When We Can't Go Organic All the Time

As I've said before, my household is trying its best to go organic. In a nutshell, going organic means you will be getting foods that are higher in nutrients and contain less pesticides (promise to go more in depth about this soon). In other words, you get more nutritional bang for buck. But speaking of buck.... going organic can be expensive.

In San Diego, we have an amazing place called "The Fruit Stand" where they keep a warehouse full of local [mostly] organically grown fruits and veggies and sell them for a reasonable price. It's an amazing place, but I can only get there about once a week. So what about the other days of the week when you need to pick up some goods, but don't have time to hit up "The Fruit Stand"? Or, what if you don't have a "Fruit Stand"?

Fortunately grocery stores are catching on to the craze and offering more and more organic options. Even our Costco is surprising us every trip with more organic products. BUT they are more expensive.  Therefore, I wanted to share a list given by McKensie Hall, RD of the most and least contaminated fruits and veggies.  I'm trying to learn and memorize, so I know which fruits and veggies are more important to buy organic, and which, if need be, will do less harm to buy regular.  So here we go:

Fruits & Veggies on the MOST contaminated list:

• apples
• celery
• bell peppers
• peaches
• strawberries
• nectarines
• grapes
• spinach
• lettuce
• cucumbers
• blueberries
• potatoes

 Fruits & Veggies on LEAST contaminated list:

• onions
• sweet corn
• pineapples
• avocados
• cabbage
• sweet peas
• asparagus
• mangoes
• eggplant
• kiwis
• cantaloupe
• sweet potatoes
• grapefruit
• watermelon
• mushrooms

Hope this helps!