Last month I spoke to a group about healthier eating and meal planning. I challenged myself: without even having a plan in place for heading to the grocery store, can I get the organic/real food options for about the same as “the other guys?” It was a challenge worth trying, so I headed to my grocery store.

Most people know how to make peanut butter and jelly, so I focused on getting some items that most people will buy. With the purposeful intention of getting a good deal on both sets of items, I picked up the following things.

The Organic/Whole Food Items:

• Kroger All Natural Peanut Butter (peanuts and salt are the only ingredients)
• Cascadian Farms Organic Strawberry Preserves
• Arnold Whole Grain Bread
• Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Bars
• Whole Grain Pasta

The Other Guys: 

• Brand Name Peanut Butter
• Store Brand Strawberry Preserves
• Regular Pasta
• White Bread
• Brand Name Granola Bars

Most people will automatically think that the healthier items were more expensive, but this is what happened.

The Organic/Whole Food Items:

• Kroger All Natural Peanut Butter (peanuts and salt are the only ingredients) $2.50
• Cascadian Farms Organic Strawberry Preserves $2.50
• Arnold Whole Grain Bread $2.99
• Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Bars $3.19
• Whole Grain Pasta $1.50
• =$12.68

The Other Guys: 

• Brand Name Peanut Butter $2.99
• Store Brand Strawberry Preserves $2.19
• Regular Pasta $1.99
• White Bread $2.59
• Brand Name Granola Bars $3.89
• =$13.65

Not only was I pleasantly surprised at how I spent less by getting the organic/natural items, but I was also happy with how easy it was to do. I looked for items on sale as best I could, and shopped by looking for food items with healthier ingredients. Instead of getting the peanut butter with lots of added sugars and preservatives, it was cheaper to go with the peanut butter that just contained peanuts and salt.

A few things to note:

1.This is all without a plan. Imagine how good you could do if you made a plan for your shopping each week?

2. The Cascadian Farms Strawberry Preserves jar was smaller than the store brand. I usually get the big jar of Organic Strawberry Preserves from Costco – it’s a better deal and you get more.

3. The Other Guy Brand Name Granola Bars box had one less bar in it than in the Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Box.

So what do you think?  Tonight I’m speaking more on this topic in Dallas, Georgia! I hope to see you there! You can find a class in your area to help you save money at the grocery store over on the Savings.com coupon classes page. 

How do you save the most money on organic and whole foods?