[anonymous_saver]

I'm a strict vegetarian and I buy mainly organic foods. The costs are not really drastically different. It could get out of hand, but my suggestions are just to be practical with your choices. Get fruits and vegetables that are more in season. Be sure to get only what you need (i.e., do you really think you are going to eat all 8 apples that you buy this week? If not, then only get the 4 that you know you will). I leave the grocery store with a smile when I know I am buying higher quality ingredients.

My other suggestion on saving money grocery shopping is this, make a menu for the week. I am not saying you have to follow it at all, but it helps you figure out how many meals you have for the week. For example, lets say you are buying food for one week at a time, from Sunday-Saturday. This means that there will be 14 meals besides your cereal (an assumption, this is what I eat in the morning) in the morning plus snacks.

Tofu and Snow Peas Fried Rice (5 meals)
Avocado Tacos with field green salad (4 meals)
Spaghetti with field green salad (3 meals)
Cans of Soup (2 meals)

So in this example, you would go to the store and only buy the ingredients in the above meals, a box of cereal (or whatever else you eat for breakfast) and maybe 2 snacks, one salty, one sweet. Perhaps pretzels and granola bars. Oh and don't forget fruit! I like to get 3 kinds per week. You get the idea. Just don't walk down the aisles of the store and pick things that look good at that momement. Trust me, this planning saves me approx. $10/week!

I would say I disagree about shopping for the entire month as I care too much about having very fresh produce. I go once every 7-10 days or so.

Happy shopping to all!