After four weeks of undertaking the various challenges I set myself for Organic September, to round up the month I wanted to reflect on what a difference going organic can make and to set myself one last tasty challenge – cooking a three course organic meal on a budget.
One of the biggest things I’ve learnt is that organic doesn’t have to be expensive, especially with such great value organic vegetables out there. Another important lesson trying out organic wines made me realize is that when it comes to the fruit and vegetables most susceptible to contamination from pesticides, it pays to think about the other forms you might consume them in – such as the grapes in wine – and consider going organic with them too.
There are plenty of ways to be thrifty and organic; I picked up some extra tips from the Organic Trade Board, who are doing a great job of promoting the benefits of going organic to consumers and producers through their Organic, Naturally Different campaign:
1. Plan ahead to avoid waste
2. Eat the season to catch organic fruit and veg at its cheapest
3. Bulk out your Bolognese with ingredients such as lentils, which are cheap, nutritious and readily available organically produced
4. Order an organic veg box again to get the best value seasonal items
5. Buy in bulk with friends and family from a wholesaler
Creating a three-course all organic meal
To celebrate a successful Organic September this is the perfect autumnal vegan menu I created, based on three recipes from The Tofu Diaries. To illustrate how easy it is to create a delicious organic meal for four on a limited budget, I’ve totted up the cost of each ingredient but do bear in mind that these prices are for the full available quantity of the ingredient – in reality, four portions of course came in much cheaper. Ingredients such as the coconut oil and flax seeds used in the brownies will last for months too so they’re more of an investment but still, the three recipes turned organic came in within budget. Great news!
Budget: £30
Starter: Warming Parsnip & Apple Soup
- Organic parsnips £1.70
- Organic apples £1.90
- Organic potatoes £2.00
- Organic garlic £0.90
Total: £6.50
Main: Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Sweet Potato Mash
- Organic green lentils (I had to switch to green lentils to make it organic but they worked every bit as well as the original recipe using brown) £0.75
- Organic white onions £1 (for a whole bag)
- Organic garlic (from above)
- Organic carrots £1 (again, for a whole bag so I had leftovers)
- Organic tinned tomatoes £0.80
- Organic veg stock £2.00
- Organic sweet potatoes £2.00
Total: £7.55
Dessert: Fudgy Beetroot Brownies
- Organic beetroot £1
- Organic flour £1.75
- Organic coconut oil (in place of margarine and for the topping) £6
- Organic cane sugar £1.10
- Organic milled flax seeds £2
- Organic dark chocolate £2
Total: £13.85
Total for three courses (with lots of leftovers in the cupboard and fridge!): £27.90
Have you taken part in Organic September? Will you be going organic more often?
This post is in collaboration with the Organic Trade Board who kindly provided the budget but all thoughts and recipes are my own!
