Is organic food really that expensive? We compare the cost of one recipe to see how premium products are becoming more affordable
Once the pricey choice of a die-hard few, organic food has fought its way into the mainstream and taken a respectable bite out of the groceries market. But while the credit crunch has sent the cost of staples soaring, the cost of organic produce has been more stable. To see how this affects your shopping basket, we took one recipe and calculated how much its ingredients cost, one year ago, six months ago and today.
Sausage and tomato penne with a sprinkling of grated cheese on top.
| Ingredient | Non organic* | Organic* |
|---|---|---|
| Tesco Italian chopped tomatoes | £0.45 | £0.55 |
| Tesco wholewheat penne | £0.57 | £0.65 |
| Sainsbury's Chilean merlot | £0.66 | £1 |
| Tesco butcher's choice pork sausages | £1.47 | £2.49 |
| Sainsbury's mild English Cheddar | £1.93 | £2.97 |
| Total recipe cost | £5.08 | £7.66 |
| Ingredient | Non organic* | Organic* |
|---|---|---|
| Tesco Italian chopped tomatoes | £0.42 | £0.52 |
| Tesco wholewheat penne | £0.70 | £0.75 |
| Sainsbury's Chilean merlot | £0.66 | £1.03 |
| Tesco butcher's choice pork sausages | £1.47 | £2.01 |
| Sainsbury's mild English Cheddar | £2.43 | £2.63 |
| Total recipe cost | £5.68 | £6.94 |
| Ingredient | Non organic* | Organic* |
|---|---|---|
| Tesco Italian chopped tomatoes | £0.42 | £0.52 |
| Tesco wholewheat penne | £0.85 | £0.84 |
| Sainsbury's Chilean merlot | £0.66 | £1.03 |
| Tesco butcher's choice pork sausages | £1.88 | £2.79 |
| Sainsbury's mild English Cheddar | £2.66 | £3.06 |
| Total recipe cost | £6.47 | £8.24 |
*Figures from www.mysupermarket.com. 'August 2008' figures correct as of 28/08/08
While the organic shopping basket remains the more expensive, the margin between organic and standard produce appears to be decreasing significantly.
Cooking this recipe with non organic produce costs a whopping £1.39 more today than a year ago. The price increase using organic ingredients was just £0.58.
For those stat-lovers among you, this translates to a cost increase of 27.4 per cent for the non organic version and just 8 per cent using organic ingredients.
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