What would you pay for Organic vs. Non-Organic Chicken Parmesan?

For those families looking for healthier options such as organic foods there are many choices nowadays. We decided to see what are the cost differences between a common dinner at home, such as conventional "Chicken Parmesan" and an organic version of the same dish.

We choose two local grocery stores, one is a discount store and the other is a local health food store.

We tried to get the same exact ingredients, except for the fact that one set must be organic, as stated on the label.

Note that many foods sold in health food stores are not necessarily organic, the label must state that the product is organic.

There is much debate about the quality of organic foods compared to non-organic foods. People commonly believe that if something is labeled organic it must be better. What we were able to find is that across the board, every ingredient in this dish was much more expensive to purchase if it was labeled organic. Although the ingredients are more expensive if they are organic, we have not tested and do not know if they are more nutritious.

Non-Organic Ingredients

Servings: 6
Total Cost: $18.25
Cost Per Serving: $3.04
Total Calories: 7,933
Calories/Serving: 1,322

Organic Ingredients

Servings: 6
Total Cost: $44.69
Cost Per Serving: $7.45
Total Calories: 7,513
Calories/Serving: 1,252

Conclusion

Whether or not organic foods are more nutritious, the one thing we can see for sure is that they are much more expensive. This dish turned out to be 245% more expensive than the non-organic version.

For more information about organic foods the State of Montana has an article about what conclusions they have formulated regarding organic foods.