Most con-
ventional
apples contain pesticide
residue; they top the Envi-
ronmental Working Group’s
list of most-polluted pro-
duce (see ewg.org). Pay
extra for organic apples.
Make a beeline for the bulk bins
Even at high-end natural grocers like
Whole Foods Market, you can find
deals on spices, grains, beans, and
pasta. A Washington State store, for
example, sells organic bay leaves for
$1.75 per ounce in bulk, compared
with $42.78 per ounce for a small jar.
Farmed At-
lantic salmon
has been linked to higher
levels of PCBs and anti-
biotics overuse. Wild Pa-
cific salmon is cleaner; in
cans, it’s budget-friendly.
Rely on the range
Staples can be made for less money
and effort than you’d guess. Jennifer
Reese chronicles the cost-to-hassle
ratio in her book Make the Bread, Buy
the Butter. Homemade hummus involves little more than turning on the
blender, she says, and costs 85 cents
per cup, compared with up to $4.45
per cup for national brands. And
baked goods? “Never buy muffins at
Starbucks. It’s pennies on the dollar
if you bake from scratch,” says Reese.
Can’t afford
organic? Buy
milk—check
the label—from cows that
haven’t been treated with
the hormone rBST (also
known as rBGH), which
is banned in the European
Union and Canada.
FRAMES: IS TOCK PHOTO ( 2)
Buy part of the farm
When you have a community-
supported agriculture (CSA) sub-
scription, farmers deliver a weekly
selection, or “share,” from their cur-
rent harvests to pickup points nearby.
Paying up front for a season’s worth
of produce can run roughly $400 to
$800, but that works out to a reason-
able $20 to $40 per week, and you’ll
expand your culinary horizons. To
find a CSA, visit LocalHarvest.org.
Waste not, store a lot
If you’re tossing half of your CSA produce, you’re not saving money. To use
food efficiently and avoid restaurant
and takeout meals (which account
for about 43 percent of the average
