Buy Organic Without Going Broke!

It can be done. I wasn't totally convinced until I discovered Earth Fare, a health food grocery store chain similar to Fresh Market or Whole Foods. What's so different about them? Coupons, coupons, coupons... and crazy good ones!

Before I continue, I need to say that this Earth Fare trip was made two weeks ago... before our official June 1st start date.... so our rules didn't totally apply at the time. However, even though some of what I bought wasn't a "basic" or something I couldn't get at a farmers market, it WAS organic and I got it for $0 dollars. In my book, free doesn't count! Hopefully, you agree!

Ok, so here's what I got for a grand total of $27 and some change and how I got it. You can do it too!

 1 whole chicken, 1 lb ground chuck, 2 boxes organic Mac n Cheese, 2 boxes Organic graham cracker sticks, 1 package prosciutto and ricotta tortellini, 1 box chicken tenders, 1 deli-made rustic mashed potatoes, 1 lb organic baby carrots, 1 bag organic baby spinach, 1 bag tortilla chips, 1 bag spinach artichoke tortilla chips, 2 bottles of herbal tea and 1 bottle of flavored vitamin water. All for $27 bucks!

I scoured the internet for coupons for organic products... most of them were from the links on this website. Most the one coupons I actually used, however, were right from the shelves at Earth Fare. Unlike most health food chains, they have TONS of coupons throughout their aisles in addition to their regular sales. Check out their Monthly Flyer for sale items, and look through their coupons which you can print at home or just pick up in the aisles of their store.

Here's where it really gets good... You can sign up to receive weekly freebies via email. Here's our first one:

And it gets even better! When you sign up with Earth Fare, you get a welcome coupon for a free meal! It includes a free chicken (or veggie burgers), mashed potatoes and carrots.

We got all this for FREE!! And it's actually good for you!

You have to use each of the Earth Fare deals in separate orders, so Eric went through with a $15 purchase and the beef, and I went through another $12 purchase and the free meal. You just have to make sure that your purchase is over $10 AFTER your other coupons. We could have done even better if Lucas hadn't demanded those dang chicken tenders ($7!).

If you can do better than $27 for all that, let me in on your secrets. I doubt it can be done for cheaper, even with non organic products!

Earth Fare has many other cool incentives to try them out, including their Boot Challenge where you check out the ingredients of two similar products. You choose which one to "give the boot" and if you chose to keep the healthier product, you get a coupon that allows you to trade in a less healthy product for the Earth Fare brand. This week, it's chocolate chip cookies. You can trade in any cookie with high fructose corn syrup in them and try out the Earth Fare cookies instead! Deal! 

Even if you can't make it to an Earth Fare, or another health food store, it's important for you to know that you can make healthier choices even in a WalMart! And when you buy organic or non-GMO products at stores like WalMart, Food Lion, etc, you are sending those stores a message about what products you want them to support.

Happy Shopping!