Why You Don’t Need to Waste Money Buying Organic?

Organic shopping, while the best way to buy produce, can be very expensive and hard to budget for. With growing concerns over pesticides and fertilizers and what they can do to your health, it seems right to consider organic no matter the price. However, sometimes at the going price of organic in some areas it is just not reachable for some families on a budget.

The truth is that there is a way to make sure your protecting yourself from pesticides and it doesn’t require eating all organic. After researching the amounts of pesticides consumed on organic and non organic produce, researchers put together a list of produce that had the most pesticides left on them after washing and peeling.

From this, the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen lists were put together. Produce on the dirty dozen lists are all highly sprayed and permeated with pesticides and are worth spending money on to buy organic. The clean fifteen had the lowest amount pesticides and can be purchased non organic.

When consuming off these lists there is a large difference in pesticides that make it into your body between the clean fifteen and the dirty dozen. EWG did studies that pointed out that just five fruits and vegetables consumed off the dirty dozen list a day lead to eating up to 10 pesticides and day as compared to to being able to eat the same amount from the clean fifteen list and only consuming less than 2 pesticides a day.

This is particularly important for developing babies, young children and people who are exposed to these pesticides long term. To minimize the potential long term damage from these harmful chemicals shop with the following lists:

Dirty Dozen: Shop all Organic

• Celery
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Blueberries
• Nectarines
• Bell Peppers
• Spinach
• Cherries
• Kale/Collard Greens
• Potatoes
• Grapes (imported)

Clean Fifteen: Lowest in Pesticides

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn
• Pineapple
• Mangos
• Sweet Peas
• Asparagus
• Kiwi
• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Grapefruit
• Sweet Potato
• Honeydew Melon

By shopping from these lists, you can save yourself money by just buying only the most sprayed and absorbable produce organic. Other ways to save money when shopping for your meal prep for the week include going to farmer’s markets to find organic produce at better prices and buying in bulk when possible.

Preplanning saves money when buying even some food organic so it does not go to waste. Meal plan for the entire week and write down all the produce you need so you don’t over purchase and go over budget.

Use these guides to shop smart, save money, and still protect yourself and your family from harmful pesticides.