Something that a lot of people will say is that they like the idea of ‘going organic’, but it just costs too much more than ‘ordinary’ fare.

Well, it’s a few weeks since we made the switch and I’m happy to say that we haven’t had to increase our weekly food budget. If anything, we seem to be spending very slightly less than usual.

There’s no doubt that on a like-for-like basis, individual Organikal items cost more than their polluted counterparts, so how can it be that our spending on food has decreased – even if it’s only by pennies or a pound or two?

It seems that the reason is quite simple: so many impulse purchases are no longer available to us because there aren’t organic variants or our more healthy diet doesn’t allow for them.

So when we visit the supermarket, we leave without the 12-pack of crisps along with accompanying dip, several bottles of artificially sweetened soft-drinks, whatever frozen food was on special offer etc.

Suze’s home-baked loaves – at three from a £1.50 bag of flour – are actually cheaper than the supermarket’s cheapest ‘wholemeal’ loaves @ 85p each. When I’m at work, I tend to eat only what I’ve brought with me, rather than occasionally nipping round the corner to the cafe.

Having to think carefully about our purchaes seems to provide us with some protection against impulse buys. That and the immunity from most supermarket BOGOFfers that Organikal living brings appears to be saving us money!