likes the organic yogurt better than non-organic. I do agree that at the grocery store it would be WAY too expensive to buy all organic. We do what we can in the areas we can.

    It’s nice to see such a well-rounded diet for your young one. We hope to have the same philosophy and teach our little one (ones) about eating healthy! Happy Monday! 🙂

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    • May 7, 2012 at 7:17 pm
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      Great for you shopping coop! And yes feeding littles is adventure…and why I made these series. Thanks for stopping by

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  • May 7, 2012 at 3:50 pm
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    Nicely done Brandy! I am sure you know this, but for those that don’t I have to say that shopping at Trader Joe’s makes it much easier and cheaper to get organic. Gah, I don’t work there nor am I paid to say this, but maybe they should pay me :). Seriously though, they have more and more organic stuff for the same or cheaper than most chain stores. Check it out!

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    • May 7, 2012 at 7:16 pm
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      Yes I meant to note that but forgot. We get a large selection of our non perishables in organic form from there.

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  • May 8, 2012 at 1:13 am
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    I absolutely love your Toddler dinner series {and I’m sure you hear that a lot} but it really helps and gives me ideas on what to feed my munchkin and it’s great that they are visuals. Great post on organic, and with me living in a very earth friendly city it this post was nicely done. I struggle at times on what things to buy organic, debating if we’d be able to eat it all before it goes bad, hate throwing away spoiled organic food.

    Reply

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