This post is part of my Feed Your Family ~ Eating Healthy on a Budget series.

Last week I covered what the deal with organic food is. We took a look at what organic means, how to identify it, and some tips on buying organic produce. But a look at organic food doesn’t get far before buying locally grown food comes up. So what’s the deal?

Buying locally grown produce seems like a quaint idea, right? Support local business and uh…yeah, help your community. That seems great but I can’t justify the higher cost. Sorry, my family comes first.

This was my thinking until recently. Am I alone in this? Please tell me I’m not. Someone else has to feel this way {oh yeah, my husband}.

But I began looking into eating healthier. My first step was realizing  we needed to get more vegetables in our diet (like 5 servings a day more)! Then I looked into growing our own vegetables, and this led me to investigating this whole organic world. And finally this led me to really understand the real significance behind buying locally grown produce and meat.

Now I’m a believer in buying local food and am working on devoting more of my grocery budget toward locally grown food (I’ll share more of this next time}.

5 Reasons to Buy Locally Grown Food

1) Support Local Business

Okay this is a valid reason. Instead of your money going to some unknown mega company hundreds or even thousands of miles away, you can help your neighbor down the street. You are putting money right back into your local community, which helps everyone.

2) You Know Where Your Food is Coming From

The average grocery store shopper has no clue where their food is coming from. Do you have any idea? Until a few months ago I had no clue.

The chemicals and pesticides used to grow those apples or the living conditions or food fed to those chickens are very unhealthy.

Buying locally means you know the farm those apples or chickens came from. You can often visit those farms and actually see how they do things. You can chat with the farmer and learn their farming practices.

3) You Know How Fresh Your Produce Is

Most conventional produce is picked well before it’s ripe, traveled many days on a plane or train, and then finally put out at your grocery store (not to mention the chemicals added to those tomatoes to make them look and appear fresh).

However, that local stand you drive by each day picked those tomatoes this morning at their peak ripeness and they will be on your dinner table tonight.

4) Can Help Fight Allergies

What? Yup, this was so surprising to me. Did you know that buying local raw honey can help with your seasonal allergies? The idea is that your local bees are jumping from flower to flower getting covered in local pollen. This gets into the local raw honey (raw=honey not heated to a million degrees like processed store bought honey) and over time as you have a spoonful each day, you build up immunity to the pollen. And your allergies are severely lessened or even gone!

5) The Price!

To start eating naturally, organic and healthy food can put a dent in your wallet if you are not careful {that’s why I’m writing this series}! If you go to a natural foods store to purchase all your vegetables, meat, honey or dairy the expense can add up quickly! But buying locally can help offset this cost. By buying half a cow in bulk or buying local produce in season you are getting great prices on quality and healthy products! I will share more specific tips on how exactly to save money on a whole foods diet in a post soon!

This post is part of my Feed Your Family ~ Eating Healthy on a Budget series. Catch up on all the posts in this series:

• Introduction {What we will cover}
• So What’s the Deal with Organic?
• So What’s the Deal with Locally Grown? 
• Stay tuned for more!

Learn how to grow your own vegetable garden if you live on 10 acres or in a small condo or apartment in Apartment Gardening ~ A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces. On sale for only $2.99 for a limited time! Get your copy today. BUY HERE