If you'd like to save on organic food when grocery shopping, opt for private-label store brands over the national ones. Not only are certified organic store brands the real deal, they often are 10% to 20% cheaper in price. On top of that, the store brands often are made by the national brands FOR the store. That means the jar of organic pasta sauce from a well-known brand is likely to be the same sauce in the private-label store brand, but at a much lower price.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

While donations of nutritious food like brown rice, canned tuna and whole-wheat pasta are always appreciated at the food bank, there are some other things you can give that are higher on the wishlists of recipients. The No. 1 most requested item, according to a recent Reddit poll of food banks, is chocolate. So add a few chocolate bars and even brownie mix when donating. The second-most requested food items are spices, to help give bland food some flavor.

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While buying undyed, unbleached organic cotton is the absolute greenest kind of T-shirt purchase, it isn't always the easiest to find. So do the next best thing: Choose white T-shirts over colored shirts. A typical T-shirt requires about 6.6 gallons of water to dye and process from white to a colored shirt. Choosing a conventional white T-shirt helps save water, reduces chemical dyes and saves energy. If everyone did this, we'd save billions of gallons of water.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION