An Oamaru organic retailer is on a mission to dispel the widespread belief that buying organic is more costly than mainstream shopping to feed a family.
Last month, Organic Larder owner Maggie Mackay launched a range of recipe cards with examples of how to feed a family of four organically for $15 or less - challenging a New Zealand supermarket chain's promotion to ''Feed Four for $15''.
She wanted Oamaru people to have a chance to judge the benefits for themselves, which is why she came up with the novel idea of free organic recipe cards.
She is stocking them in store, with a range of meat options such as fajita ranch chicken wraps and five-spice pork kebabs with couscous, as well as vegetarian options such as chickpea and tomato curry and warm black barley and pumpkin salad.
''I've made it simple. The recipe cards, I did that because I didn't want people saying: 'Oh, that can't be true' or 'It's too hard, I don't know how to do that' or 'What would I cook?','' she said.
Mrs Mackay, who opened Organic Larder nine months ago, said her mission was to raise awareness and give people the opportunity to make a choice.
''If you don't know you've got a choice, you often just stick with what you know already,'' she said.
''I'm not telling you that you must [eat organic], or that you have to or to feel guilty if you don't. If you have a look at the food that you're currently eating and if you're happy with that, then that's fine.''
She said she was lucky enough to grow up with organic food, but it was not called organic then.
''In our day, everybody had a back yard that was full of vegetables, most people had home-kill meat, or knew where it was coming from,'' she said.
