Is organic really organic?

I recently went on a organic kick and wanted to see if there's a change in my health after consuming mostly organic foods and drinks. I bought and made organic everything, organic meats, eggs, dairy and produce; and boy was it expensive and boy was it a learning experience.

The whole idea of organic is for the consumer to be able to buy food that is as close to what nature intended the food to be as possible. That meant for me no GMOs, no pesticides, no antibiotics, no additives, etc. The USDA defines organic as food that is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.  Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.

What the USDA does to ensure farms are following their standard is train third party inspectors to test the validity of the methods of organic companies, "Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) --Wikipedia". There are no set rules of how many visits per year are required and to what depth the investigations must be, but only when farms which sell less then $5,000 organic product a year must submit to a records audit. To me this seems lopsided in the favor of large companies that produce massive amounts of profit per year leaving a ton of red tape for the little guy while giving big business a free pass. Again, the family farms are stomped on.


From this information it is hard to tell how much, if at all, our organic labeled foods are being regulated, by who they are being regulated (inspectors can be hired by companies making their allegiances clear) and how often they are regulated. Since the USDA does such a poor job on inspecting standard food why should we trust the USDA organic seal at all?


Most if not all of the organic labeled animal products and much of the organic labeled produce come from factory farms and are produced by big agriculture companies. The Cornucopia Institute has conducted investigations and researched the legitimacy of organic labeling on many large brand names that are sold in groceries across the U.S.. They compiled the information into score cards, listed below.


Egg Score Card

Dairy Score Card


Cereal Scorecard


As noted on the score cards store brand organics like HEB's Market Fresh or Kroger's Organic Private Selection score very low because they will not answer questions regarding where and how food is grown or raised. Is this really a lot to ask? At least offer some information to gain the confidence of your consumers.


So what have I learned from this whole experience? First off I learned the USDA does not directly regulate organic labeled foods and most likely some "inspector" paid by the producing company is hired in the interest of the company. Secondly, local grocery stores are also all for the profits, and could care less about telling their consumers basic information about their store brand foods. I also learned the best place to get the safest food is your own back yard, small local farms are the next best, that way you can make certain where your food comes from and how it is produced. Lastly, I want to note there were positive changes in my health after consuming organic labeled foods, yet I can not point them directly to eating organic as I adopted other healthy changes like omitting soft drinks and omitting additives to my diet. I personally do think some organic labeled foods are really what they say they are, but I also believe that it is near impossible to tell who is labeling truthfully and how often.

Kelloggs Creals 99¢ at Randalls

Randalls has Crunchy Nut cereal for $1.99 wyb 8 boxes, and there is a printable coupon for $4/4 boxes of Kellogg's cereals. Use two $4/4 coupons and get 99¢ cereal.

$10 gas card mail in rebate with Kelloggs

Get a $10 gas card mailed to you when you send 10 UPCs of participating cereals and filled out form.

A Good Week at Hodges Food Basket

Specials good for March 21- April 3rd
Hodges is having a 5 for $5 sale, here's the list of items that qualify:
Pillsbury cake mixes
Del Monte Ketchup
16 oz Ajax Dish Liquid
15 oz Chef Boyardee Ravioli
14.5 oz Del Mont Tomatoes (stewed, diced, whole)
Little Dutch Maid Vanilla Waffers
6oz Butterball Turkey Bacon
12 oz Hormel Little Sizzlers
3-4 oz Oscar Mayer Lunchables
21 oz Hunts BBQ sauce
12 oz Skinner Spaghetti
26 oz Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce
9 oz Glade room spray
32 oz Parade Window Cleaner

Produce deals include:
Red Bel peppers 2/$1
Jalapenos 69¢/lb
yellow onion 49¢/lb

Cantaloupes 99¢/ea

Green leaf, red leaf, or romaine lettuce 69¢/ea

CVS 3/18- 3/24

These deals are meant for comp at Walmart you can still use them on a smaller scale at CVS


The Deals

Kettle Potato Chips or Kettle Tias 8.8.5 oz $2.49
$1 Kettle chips (3/18 RP exp. 5/12)
buy $30 get $10 CVS Cash

Kellogg's Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes, AppleJacks, Froot Loops, Cocoa or Rice Krisipies cereal 8.7-15 oz $1.77
$1/2 Kelloggs IP (from kelloggs.com raisin bran and rice crispies only)
Kellogg's Rebate: HERE

Schick Hydro 5 cartridges 4pk., Hydro 5 or Hydro 5 Power Select razor 1ct. $9.19 Get $4 ECB
$4/1 Schick Hydro Power Select (SS 02/26/12)
Spend $12 Get $4 ECB wyb any of the Suave products listed (excludes clearance items) Limit 1
Suave Naturals 22.5 oz or Kids' 12 oz 2/$3
Suave Invisible solid 1.4 oz $1
Suave B2G1 free Naturals, Men or Kids products (4/15) ETS RP 3/18
Suave Save $.75/1 deodorant product (4/15) ETS

Purchase
With 12 inserts, 6 Kellogs IP and ad to comp:

12 bags of Kettle chips for $7.88 or approx 66¢/bag
10 Kelloggs cereal $12.70 & $10 Gas card after MIR (theoretically 27¢/ ea. after rebate)
10 Schick Hydro Razors $11.90 or $1.19 ea
12 Suave Deodorants $1.08 MM & FREE product
24 Suave Kids body wash $13.2 or 55¢ a.

Total: $44.60 (b4 tax not including gas card)
Total before coupons and ecb: $187.48
76% savings on all items and 81% savings after MIR

The Math


Kettle Potato Chips or Kettle Tias 8.8.5 oz $2.49
$1 Kettle chips (3/18 RP exp. 5/12)
buy $30 get $10 CVS Cash (98% rule applies)
12 chips @ $2.49= $29.88 -$10 cvs cash so comp at 12 chips @ $19.88 ($1.656 ea* the extra digit can be rounded but the price will vary by a few cents)
12 chips comped at $19.88 - $12 MQ= $7.88 for 12 bags/ approx 66¢ bag

Kellogg's Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes, AppleJacks, Froot Loops, Cocoa or Rice Krisipies cereal 8.7-15 oz $1.77
$1/2 Kelloggs IP (from kelloggs.com raisin bran and rice crispies only)
Comp at $1.77 box @ $17.70 per 10 - $5 IP = $12.70 per 10 & $10 gas card MIR

Schick Hydro 5 cartridges 4pk., Hydro 5 or Hydro 5 Power Select razor 1ct. $9.19 Get $4 ECB
$4/1 Schick Hydro Power Select (SS 02/26/12)
Comp razors for $5.19 - $4 MQ = $1.19 x 10= $11.90

Spend $12 Get $4 ECB wyb any of the Suave products listed (excludes clearance items) Limit 1
Suave Naturals 22.5 oz or Kids' 12 oz 2/$3
Suave Invisible solid 1.4 oz $1
Suave B2G1 free Naturals, Men or Kids products (4/15) ETS RP 3/18
Suave Save $.75/1 deodorant product (4/15) ETS

Comp deodorants at 66¢ ea [12 for $8] ($12 for 12 - 4 ecb = $8 for 12= 66¢ ea rounded up) - $9 MQ (12x 75¢/1)= free & $1.08 MM

Comp body wash at 83¢ ea [24 for $20] ($36 for 24 - 16 ecb= $20 [$4 per every $12 thr are 4 sets of $12 so 4x4= $16] $20 - B2G1 coupon ($6.64*) = $13.36 [*24/3= 8 items free and 16 paid for; 83¢x 8= $6.64]= 55¢ ea

Hodges Produce Deals (Unadvertised)

I went to Hodges Food Basket to pick up a few items that were on sale in the ad, and I found some nice unadvertised produce sales I wanted to share with everyone. Zucchini and yellow squash 69¢/lb and iceberg lettuce for 99¢.

Hodges Food Basket this week

Navel Oranges 79¢/lb
Broccoli Crowns 99¢/lb
Cabbage 29¢/lb
Cucumbers 3/$1

Chicken Drumsticks 77¢/lb