I just started buying organic a few weeks ago. So far I've bought:

Milk (I still have to use my stockpile in the freezer first, we have 3 gallons to go)
Eggs (Free range and organic)
Coffee (Organic and Fair Trade)
Butter
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Strawberries
Grapes (trying to find actually, I haven't any luck though)

I find that yes, it is more expensive. However, we just eat less of it and make SURE we eat all of it! And although I don't think these are considered 'organic' they do use organic ingredients:

Kashi bars
Trader joes cereal bars
Kashi cookies
Trader joes baked pita chips, bagel chips
Organic 'naturepops' lollipops! (Ds loves these - and no artificial colors/no corn syrup)

I now buy Nothing 'partially hydrogenized vegetable oil' or high fructose corn syrup.

I'm trying to get dh to like whole wheat pasta - he's more reluctant, ds is better about it. I think we're doing pretty well!

__________________

I love the:
Kashi product like-not sure if it's organic but they use whole grains, nuts and none of the corn syrups or other filler ingredients
Cascadian Farms-which has frozen fruit/veggies and cereals
Back to Nature-which does have some organic products-my kids and dh love their cookies
I wish I could find my Fuji apples in the organic section, so far just the red delicious
Egglands Best eggs, although not organic they are vegetarian fed and taste so much better than regular eggs
most meats I buy are without added hormones and antibiotics and are vegetarian fed, the uncured bacon I buy is just the best
Santa Cruz organic lemonade is very good
organic whole wheat pasta I have is Whole Foods brand and is good, it does kind of take a while to get used to the taste/texture of whole wheat pasta but it's not too bad
organic yogurt-Stonyfield brand
Silk soymilk I think is organic
organic hummus

Since we are out of milk right now when I do go shopping today I'm going to start buying organic 2% for the kids and dh

I haven't seen organic grapes anywhere either

I'd like to see what products everyone else uses, has tried and really likes. This is a great thread!

so far just my DD baby food. I would like to buy more just haven't yest.

I buy a ton of organic stuff. All of our milk, cereal, eggs, frozen veggies, frozen meals (Amy's is our favorite brand and my kids devour the spinach pizza, enchiladas with black beans, mac and cheese, burritos, etc.), kids clif bars, juice, and as much fresh produce as i can find that looks good. I also go to a little produce market on Sat. mornings and buy fresh local produce - it isn't always organic but is locally grown. I also buy only organic meat - steaks, bison, and chicken breasts. I can't find organic ground turkey breast yet, but I am still looking! My grocery bill is outrageous (I am having a good week if I can keep it under $200 a week) but I don't care. It tastes better and is so much better for us.

We still eat things that aren't organic but I try to be mindful of the ingredients and choose whole grains when I can. We only eat whole wheat pasta, triscuits instead of saltines, I buy a brand at Kroger called Mrs. Freshly's that makes cupcakes, muffins, cereal bars, etc. that have about 5 g fiber each and are sweetened with fruit juice, etc. and my kids can't even tell the difference.

Stormy - WHERE do you find those lollipops? My little one is a lollipop addict and I would love to buy those for him!

I buy pretty much everything organic. We really like the O Organic brand from Safeway. They make something like 300 different items, and they are priced about the same as the conventional brands. They even have juice boxes. We buy all of our chips, tortilla, potato, etc. Cascadian Farms for frozen veggies, Annie's Mac & Cheese, Back to Nature, Luigi Vitelli Organic Pastas, Organic Valley, Horizon, meat, eggs, dairy, butter, etc. Pretty much everything. For snacks, the kids love Panda licorice. I don't think it's organic, but they've sold it in the Food Coop's since I was a kid and it doesn't have very many ingredients.

Cjemommy, I know what you mean about the whole wheat pasta, but that's pretty much all I use anymore and the kids don't even know the difference, now.

__________________
www.myspace.com/vioburn

Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

Check out my blog, I'm starting to add more to it, as I can...vioburn.blogspot.com

I do not buy organic milk though I always look for the BST Free types. I was raised on a dairy farm and have never felt good about that drug especially. Though my husband and I have talked about switching to organic milk in the near future - right now I have three teenage boys with me and I couldn't afford organic milk. When my daughter was an infant I always used organic milk for her.

I do buy my eggs locally from a woman that I know and I've walked her little farm. And I try to buy whole chickens from another local group over in Montana. When I buy chicken breasts I go for the organics, at least when I don't have teenage boys with me. I also try to buy most of my meat locally as well. It is important to me to know that my food was treated well before being butchered and I can trust these couple of places.

As for fruits and veggies I look over everything and decide which route I want to go and what I can afford. I also am a big fan of Safeway's organic selection but have started watching for what produce comes out of China when I noticed my organic black beans came out of that country. On local produce, I prefer organics, but I also like the idea of buying locally.

Regarding baby food I will always go for the organics over the regular. Price isn't a factor on that issue.

I buy milk and produce mainly. Because of dd's food allergies, I buy very little processed food, anyway. I have to make the meat switch but have been dragging my heels dt costs. Plus, I am using up my stash in the freezer. I can see my grocery bill climbing up into the outrageous zone- it's already gone up about $50 a week.

I also need that organic lollipop source. Stormy, where are you?

__________________
I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

I buy pretty much everything that is available that organic in our store, especially produce and milk and rice. My kids love Evirokidz cereals and snack bars. I also buy egglands best eggs because of their vegetarian diet and the higher amount of omega 3s. I stopped buying meat for the most part, but if my family requests it, I buy Laura's Beef and Amish chicken or Alaskan wild caught salmon. My family also love Natures Promise organic blue corn chips. Anything w/ tomatoes, I make my own with ones I canned from our garden. Next year my garden will be from totally organic seeds that I have started because we are getting a greenhouse this year..yeah! That will cut down on some of the cost. I don't buy anything w/ corn surrup.

Mt local store doesn't have organic apples and that is really irritating me!

I started buying organic few months ago and I am buying more and more each time. We can really tell the difference in taste and common sense tells you it is better for you than the pesticides, chemicals and hormones that go into non-organic food. I have decided to go organic every time on...Milk, apples, berries, tomatoes, carrots, and grapes ( I haven't found these yet, but refuse to buy any more chilean grapes...who knows what they spray on it ). I will do meats as well when my freezer is empty of the meats I have on hand. I haven't switched on thicker skinned fruits like bananas or cantaulope yet, but probably will eventually.

We buy eggs locally and have a rather large garden so I won't have to buy much of anything this summer except apples as far as produce goes.

The more I research what actually goes into most of our foods, the more I feel it is worth the extra cost involved in buying natural products. I am also going to be cutting out the majority of processed foods as well...too full of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and other mystery ingredients. I will just make my snack foods from scratch.

Well, I just got back from Publix and sure enough I spent $200.82 for our week's groceries. That seems to be my going rate. I find it so interesting that nobody else can find organic grapes. I have looked and looked because my kids love them, and they never have them. I did buy some of that Fit (I think that is what it is called) produce spray a few weeks ago and I have been washing the grapes with that and wiping them off before we eat them. I don't know how much it helps, but it can't hurt I guess. Anyone else use this stuff?

I read a great article not too long ago about organic food and it stressed that you need to just do what you can, and even if you can't make the total switch, whatever you do is better than nothing. The author suggested at the very least to take one thing that your family eats/drinks the most and switch to organic, then gradually add more as you can. I know I started with milk about a year ago when my little one stopped drinking formula and started drinking milk, and it has just snowballed from there. Each week I buy a little more organic and a little less junk.

I have to say that the milk and the meat taste SO much better. I encourage everyone to try bison - we love it and it is expensive ($7 a lb.) but it is so good. I never bought ground beef anyway because I was a vegetarian for 15 years and it just grosses me out, but we use the bison in tacos, spaghetti, anything you would use ground beef for, and we cook burgers on the grill with it. No hormones, no weird stuff, very lean, and so tasty!

Spoodler - I have been using the same philosophy about the thicker skinned foods but I recently saw that bananas are on the list of top 10 foods that you should buy organic. I don't really get that, but I bought some organic bananas today and it was painful to put them in my cart at $1.19 a pound when the other bananas were right next to them at >39 a pound....