September Green Series: Dirty Dozen

My goal was to do a monthly Green Series, but life got in the way. If your interested, you can check out part 1, which I started back in June.

For many of us, it is simply not possible to buy all organic because it is just so darn expensive. Plus, if your local super market is anything like mine, the organic section is about 1/100th of the grocery store and provides very few options. So, keeping in the spirit of my green series and an attempt to help others make simple and not-so-expensive changes, I'm going to suggest an alternative: only buy organic fruits and veggies when it comes to the 'dirty dozen.' According to the Environmental working Group, this includes: apples, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, hot peppers, imported nectarines, peaches, potatoes, spinach, strawberries, and bell peppers. In 2013, EWG also added kale/collard greens and summer squash to the list. The EWG is even so nice as to provide the clean 15 so you know where to save your money: asparagus, avocados, cabbage, cantelope, sweet corn, eggplant, grapefruit, kiwi, mangoes, mushrooms, onions, papayas, pineapples, sweet peas, and sweet potatoes. No matter what list the produce is on, you should still wash your fruit and veggies before eating them. Another idea is to spray them with vinegar and then rinse.

Buying organic is a personal choice, but a smart choice. When the grocery budget gets a little tight in our house, we skip the organic, but we try to stick to the dirty dozen as much as possible. When it comes to my son, 90% of his food is organic, because I know how sensitive his growing little body is. Local farmers markets have the most delicious organic produce (seriously, you can taste the difference) but they can get really expensive, so we only go about once a month.

Do you follow the dirty dozen?