Organic on a Budget

After learning the difference between "Organic" and "Natural," you may be inspired to go Organic. If you choose to do this - because you want to be environmentally conscious or because you simply don't want to injest pesticides - then you will quickly learn that is can be very costly!

The purpose of this post, as you've no doubt gathered based on the title, is to teach you how to buy organic produce and still stay within your grocery budget.

The first thing you should know is why you have chosen to buy organic products in the first place. This is a very personal decision - dare I say, a philosophical one.  If you're making an effort to eat healthier and, therefore, believe that consuming pesticides is a bad idea, then you will may want to stick to the 12 foods that are generally believed to be the most important to buy organic.

If, however, you are concerend for the environment or the planet or ecosystems (or whatever your lingo), then you may adopt the philosophy that "every grape counts" and you'll want to buy as many organic or sustainable products as you can. This is done, in part, by buying organic produce, but it is also done by lowering your consumption of meat and buying locally grown/raised food, among other ways...but those are all future posts.

Perhaps you fall into even a third category that is somewhere in the middle.  In this case, you will want to strike a balance between buying every last organic product you can find and buying only the top 12 recommended organic foods. I suspect most of us fall into this category.

The top 12 foods on the list are ranked so because they are the foods that have the highest levels of pesticide contamination, based on studies conducted by the USDA, Consumer Reports, and the Environmental Working Group and are:

1.Nectarines – 97.3% of nectarines sampled were found to contain pesticides.

2.Celery – 94.5% of celery sampled were found to contain pesticides.
3.Pears – 94.4% of pears sampled were found to contain pesticides.
4.Peaches – 93.7% of peaches sampled were found to contain pesticides.
5.Apples – 91% of apples sampled were found to contain pesticides.
6.Cherries – 91% of cherries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
7.Strawberries – 90% of strawberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
8.Imported Grapes – 86% of imported grapes (i.e. Chile) sampled were found to contain pesticides.
9.Spinach – 83.4% of spinach sampled were found to contain pesticides.*
10.Potatoes – 79.3% of potatoes sampled were found to contain pesticides.
11.Bell Peppers – 68% of bell peppers sampled were found to contain pesticides.
12.Red Raspberries – 59% of red raspberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
 

Whether or not you choose to print out that list and bring it along to the grocery store is entirely up to you.  If you don't or if you forget it at home, remember try to remember it this way:

 

If the produce has a thick skin that you would normally peel off - bananas, oranges, limes, etc. - then it's not on the list.

 

Also, you should know that all grapes grown in the state of California are safe to eat, as they are grown under organic conditions - regardless of whether or not they have a sticker noting they are organic.

 

Last, you see that little asterisk (*) next to number 9? There is recent research that has taken spinach off of the list, though most sources still include it.

 

Here is the list of foods that were found to have the lowest amounts of pesticides. Notice that most of them have thick, inedible skins that you peel or cut off.

 

•Asparagus
•Avocados

•Bananas

•Broccoli

•Cauliflower

•Corn*

•Kiwi

•Mangoes

•Onions

•Papaya

•Pineapples

•Sweet Peas

 

*Almost all corn is genetically modified.

 

So, now that you've decided what you'll buy organic and what you won't, you want to be sure to look for these stickers/logos when shopping, as they denote your produce is organic:

 

Happy eating!

Questions? Comments? Have an idea for a future blog post? E-mail me at rn6productions@gmail.com.