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How do I strike a balance between helping the planet and helping my wallet when it comes to food?

If I could, I would eat nothing but food I've grown in my own garden which I've been able to care for and watch over from seed to harvest, re-growing the seeds I've harvest from the season before. Raise a few chickens for their eggs, and maybe even a cow or goat for milk (and hey, why not some cheese!) I'm not vegetarian, I eat fish... but I wouldn't have the heart to actually kill an animal, so I guess I would probably not eat fish anymore I guess. But, I'm 20 years old. The only plant I've ever taken care of was a bean (or was it pea..?) that I grew in 7th grade for a science project. I'm in college. In fact, I'll actually be in another country next semester. I'm in a transient moment in my life, so of course none of this is really possible. Right now, I've been trying to strike a balance between cheap and healthy. For example, I'll make boxed spaghetti with jarred sauce, but I'll cook up some local zucchini and red onions to throw into the mix. It's much harder during the winter when there is no farmer's market and I've actually been turned away from city buses because they're full, so there's no way to get to a Whole Foods (oh my gosh expensive!) or a Trader Joe's (nearly an hour away by bus.) I buy $3 gallons of milk and $1 cartons of eggs. I mean... it's just so hard to justify buying (organic or grass-fed) products that are twice as much when I already feel like I'm stretching every last dollar I have to actually be able to buy "fresh" produce instead of soda and ramen. I guess... I'm just asking how do you make it work? I've given up "meat" except for fish and traces of animal products (I'll eat cheese with rennet, gummy bears with gelatin, etc. etc.) just because eating organic/grassfed meat would just make it more expensive, so I figured it would be an easy fix. In kind of the same way: How do you be a wallet-friendly consumer, an eco-friendly citizen, and not eat like a rabbit?

Public Comments

1. Well my advice would be to avoid the entire "organic" scam,you pay more for it and in most cases it is worse on the environment. Lets take produce as an example; Same fertilizer, same pesticides (chemically the same, just made from a natural occurring source, causing more harm to the env!) and FDA has proven there is no nutritional difference. It also takes more land and is still harvested the same way! So what are you paying for? A fad! Same is true for green cleaners and most other "organic" products. I will get attacked for this answer, but if any of you want to actually educate yourselves and read up on these topics (rather than following a fad) you will find the truth!
2. Think of it this way, you can do the environment much more good by establishing yourself securely. Focus on saving money, just buy the most nutritious value branded products from the nearest supermarket even if it is a meat product. Once you've graduated, and have a good job, you can do more for the environment but you won't do it any good by driving yourself bankrupt buying things you can not afford. Your responsibility is to your education, and your career so that you can contribute to the causes that you believe in.