My Organic Day » Money Saving Tips

Where can I find the best organic produce in the East Bay?

Christine — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:03:04 +0000

After living in the East Bay for several months, I started to discover some nice places to shop for organic produce. Here are some spots I visited:

Berkeley Bowl/Berkeley Bowl West

Pros: This place is like a produce mecca for anyone obsessed with fresh fruits and vegetables. Tons of varieties. Organic produce prices on many core items (e.g. apples, broccoli, onions) are very good. Berkeley Bowl West has its own separate organic section which is nice, but the original Berkeley Bowl seems to have more varieties than the Berkeley Bowl West. Parking is easier in Berkeley Bowl West.
Cons: Mad shoppers hitting their carts throughout aisles, grabbing the best produce possible. Be prepared to have a heart attack while parking your car or pushing your shopping cart.

Monterey Market

Pros: This place has really amazing produce. I think the quality is even better than Berkeley Bowl. It doesn’t offer as much variety as Berkeley Bowl does, but it still is pretty amazing given its size. The prices are really good, and produce is SUPER fresh.
Cons: Again, like Berkeley Bowl, prepare for a mad stampede of food – obsessed shoppers with their carts everywhere. It is not a fancy store; don’t expect it to look like Whole Foods (this is not necessarily a con, but I know people who are turned off by Rainbow Grocery for this reason).

Berkeley Farmer’s Market

Pros: (I’ve been to both the Thu and Sat markets) This place has superb quality, all organic and lots of turnover. Downtown on Saturdays, there’s some hot food which is convenient for a quick bite or lunch. On Thursdays on Shattuck and Rose, there is less variety of hot food but I love the organic hot food vendor, Today’s Special! It is really an excellent find.
Cons: It does get a little crowded, and sometimes by the end of the day, the food quality gets low due to heat or just staying out so long. Otherwise it’s a good market.

Temescal Farmer’s Market

Pros: This is an amazing find in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood which is becoming really up and coming. The quality of these vendors are A+ with people like Cowgirl Creamery and Prather Ranch (which are truly hard to find as market vendors).
Cons: Wow, this place is expensive. After being used to Monterey Market and Berkeley Bowl prices, it’s hard to recalibrate what I expect to see in food prices. $8 for 3 sausages that aren’t even organic or nitrate free? No thanks. But to be fair, every produce item we bought that day (kale, carrots, broccoli, bell pepper and spinach) was really probably some of the most amazing produce we have tasted in a long time.

There is probably a lot more fabulous organic produce out there – but these are some great places to check out if you are in the area!

Looking for good deals on green products and services? Blissmo.

Christine — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:08:30 +0000

In this economy, who wants to spend full price? I had a reader comment on my blog asking for green discounts. Here’s one – for the green shopper, there’s a great service called blissmo. It’s like Groupon meets green with a social mission. These guys are the real deal, looking for certified products and services, starting in San Francisco with already thousands of subscribers – not bad, considering they just launched a month ago.

This week check out a deal from Looptworks – a cool clothing company that actually REUSES existing materials into hip and trendy hoodies, shirts and more. Get 40% off on Looptworks clothes. Hurry – it expires end of this week!

Ten ways to save money and buy organic and local to start the new year

Christine — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:59:25 +0000

Shop at your local farmer’s market. If you wait towards the end of the market, many farmers are willing to sell at lower rates to get rid of inventory.
Join a local CSA in your area for a weekly produce box, fresh from a local farm. Some of these items are much cheaper than at Whole Foods. Some examples of CSAs are FarmFreshToYou and others found on Om Organics’ website in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Find private label organic food items. At Safeway, they now sell their own organic food line O Organics. At Whole Foods, they have their 365 everyday value items. These items tend to have reasonable food prices.
Shop at your local co-op. My personal favorite is Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. It is like the Costco of Whole Foods. Not necessarily the prettiest place to shop, but full of choices, bulk and great prices.
Buy bulk items. Don’t bother buying core items like rice and oatmeal from small boxes. At places like Whole Foods, and co-ops like Rainbow Grocery, it is easy to find wide varieties of healthy grains, nuts, dried fruits and other goodies in the bulk aisle. One of my favorite items is the almond butter, fresh and bulk.
My personal favorite store for value-Trader Joe’s. Sure their produce quality is not the best, but many of their packaged items are great prices.
Use food delivery services like Planet Organics in the San Francisco Bay Area. They deliver straight to your home once a week, and you can choose any items you want, unlike a CSA. I’ve been using them for a month, and really enjoy the quality of their produce.
Grow your own vegetables and fruits in your patio or yard. Tomatoes are especially a good thing to grow as they tend to be more expensive than other produce.
Find coupons for organic and local food. Whole Foods has a coupon flyer in their stores that has many discounts on natural food items. There are local guides such as Green Zebra and EcoMetro Guide that have dozens of discounts for organic and local items.
Avoid chains and try shopping at local markets. My favorite local market is Sigona’s in Redwood City for produce. Their produce prices are some of the best in the area given the quality of their organic and local sourcing. Another example is the Milk Pail in Mountain View.

Greenleaf Platters and Hugh Groman Catering

Christine — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:04:59 +0000

For one of my social events, I hosted a 50 person casual brunch to celebrate an occasion. I didn’t want to spend too much money, but I still wanted high quality food. I found a great recommendation through the Berkeley Parent’s Network online, called Greenleaf Platters. They provide green, low cost, organic, local foods already made and delivered to your door. For my event, I ordered quiches, salads, fruits, organic lemondade and coffee.

The food was so great that my friends picked up their business card. Greenleaf then comes back to the venue after you’re done to pick up the glass plates that they lend for the event. Most of their food was organic and locally sourced. I highly recommend Greenleaf Platters for an event. Their manager Hugh Groman even called me the week before to double check my order even though I had already purchased it online just to make sure it was what I wanted.

Sigona’s in Redwood City – A local and organic grocery find

Christine — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:45:55 +0000

I spent last Saturday shopping for food. Started at the Redwood City Farmer’s Market, then Sigona’s, a local market in Redwood City and then Trader Joe’s. I later went to Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco.

The verdict? Sigona’s is one of the best markets on the Peninsula if you are looking for great value on local, organic produce. For less than $60, we got over 15 vegetables and fruits, mostly organic, mostly local, plus organic Rocky chicken (much better quality than the Trader Joe’s organic chicken) plus Strauss nonfat milk. Organic bell peppers at less than $2/lb. This was way cheaper than even conventional prices at the Redwood City farmer’s market. No crowds in the store. Friendly staff. I think the prices at Sigona’s Redwood City location is way cheaper than the one at Stanford Shopping Center. Checkout Sigona’s sometime if you’re looking for a good market on the Penisula.

Cool Consumer Reports Green Guide

Christine — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0000

The Consumer Reports started a green guide to products a couple years ago. I like them because they are a nonprofit with unbiased information and careful studies. Some of the products they review include:

Electronic products like air conditioners, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners
Cars like hybrids or those with lower mpg
Food like organic baby food, meat and water
And many more useful green tips

How to pick quality organic produce…and why the supermarket is not always the best

Christine — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 06:56:00 +0000

On my way home from work last night, I listened to some tidbits of National Public Radio which featured an author and food columnist, Russ Parson. He recently wrote about a new book called “How to Pick a Peach”. Listen to Russ’ commentary with NPR here. If you like to buy fresh organic produce, and don’t know how to select and store your veggies and fruits, then this book is for you.

Switch to compact flourescent light bulbs

Christine — Wed, 16 May 2007 01:01:00 +0000

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. Wow! Here’s a great guide on purchasing these bulbs for your home by Environmental Defense.

Speesees, an organic, fair trade baby clothing store in San Francisco

Christine — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:20:00 +0000

My friends Suzan and Chris, are expecting a baby girl in a few months, so I decided to purchase an organic cotton, baby kimono outfit from a store called Speesees. Armed with a 25% off coupon from the Green Zebra book, I made the trek to the Dogpatch neighborhood near Potreo Hill, an area slowly converting from warehouses to high end lofts and offices thanks to the new Third Street rail.

Inside their warehouse shop, I found a great outfit for a newborn, an orange kimono top with a seahorse on it with carefully stitched, matching lime green yoga pants (see photo above, extreme right mannequin). Not only is the cotton organic, but it is fair trade, handpicked in India. I really enjoyed getting the gift, and it definitely stands out from the typical baby shower present! You can also order Speesees products online.

de Young Museum and Cafe: organic food and art all in one

Christine — Wed, 02 May 2007 06:13:00 +0000

So I finally made it to the de Young Museum in San Francisco today. I had tried to go before during the first weekend it opened and its anniversary when they had free admission, but could never get in. The first Tuesday of each month is free admission to the de Young Museum, and almost all the other major museums in San Francisco, such as the MOMA.

I was really excited to go in the museum, especially since today was free, as the first Tuesday of May. My friend Doris and I went straight to the observation deck (see photos above) and the views were amazing! I could see downtown San Francisco, to the Golden Gate Bridge to UCSF to Ocean Beach.

We then walked around several American art exhibits and grabbed a quick bite at the de Young Cafe. Inside, they had a nice eating area, with modern design and local, organic food. I spotted yogurt from Straus Creamery, Niman Ranch meat, and local, organic farm produce. I ordered an asparagus, mushroom risotto, and my friend had a vegetarian sandwich with grilled eggplant, mozzarella cheese, and hummus on foccacia bread. To be honest, my risotto was a bit hard to eat and I wish the rice was cooked softer. I noticed that the cafe sold local organic bear ale, something I’ve never seen at a museum cafe before! We ended our tour with more exhibits, and a special showing of Vivian Westwood’s fashion designs. Definitely check this place out!