Organic Foods Update: B-

All that I came up with from Publix

People have been asking for an update on our resolution to eat organic, so here it goes...

I'd give us a B-. We're a few months in, and we've fallen into a pretty comfortable routine, which I consider a win. As a reminder, we're what I call "99% organic" in-house: There are certain foods that we can't live without that simply aren't organic; we don't worry about buying organic when we have people over; and we don't worry about it when we eat out. Basically, we aim to make the effort without being obsessive, limited and/or annoying.

The B- is mostly because we hit a low point in March really because of eating out (such a slippery slope--it becomes a major habit quickly for us), and in April Ryan's been traveling so much that his meals have almost exclusively been someone else's decision. Since I've been pretty much stuck at home alone with a no-unnecessary-travel-baby-belly, I've been able to indulge a little with our organic foods budget, which has been nice. I've been shopping almost exclusively at Whole Foods and definitely have a routine filled with favorite foods so that shopping trips have become pretty quick. When Ryan's home (and our budget has to feed two instead of one) I do have to make some decisions based on what groceries we need that week versus our organic goal. Occasionally I've run into a cycle where we happen to run out of a few expensive things in one week (like protein powder, prenatal vitamins, cheese or trail mix ingredients) and thus have had to maybe get a few all natural things instead of organic things, but I remind myself that it's just one week and it won't kill us.

And a side note: You'll notice that I'm doing all of the shopping because the one time I did send Ryan alone, he came home with two steaks, fresh shrimp, expensive cheese and prosciutto. A loverly dinner, but not exactly something to last us for a week! What can I say? He's an impulse buyer.

When Ryan specifically requested salads for dinner last night (for which I had NO ingredients on hand) and I was near a Publix, I decided to give it a try. I used to shop only at Publix and had bought their Greenwise brand previously, which made me hopeful for a successful shopping trip. To save a long story--it wasn't. It's not truly fair to compare Publix to Whole Foods since their customers and food philosophies are different, but I was really surprised at how limited their organic options were. For example, I wanted to get organic sour cream (Mexican salads), and they simply didn't offer any, which took me a lot of time and searching to figure out. Of the foods I could find, they were a lot more expensive than Whole Foods--to the extent that I opted to just get what Whole Foods would call "Stage 1" ground turkey (not really organic). I ended up only buying a few necessities and will be heading to Whole Foods tomorrow to finish up.

The ultimate moral of this story? When Ryan got home, I was eager to share my experience with him, but as he walked in the door he said, "Hey, let's go out to dinner tonight." Ha. Go figure. And that's what we did. Maybe I should give myself an "A+" for the extra effort... :)