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Clark Howard's Tips

Sept. 1, 2008

Clark is not into the organic food movement. Maybe that's because organic food prices are suffering from massive inflation -- even more so than non-organic grocery items. The New York Times found that while regular bread can be around $1.19, organic can be up to $3.19. Regular eggs may be $1.34-$1.50 versus $4.75-$6.39 for the organic version. Regular milk can be $1.99, while you may pay $3.99-$6.79 for organic milk.

So what can you do to dial back the price? Get your store's in-house brand of organic food instead of buying a brand name. Most retailers in the food business have private label organic food available. You can also try shopping at Wal-Mart. Clark knows the monster mega-retailer is anathema to a lot of green shoppers. But the reality is that they offer better deals on organic food than other places.

There's no doubt that organic food is gaining in popularity. Yet only 3% of food sales in the United States are organic. A whopping 97% of our food dollars still go to non-organic items. People can argue about the health value of organic vs. non-organic, but this is a dollars and cents issue. Right now the dollars you spend for organic make no sense!

Consumer advice courtesy of