Want all of the benefits of organic, local produce, meat, and dairy with the convenience of a grocery store? A food co-op might be what you're looking for. They're pretty easy to find and in many cases, you can walk out with bags full of groceries for a fraction of what you'd pay at a traditional supermarket. Here's how to find and get involved with one near you.

A Food Co-Op? What's That?

If you're not familiar with the concept, food co-ops operate like grocery stores, but are owned by members of the cooperative—in other words, they're owned and managed by the people who shop and work there. Because of this they have greater flexibility in the products they carry and how much they sell those products for. Most co-ops specialize in natural, organic, and locally grown foods, and develop relationships with nearby farms to supply their dairy, meat, and produce. Photo by glenngould.

Even better, because members pay in to the cooperative to keep it alive, those products are often sold at a discount. Co-ops are also known for offering cooking classes, gardening lessons, monthly grocery baskets, and other community perks to their members. Some co-ops require you to become a contributing member before you can shop there, but if you shop frequently, you'll get it back quickly in bargains on the stuff you take home.

How Can I Find One Near Me?

The Coop Directory Service has a comprehensive list of co-ops and buying clubs across the US and Canada. LocalHarvest, who you might remember from our article on Community Supported Agriculture, also has a directory of food co-ops around the US. If you're still having trouble finding one, Cooperative Grocer's directory may be able to help as well.

You'll have better luck finding a co-op near you if you live in a city or suburb, but the demand for high quality, local food is high enough that more open in rural areas every year. In some cases, the closest co-op near you may focus on a specific type of food, like gourmet cheeses dairy or all-organic produce. Don't be afraid to shop around or keep looking until you find one that's more grocery store than niche market.

What's The Catch?

As we mentioned, many co-ops expect their shoppers to support the cooperative by becoming members. That means yearly dues, and like the big-box buying clubs, you can come in and look around for free, but you won't be able to check out without proof of membership. You can sign up on the spot of course, but make sure you check out the membership fees before you sign on the dotted line. Photo by Jason Riedy.

On the bright side, many cooperatives let you pay in volunteer hours instead of dollars, so if you have a few spare hours on the weekend and want to get out of the house, you can lend a hand stocking shelves, or indulge your secret passion for box-stacking. If you're interested in learning a new skill, you might even be able to work with the local butcher or nearby farmer to pick up what they know while you work. You never know, it could be a rewarding experience.

What do you think? Are you a member of a co-op in your area? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Photo by DrStarbuck.

Web/iPhone/Android: Previously featured ZipList has expanded its grocery list and recipe shopping tool to include a simple, yet powerful meal planner. Now you can save recipes to your queue and schedule them over the week or month to solve worrying about what's for dinner.

ZipList's meal planner has some really useful features. Add meals to your shopping list to quickly generate a weekly shopping list. Sync your meal plan with your calendar (Google Calendar, iCal, or other) and then, if you want, share that calendar with your significant other.

As before, you can share your weekly shopping list with family and friends, access a database of stores to tap into coupons, search hundreds of thousands of recipes, and clip recipes to ZipList from the web. ZipList has just about every feature you might want to plan your cooking and shopping.

And it's free. An iPhone app and Android app make your shopping lists and recipe box mobile.

ZipList

iOS: If you've ever picked up a product in the grocery store that you've never tried and wondered if it's any good, Consmr for the iPhone wants to help you find out before you make a buying decision. Most people assume that it's too late for research when they're standing in the aisle at the store, but Consmr puts product reviews, over 100,000 consumer reviews, and even product recalls right at your fingertips.

We've discussed how brand loyalty may be costing you money and which products you should always buy generic, but when something's on sale and you're curious about its quality, Consmr can help you find out whether it's worth your money. Just scan the item's barcode with your iPhone's camera or search for it by name, and the app will show you a product listing, an overall rating, and reviews by Consmr reviewers—complete with an easy to read bar at the top so you can see if the overwhelming sentiment is positive or negative.

You can tap to see alternatives if the reviews don't look good, scroll down to read the reviews, or even leave your own rating if you have an opinion to share. You can search by category as well, so if you're looking for gluten-free or sensitive skin products, the app will help you find them. If the USDA or FDA have issued a recall for the product, you'll get a pop-up alert when you search for the item to let you know of the recall so you can avoid it.

Consmr for the iPhone piggybacks on the Consmr webapp and community of reviewers, which already plays host to thousands of reviews. The app itself is free, and available now in the iTunes App Store. How do you make educated buying decisions when you're already at the store? Is it all price, or do you consider quality? Let's us know in the comments.

Consmr | iTunes App Store

The grocery store may be the one-stop place where most of us do all our food shopping, but, for some items, making another stop at a different type of store can mean big savings. Like up to 20 percent saved, no coupons clipped.

In its guide to saving on groceries, Real Simple points out a few places and items for your strategic shopping. Pick up milk at a chain pharmacy like RiteAid, Walgreens, or CVS, for example. Although there will be fewer types of milk offered, you can save up to 20 percent a gallon. Drugstores are a better place to buy spices, personal care items, and (perhaps obviously) medicines, than the grocery store anyway, so while picking up those items, grab a gallon of milk for your savings.

Another great place to visit if you have one near you is an ethnic grocery store, where you can pick up produce such as avocados, mangoes, limes and red onions at a discount.

For other groceries savings advice, check out the full slidshow below, or share your own food budget-busting tips with us here.

How to Save on Groceries | Real Simple

Photo by Anthony