How to be organic on a budget

When we think of organic, we usually think of food and avoiding the pesticides used to grow fruit and vegetables. But there are other ways we can avoid harmful chemicals which are often found in everyday products, to live a more “organic lifestyle”. Read more on ow to be organic on a budget.

Choosing a more organic lifestyle may help reduce our risk of breast cancer and other diseases. However, it’s true that buying only organic produce and products can be expensive. But there are ways to shop organic on a budget.

Below are our top tips to make choosing a healthy organic lifestyle more affordable!

Food

• Buy local and seasonal organic fruit and vegetables – fresh produce is cheapest when in-season because it is in abundance, and when it’s local, it doesn’t have hidden transport costs.
• Know your best non-organic produce – Get to know the Clean Fifteen list, produced by the Environmental Working Group, which names the top fifteen fruit and vegetables grown with the least pesticide. If you can’t afford to buy all organic then these are the best non-organic produce to buy – avocados, asparagus, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower, eggplant, grapefruit, frozen peas, kiwis, onions, mangoes, papayas, pineapples, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes.
• Shop around – supermarkets often charge a premium for organic meat. With a bit of research online, you may find it cheaper from an online store or direct from the producer at a farmers’ market.

Gardening

• DIY weedkiller – one way you can avoid the use of harmful pesticides in the garden is by making your own weedkiller which can be used around edible plants or flowers you’ll cut to use in the home. Mixing cheap white vinegar with bicarbonate of soda and spraying directly on the weed will kill it off overnight. For stubborn weeds, you may need to apply again. For more gardening tips, see here and link to https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/
• Grow your own vegetables. Even if it’s easy to grow vegetables such as a courgette or a chilli plant grown indoors on the window sill – it means you’ll know at least some of your vegetables haven’t been grown with pesticides.

Clothing

• Shop around – the joy of the internet means it is easy to find affordable, ethical fashion on a budget. Look for clothing made with organic cotton, bamboo, or linen.
• Vintage vibe – buy second-hand clothing as items will have been washed several times. So many of the chemicals used to produce them will have been washed away. Remember to avoid synthetic materials!
• Embrace your old clothes for longer, too– things are always coming back into fashion. As with vintage, potentially harmful chemicals, once present will have been washed out, plus no more harmful chemicals will have been used to produce new clothes!

Cosmetics

• Make your own – organic cosmetics can be expensive and often may still contain harmful chemicals linked to breast cancer. Making your own beauty products is easy by using kitchen cupboard ingredients such as sugar, lemons, oats, avocados, and more.

Cleaning

• Homemade cleaning products can cut the cost of switching to organic.  Natural options to use as basic ingredients include Castile soap, vinegar, lemon, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Again, you can search online for recipes.

We’d love to hear your tips, too – share on social media and tag @breastcanceruk