Natural Food Results

We finished our natural food experiment last Sunday. The final total was that we spent $406 over four weeks. I will deduct $20 from the total because Lindsey spent about $80 for a dinner party last Saturday. So lets say $386 over 4 weeks. We traditionally spend about $350 in the same period. So that means going natural and organic cost us an additional 10% - alot less than I expected.
We weren't sure about any immediate health benefits, but we were definitely eating better by being more aware of what we ate and controlling portions.
As for taste, Lindsey swears that the natural chicken tastes better. I really like the organic bbq sauces and salad dressings. We found some really good organic snacks. Kettle makes some amazing chipotle bbq organic potato chips. The big challenge was in soft drinks. There are organic and all natural carbonated drinks, but they generally cost about $1/bottle (Hansen's has some all natural cans for about 50c). I decided to buy sparkling water and big jugs of unsweetened organic iced tea and mix the two. It's actually quite refreshing. If I really need a sweet fix, I could add organic sugar.
Going forward, Lindsey and I decided to always try to buy organic within reason (We will not pay double the conventional price). If organic is not feasible, we will look for "all-natural" products. Where the price difference is too high for both organic or all-natural, we will just use the conventional products (or not buy at all).

Some Definitions:
Organic - Organic has a very specific meaning about how it must be grown in absence of some defined pesticides on land that has been pesticide free for 3 years prior. For products composed of ingredients, it must consist of 90% organic inputs and not use certain defined substances. For meats, this means the animals were raised in a very specific way (free to move about and graze) and are fed only organic products.
All-Natural - For meats, this means that the animal must have been fed vegetarian grains and not subject to hormones or antibiotics. For products composed of ingredients, all-natural means that there are not preservatives or chemicals used , but the ingredients may be non-organic.