Organic

Merriam-Webster defines organic as simply put, of food: grown or made without the use of artificial chemicals.

When I looked up the definition on the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) website, they explained that the term organic is a labeling term given to products whose operations “demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources, conserving biodiversity, and using only approved substances.” A wonderful thing about organic products is that they are GMO free according to the USDA. The website states that no GMO seed may be planted or fed to an organic animal nor is it permitted to use GMO ingredients in soups.

Simple ingredients make a delicous meal

Shopping for organic food can really be expensive if you aren’t prepared. Considering that most organic farms grow produce on a natural schedule vs an accelerated one like and are usually much smaller farms in scale than conventional farms and without the chemical assistance of pesticides requiring more attention on the crops. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also sites relatively inefficient marketing and distribution chains due to the small-scale as also being a contributing factor. My thoughts on just these few factors is that the more we purchase organic, we will continue to encourage more farmers to go organic, more organic farmer to invest and grow their farms to produce more and meet the demand the we will drive the prices to more affordable levels, but there is also, in my opinion, a strong encouragement here to grow a garden in your kitchen or yard. Fresh herbs in a hanging pot will significantly decrease your shopping bill and you can purchase more organic things that your green thumb haven’t mastered yet.

I try to make a meal plan for the next two weeks, seeing how much can be used for the same recipes. I will share some of my favorite meals and meal planning tips with you in another post. 🙂 When I go shopping, I will look into any coupons that I have. In my area, the grocery is offering a game where you get pieces and there are lots of in store coupons, I play the game. I also read the weekly shoppers. I have my favorite stores and they offer specials on specific days. My kid’s school sells a few fresh greens throughout the year that are organically grown and I try to support them, I also visit farmers markets in the area and I try to purchase more frozen organic. Bulk discount stores like Costco or Sam’s Club are great for this. I won’t lie, there have been times when my menu was NOT on sale and I just had to mix it up. The bonus of that really comes in the kitchen when you discover you can do more than you thought you could with an eggplant. Shopping organic can be done on a budget or without but is done best with planning.

📗 About D Goosby of JDs Organic Productions

🌺My Story... The Journey Continues🌺

D Goosby of JD's Organic Productions is a wife and a mom to 8 beautiful kids including 2 sets of twins. At one point, she weighed close to 300 lbs and then lost half of it just to put most of it back on. D eventually got tired of the yo-yo. She learned some hidden truths about our food system and decided to get educated and make lasting changes. D studied to become a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and peristeam practitioner because she realized that she was not alone in wanting to make healthy lifestyle changes but lacking the knowledge to make anything permanent.

That is what D does today, she helps busy moms like herself, get back to where they feel good again, they look the way they want to look and they get to be a healthy role model for their families and friends.