Three Ways To Save on Organic or Other Speciality Foods

I am a person who tends to eat organic foods.. basically, the less processed the better.

However; where I live, most people who share my love for organic only shop at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, which I tend to think is overpriced and a little pretentious.

So, here are my tricks to find Organic, gluten free, artisan, "ethnic," etc., foods without spending your whole check.

1. Grocery Outlet: In the West Coast, we have Grocery Outlet stores everywhere. This place is amazing for organic, gluten free, low sodium..whatever types of food. Basically, its all the products that were not sold to Whole Foods, Target, etc., and is sold here.

For example, I can get my Cocunut Oil for 3.99 here vs. 9.99 at Whole Foods. Heck some big items are even cheaper than Costco, which is another big money saver when it comes to groceries.

The only caveat is that you need to watch expiration dates.. sometimes you only have a day to eat the food before it goes bad... This mainly happens with yogurt and some vegetables and fruit.

Check out this deal...

2. U-Pick: Like I said in my intro, I won't do recipes or anything like that, but I will say going to a U-Pick is crazy cheap. I just picked a ton of apples (like 20 pounds worth) and paid less than 10.00.

I got a ton of plans for these bad boys and saved a crap ton for picking the food myself.

Also, I have a kid and this is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment I can find. My kid is entertained as heck trying to climb trees to get apples.. so, its a win for the price, win for entertaining my kid without costing an arm and a leg, and a win to eat some fresh food.

3. Food Markets: It drives me nuts that places like Costco, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Safeway.. all those box stores charge 3 times more for "ethnic" food than if you visit your local food market. If you love Sriracha, go to a Chinese market and pay far far less.