On Going Organic

[Oneluckymom]

I already cook everything homemade as much as possible. What I am considering is going organic and all natural. From the rest of you that have done this: is it worth it for childcare as in cost effective? I currently have one toddler and my own family to feed.

I know it is a healthier and better overall, which is why I am thinking about it.

[Michael]

There are a lot of reasons to go organic IMO. Less pesticides, ionized salts, growth hormone, refined and highly milled and processed foods is a good reason to switch. I think the best results would be with your own children who will be eating well all the time.

[dave4him]

I am all for the idea! Im just too lazy

[nannyde]

There are a lot of reasons to go organic IMO. Less pesticides, ionized salts, growth hormone, refined and highly milled and processed foods is a good reason to switch. I think the best results would be with your own children who will be eating well all the time.

Yes what he said

I haven't found there to be money in it but I wouldn't have it any other way. My dck's are SO SO SO SO healthy. We had an 18 MONTH stretch with only one illness on one kid who had been at a birthday party with a kid with an active case of the stomach flu.

To have 18 straight months with NO illness at all in the day care was proof enough for me.

I love healthy food. I love cooking it and I love how my kids love it so much. Mealtime at my house is a celebration every day. When you have special healthy food you APPRECIATE it so much. The kids naturally know how good it is for them and how good they feel after they eat it.

Win win for everything BUT my pocketbook. I can live without the money. I just want to do right.

[AmyLeigh]

Yes what he said
The kids naturally know how good it is for them and how good they feel after they eat it.

Absolutely. I'm not 100% organic, yet, but have a prolific home garden. My veggie haters couldn't get enough of my home grown organic green beans and tomatoes all summer long! My gardening class instructor said that the human body recognizes when it is getting the nutrients it needs and will actually cause you to crave more of the good stuff!
I also notice that there are fewer behavioral issues when we have more organic foods.

[greenhouse]

Offering organic is a good selling point. If you buy house brands from Trader Joes or Whole Foods it's not expensive. GMO food and hormones in milk are scary.

[hoopinglady]

I am working toward that too and you all have convinced me even more.

The sad truth is that until I can get on my feet a little more I simply cannot afford it.

I dropped the ball on the garden this year. We had tons of tomatoes and carrots but not much else.

We have an organic produce delivery bin for our family and supplement with regular produce as well.

I really haven't worked out how cost effective it is or how it would all even out per meal but I really want to offer this.

Honestly, it would mostly be for integrity. I'm not sure how much a market there is and how much a selling point that would be around here.

Literally, none of my families ever ask about my menu....sometimes I offer info.

[Meyou]

If I shop at a farmers market I still need to verify products are organic, don't I? All locally grown, fresh picked, OMG delicious produce but I've never asked about pesticides.

I don't do organic specifically but I do shop LOCAL as much as humanly possible and avoid anything processed other than a couple of cereals and crackers.

[Country Kids]

Does anyone here that does organic also do the food program and how does that work? I guess I always think of organic as fruit and veggies but then some of you said no processed foods so I'm wondering what organic really is. If you do no processed what things do you serve for childcare? It seems like everything is packaged in some way.

I'm very, very interested in eating healthy but it seems soooooo expensive! Everytime my husband and I have tried it (we have a weekly food budget) we only end up spending money for foods for dinner and then we are out and haven't got any other food. We have 6 in our family.

Also, for those that are on the food program do your checks cover the cost of buying organic? Guess that is another main question I have. Do you seem to spend more for less food, same amount or more food when you buy organic.

[Oneluckymom]

Does anyone here that does organic also do the food program and how does that work? I guess I always think of organic as fruit and veggies but then some of you said no processed foods so I'm wondering what organic really is. If you do no processed what things do you serve for childcare? It seems like everything is packaged in some way.

I'm very, very interested in eating healthy but it seems soooooo expensive! Everytime my husband and I have tried it (we have a weekly food budget) we only end up spending money for foods for dinner and then we are out and haven't got any other food. We have 6 in our family.

Also, for those that are on the food program do your checks cover the cost of buying organic? Guess that is another main question I have. Do you seem to spend more for less food, same amount or more food when you buy organic.

I do not buy anything packaged, except for some cereal and crackers. Sometimes chips for my husband. I make everything from scratch. Now I want a bread maker and have my husband sold on it

But I am also wondering the same about the food program. I have tried to buy everything at trader joes or other whole food markets and have noticed it is a bit more expensive, especially MEAT which was my main concern as far as cost goes.

[WImom]

My own family we eat mostly organic. For the daycare kids I just do whole wheat products and nothing with HFC's, sugar stuff is only when we have holiday parties.

NONE of my families currently eat organic and from what I can tell alot of the kids don't eat the best at home. MCD's and sugar. So I'm not going to spend the money on it right now. If I start to have families that eat that way I will consider it. It's just so expensive.

($12.00 a week for 2 gallons of milk for my own family)

[Heidi]

My own family we eat mostly organic. For the daycare kids I just do whole wheat products and nothing with HFC's, sugar stuff is only when we have holiday parties.

NONE of my families currently eat organic and from what I can tell alot of the kids don't eat the best at home. MCD's and sugar. So I'm not going to spend the money on it right now. If I start to have families that eat that way I will consider it. It's just so expensive.

($12.00 a week for 2 gallons of milk for my own family)

Eating organic in rural wisconsin would be tough! Madison and LaCrosse have Woodman's stores, and their organic produce is pretty reasonable. But, I could not afford most of the organics at my local supermarket.

If I go into Madison or LaCrosse, I usually pick up what I can that's organic. Otherwise, I try to stay away from HFC's and partially hydrogenated. As a reminder that I should eat more whole grains, which I waver about, I got diverticulitis. Theory is, it's caused by consuming too many simple carbs.

[hoopinglady]

Eating organic in rural wisconsin would be tough! Madison and LaCrosse have Woodman's stores, and their organic produce is pretty reasonable. But, I could not afford most of the organics at my local supermarket.

If I go into Madison or LaCrosse, I usually pick up what I can that's organic. Otherwise, I try to stay away from HFC's and partially hydrogenated. As a reminder that I should eat more whole grains, which I waver about, I got diverticulitis. Theory is, it's caused by consuming too many simple carbs.

My son eats a paleo diet and swears ALL grains are harmful. He says white bread is actually a little better.

I can't be convinced. I love bread.

[AmyLeigh]

When I started contemplating going organic, I received 2 really good tips:

1) You don't have to go all or nothing right away. You will get sticker shock if you do. Make one or two changes each month, as your budget allows. I started cutting way back in other areas of my budget to make room for better food.

2.) Look for a local CSA. Community Supported Agriculture farms are a great resource for organic produce at a lower cost. They don't have to pay to have the produce stored and shipped, so the savings goes to you. They also are a source of information if you are looking for more, such as grass fed/free range meat sources.

The gentleman that runs my local CSA is so passionate about it and he involves my children in process. He is right next to where I take my gardening class (we rent a plot there, too) and they all love going to see Mr. Marv. Of course, being a dad to like 11 children, he knows how to get them involved.

[nannyde]

Does anyone here that does organic also do the food program and how does that work? I guess I always think of organic as fruit and veggies but then some of you said no processed foods so I'm wondering what organic really is. If you do no processed what things do you serve for childcare? It seems like everything is packaged in some way.

I'm very, very interested in eating healthy but it seems soooooo expensive! Everytime my husband and I have tried it (we have a weekly food budget) we only end up spending money for foods for dinner and then we are out and haven't got any other food. We have 6 in our family.

Also, for those that are on the food program do your checks cover the cost of buying organic? Guess that is another main question I have. Do you seem to spend more for less food, same amount or more food when you buy organic.

The food program doesn't have anything to do with organics that I know of. The check I get now comes close to covering the hard cost of the food I buy. I used to make a nice profit off of the food program (about 2.50 per child per day). I got two meals and a snack down to a dollar a day per kid. That was with a ton of labor. Now it's about five dollars per day per kid. That is with a super ton of labor and hard cost of the food.

The only way to explain it is that you have to source EVERY food item one by one. It's very expensive to do that at a one stop shop. If you buy thru the grocery stores it will be VERY expensive. If you buy one by one... every thing or nearly everything... directly from the farmer you have to do a ton of research and buy in bulk. You have to put up the food in season and store.

There's a ton of cheatery in organics. In order to make sure everything is clean you have to put the work in it to learn about food and question the farmers and go to them to get the food.

Sourcing the food, doing the research, storing for the future, and paying for it are the cost of the switch. It's a never ending journey and you make a lot of mistakes along the way. My biggest one has been overestimating how quickly we would go thru the food. I way overbought my first year of doing it.

One of the big unintended plusses has been that by the end of October I have our food stored for a full year. From now until the end of next summer the only thing I have to buy is milk, eggs, coffee for me, and soymilk for me. I only have to go to the market once a month or so and it's not much money. I can get by with a hundred a month or less once I have everything stored for the winter.

I'll see if I can put together a switch to organic blog if I don't have one up now. I can't remember if I have written one or not

Here is a blog I did on my site a while back

http://www.nanshouse.com/organicgoodeats.htm