Pass the Organic Nachos! Pricing Super Bowl Snacks

We know what you’re thinking: "Organic food…. at a Super Bowl party?" Should diehard football fans really worry whether the wings they’re eating came from chickens that once roamed freely or what kind of preservatives are in their Budweiser?

Well, why not? There's a reason that sales of organic food have skyrocketed 142% to $5.2 billion over the past five years, according to Mintel, a market research company. And, as it turns out, a surprising number of ingredients needed to whip up a Super Bowl party are sold in organic form -- but you'll have to pay a hefty price.

As we've written before when we went shopping for an entirely organic Thanksgiving dinner, the premium you pay for an individual organic item may not be all that substantial, but pull together an entire meal and the costs really start to add up.

So just how much extra does it cost for game day feast for, say 20, fellow football fans? SmartMoney.com went shopping at organic food mecca Whole Foods and two New York City supermarkets (for the nonorganic comparisons) to find out. Overall, our menu, which consisted of all of the game day classics: Buffalo wings, mini cheeseburgers known as sliders, beef chili, chips, salsa, guacamole, dips, soda, brownies for dessert, and of course, beer, cost about $241.

That puts the organic premium for this meal at about $20, or 9%. That's nowhere near the 75% premium we found for our Thanksgiving dinner. Why? Blame the beer for starters. Our local grocer was selling Sam Adams for $8.99 a six-pack (while Whole Foods was selling the same amount of organic Lamar Street Pale Ale for just $5.99). Even factoring in merchants who think they've got shoppers over a beer barrel when it comes to suds for the party, organic beer's a good deal (if you like the taste).

The centerpieces of our Super Bowl feast -- beef for the chili and chicken for the Buffalo wings -- rang in the biggest price difference. Going organic when buying three pounds of chicken wings cost 33% more than going the conventional route. Beef: 66% more. Price tags on things like vinegar and eggs could also cause some serious heartburn. A 32-ounce bottle of white vinegar was $1.99, compared with $6.49 for the organic version – more than three times as much. And eggs cost more than double their conventional counterpart.

And while we thought we might have to pay a premium for all the organic foods on our list, there were a couple of categories where we actually saved money: salty snacks. A bag of organic tortilla chips was actually 60% cheaper than the nonorganic kind, while organic salsa was about 30% less than the nonorganic brand.

So is buying organics worth it? The Organic Trade Association says eating organic means you’re not exposed to pesticides, artificial fertilizers and food additives like chemical preservatives. The bigger price tag at the store comes from higher production and distribution costs.

To see how the prices stack up, check out our complete rundown of the costs for our organic and nonorganic Super Bowl party spread:

* All figures reflect prices from New York City locations of Whole Foods Market, Morton Williams supermarket and Trader Joe’s. We used recipes from the Food Network’s web site. We did not find organic mini burger buns for the sliders or sugar; we used nonorganic buns and sugar for our organic menu. We also did not find nonorganic bay leaves; we included the organic bay leaves in the nonorganic menu.

Source list:
1. Lamar Street Pale Ale (organic): $5.99/6 pack // Sam Adams: $8.99/6 pack
2. Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Soda: $2.29/pack of 6 cans // Coke/Diet Coke: $2.99/6 pack
3. Whole Foods 365 Everyday Fancy Mixed Nuts: $6.99/16 ounce bag // Planters mixed nuts: $6.19/11.5 ounce can
4. Garden of Eatin’ Red Hot Blue tortilla chips: $2.50/9 ounce bag // Tostitos restaurant style tortilla chips: $3.99/13 ounce bag
5. 365 Organic Salsa: $2.99/16 ounce jar // Tostitos Chunky Salsa: $3.99/15.5 ounce jar
6. 365 Organic Classic Potato Chips: $2.39/5 ounce bag // Lay’s potato chips: $3.99/6.5 ounce bag
7. 365 Organic unsalted pretzels: $1.99/7 ounce bag // Snyder’s pretzels: $2.49/10 ounce bag
8. Organic sourdough bread loaf: $3.49 // Round wheat loaf: $3.49
9. Cascadian Farm organic chopped spinach: $3.19/10 ounce bag // Shop Rite frozen chopped spinach: $1.39/10 ounce box
10. Spectrum organic mayonnaise: $5.19/16 ounce jar // Hellmann’s Light Mayonnaise: $4.19/15 ounce jar
11. 365 Organic Worcestershire sauce: $1.59/5 ounce jar // Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce: $3.49/10 ounce bottle
12. All natural Melinda’s hot sauce: $2.69 // Frank’s Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce: 1.39
13. Horizon organic sour cream: $3/16 ounce tub // Breakstone’s sour cream: $2.89/16 ounce tub
14. Scallion: 99 cents/bunch // Scallion: $1.69/2 bunches
15. Avocado: $3.99/4-pack // 99 cents/each
16. Organic tomato: $3.99/pound // 1.99/pound
17. Organic onion: $1.29/pound // $1.99/pound
18. Cilantro: $1.99/bunch // 99 cents/bunch
19. Limes: $1/for 2 // $1/for 6
20. Organic chicken wings: $3.99/pound // $2.99/pound
21. Organic baby carrots: $1.99/bag // $1.99/bag
22. Celery: $2.49/bunch // $2.59/bunch
23. Organic Valley blue cheese (shredded): $3.59/4 ounce container // Treasure Cave blue cheese: $3.49/5-ounce container
24. Spectrum organic distilled white vinegar: $6.49/32 ounces // Heinz distilled white vinegar: $1.99/32 ounce bottle
25. Organic ground beef: $4.99 pound // Ground chuck beef: $2.99/pound
26. Horizon Organic American cheese slices: $3.99/12 slice pack // Kraft American cheese: $6.99/24 slice pack
27. Martin’s dinner rolls: $3.19 for 12
28. Organic beef round: $11.99/pound // Ground chuck beef: $3.99/pound
29. 365 Organic Canola oil: $4.69/16 ounce // Sunera canola oil: $3.79/32 ounce
30. Red bell pepper: $4.99/pound // $4.99/pound
31. Green bell pepper: $1.99/pound // $2.49/pound
32. Westbrae Natural organic kidney beans: $2.39/25 ounce can // Shop Rite kidney beans: 99 cents/15 ounce can
33. Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes: $2.59/28 ounce can // Hunt’s diced tomatoes: $1.99/14.5-ounce can
34. Bay leaves: $2.99/package
35. Jalapeno peppers: $4.99/pound // $3.99/pound
36. Organic garlic: $4.99/pound // $3.99/pound
37. 365 Organic vanilla extract: $5.99/2 ounces // McCormick vanilla extract: $7.99/2 ounces
38. 365 Organic unsalted butter: $4.79/16 ounces // Breakstone’s unsalted butter: $3.69/8 ounces
39. 365 Organic unbleached flour: $4.69/5 pound bag // Gold Medal unbleached flour: $6.99/5 pound bag
40. Giving Nature (certified humane) eggs: $3.59/dozen // Quaker State eggs: $1.69/dozen
41. Equal Exchange Organic baking cocoa: $5.99/8 ounces // Saco baking cocoa: $3.19/10 ounce
42. 365 Organic chocolate: $2.19/3 ounce bar // Baker’s unsweetened chocolate bar: $2.99/4 ounce bar
43. Jack Frost Sugar (nonorganic): $3.99/5 pound bag

To help keep the costs of buying organics lower, Barbara Haumann, spokeswoman for the Organic Trade Association, suggests buying store-brand organic foods like Whole Foods’ private-label store brand, 365 Everyday Organic, Safeway’s O Organics and Stop & Shop’s Nature’s Promise. Warehouse clubs like Wal-Mart and Costco also sell organic products.

Also, search the web for coupons. Many major label organic brands, including Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm offer coupons on their sites. (Read our story for more ways to save on organic food.)