Our Only Organic Meal

I'd buy everything organic if I had the money, but that would mean spending our life savings on groceries and I'd rather not. Outside of the information I've learned from Food, Inc. (go watch the documentary!), I can't understand why organic food has to be usually triple the cost of regular food. (I also can't understand why there are so many chemicals in our food, but that's not the point.) I'd just like to be able to eat food with ingredients I can pronounce and know that what's going into our bodies will benefit them, not harm them. 

We do manage to have one organic meal per week thanks to Earth Fare, an organic supermarket equivalent to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc. Every Thursday night is their family meal night, so for one $5 purchase at their deli or hot bar, you can get up to six kids' meals for free. Don't judge us-- that's SIX meals for FREE! And because I get their emails, I always get a coupon for a free item with a $5 purchase. Last week, we got a coupon for a ready-made salad, a $7 value. This week, we got one pound of Braeburn apples for free (which is only three apples, but you take what you can get).

Its become our tradition to hit up Earth Fare for dinner on Thursdays. Deric and I pick a sandwich to split from the deli (about $6) and then each get three meals of what we want. Here's a typical kids' meal for me: chicken salad wrap, veggies, fruit, milk carton, and gummy rabbits. Deric's choice: turkey provolone wrap, veggies, fruit, juice box, and 'cheddar bunnies'. What we don't eat that night becomes grab-and-go snack food for the weekend. Plus, as we open our juice boxes and cheddar bunnies, we're reminded of our childhoods and all those lunches in the school cafeteria...;)

Total value from last night's grocery run/dinner: $32.61 for one sandwich, six kids' meals, and one pound of apples. We paid $7.21 for the sandwich and got everything else free. I'd say that's a pretty good deal for an entirely organic meal, wouldn't you?

Thank you, Earth Fare! Now if you'll just have deals like this every night of the week, we'll become your most loyal customers.