Success in making changes to anything in our lives centers around our habits - and it's no different when it comes to our health and eating choices. The key is making a commitment to change; to form new habits that become a part of our daily lives so much so that they become the default when we make decisions.

I offer five simple ways to help convert an desire into a habit when selecting organic foods for your family.

Buying food items in season is a great way to save money when shopping for organics. I like to talk about seasonal foods, or eating with the seasons, for good reason; because it tastes better, it is easier to find foods that are grown regionally, and because it can be more affordable. Take squash, for example. I ran out of my supply of winter squash by last March but I was craving squash soup, so I bought an organic squash - which came from Mexico. The soup, lovingly prepared from a favorite recipe with homemade stock, fresh ginger and seasonings, tasted like absolutely nothing. Even though that squash was organic, it was past the natural season in which it grows in my region, it was shipped from far away, and it cost me twice as much as a squash purchased from a local farmer just four months earlier.

Consider joining a co-op grocery. Membership at a co-op provides access to weekly and monthly sales on staples, as well as coupon books and member-only discounts at the register. To find a coop near you in the Twin Cities area, follow this link: http://www.themix.coop/?q=locations

Use coupons. While clipping and shopping with coupons takes a little extra time, using coupons on organic items that your family regularly uses can add up to significant savings. The locally published Blue Sky Guide is another excellent source for coupons on organic food staples.

Take a little time to compare prices when you shop – the results might surprise you. While organic foods can cost more than conventional because of the smaller scale and higher costs of production, coop groceries are on average a more affordable source of organic foods as compared to buying organics at a large supermarket. (For a recent food price survey of 25 basic items comparing local co-op prices to a local supermarket, see the March/April 09 newsletter of the Eastside Food Coop).

Buying in bulk is a great way to save money. Bulk foods – including dry grains, flours, beans, cereals, pastas and even eggs – allow you to buy only what you need, while keeping excess packaging out of the waste stream. Even if you don't live close to a co-op, a monthly trip to stock up on bulk goods can save time and money on organics in the long run.

Using ideas like these five tips to help incorporate more organic foods into a family food budget can help move a good idea into a habit. And for all of the bad habits we'd like to break, this is a habit that's worth starting.