Too much of the money I get each month goes on food. I was talking to my MIL about cutting down and she suggested not buying organic

[itati]

I know it tastes nicer but has it been proven to be better for you? I know MIL doesn't buy it for her and her husband - but will when she has my kids over - and they didn't have organic in her day and she fed her kids once on Smash and tinned meat so she is not bothered by organic. I am not prepared to give it up if it is better for the children, but equally I do need to cut down on spending. I must spend close to £600 a month on food.

Same as Greyskull - We made the decision to only eat "proper" meat. It can be hard to get to the butchers and the supermarkets are so convenient, but we'd rather pay a bit more and eat really tasty local meat less often. Our veggies come from a community scheme (£7 for a huge box every week) which provides local veg, often with organic bits too.
I think organic is a bit of a hoax really.

I refuse to buy cheap meat, sausages for 10p in Asda!, but also don't want to pay more if I am just falling for the hype.

I can't find the pig link now - was listed in the Science or Fiction (it was one of the true items) section of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast and they're normally very good about putting up the news links at the end of the show, but they're not up yet.

Just cutting down on meat can make a big difference to cost. There's no real need to have meat more than once or twice a week (well, obviously there's no real need to eat it at all, but even if you are going to eat meat it definitely doesn't need to be every day.

Ah, assume they were referring to this news item:

Higher Bacteria Count on Organic Pigs