Janelle Fletcher and her husband adopted those strategies to achieve two goals that can seem incompatible: Feeding their family of five organic food and staying within a middle-class budget.

Even as organics move from its health-food niche into the mainstream, premium prices remain in many cases. Health-conscious families are left to find creative solutions to eat naturally on a budget. It can involve a bit of hunting and gathering, bulk-buying, and thinking outside the grocery cart.

"We do eat well despite not being wealthy," Fletcher said. "That's one thing I don't quibble about."

Organic food — produced without pesticides, growth hormones or other additives — accounts for slightly less than 2 percent of U.S. food sales. But the market has been on a healthy growth spurt. Organic food sales almost tripled from 1997 through 2003 to $10.38 billion, according to the Organic Trade Association. Industry officials expect the double-digit annual growth to continue.

Mad cow disease scares and concerns about pesticide-laden produce are among the factors cited for organic's popularity. But an overarching reason appears to be that consumers are more interested about what is in their food, whether it's carbs, fat, hydrogenated oils or chemicals.

Organic advocates offer one more reason: flavor.

"Anybody who tries the organic stuff, you don't go back," said Fletcher, whose family lives near Albany, N.Y. "My chicken soup with organic chickens is so much better."

Organic food can be costlier for a number of reasons, including higher labor costs and economies of scale. A recent trip to the supermarket showed organic broccoli selling for a dollar more a head than conventional broccoli and organic carrots costing a third more. Organic ribeye steaks were priced for two dollars more a pound.

Ronnie Cummins of the Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Association said people always ask him how to eat organic affordably. He points them beyond the supermarket.

Cummins suggests food-buying clubs, which allow a bunch of people to pool their purchasing power and buy straight from wholesalers.

Liz Welch, Cummins' sister-in-law, said her family teams up with four others in their Minneapolis neighborhood to order — then split up — cases of organic macaroni & cheese, tomatoes and natural sodas.