We'd love to be able to afford all organic food. It's not in our budget. We did manage to buy all organic food for the children when they were babies and toddlers, but since then, other priorities have taken over, such as keeping a roof over our heads and we were not particularly successful at that at one point, losing our home and having to throw ourselves on the mercy of the state. Ugh! Not a happy time.
It's been a few years since then and we have managed to begin to stabilise our financial situation. I've been trying to squeeze more organics out of our grocery budget and have been concentrating on milk and chicken (practically the only meat in our diet.) Other than that, it's been a bit random! Now I'm ready to try to find money for a few organic veg and fruit and be a bit more systematic about it. I wondered what our priorities should be.
Searching the internet, I've only been able to find a US based list of the most contaminated and least contaminated fruit and vegetables. It's probable that the list would be similar in the UK. If anyone knows of a comparable UK list please let me know via the comments section.
According to the Environmental Working Group in Washington, here are the 12 MOST contaminated (with pesticides etc) foods:
Strawberries
Bell peppers (green and red)
Spinach (tied with number 2)
Cherries (grown in the United States)
Peaches (grown in Chile)
Cantaloupe (grown in Mexico)
Celery
Apples
Apricots
Green beans
Grapes
Cucumbers
The LEAST contaminated are:
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet Peas-Frozen
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet Corn-Frozen
Avocado
Onions
We grow our own strawberries, practically the only things that will grow in our dark, cold garden which always surprises me! Maybe I'll wait for them to come into season in future! We eat a lots of peppers, apples, celery and grapes, so it's useful to know that they are among the worst culprits and worth spending extra on them to have them sans pesticides!
Hope someone else finds this useful!
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7 comments:
Thank you Dorothy. This was a good reminder - I wrote this out and put in on my fridge. I'll take it to the grocery store with me until I can remember it. Thank you for taking the time to write this out for all of us. I'm sure the US study is helpful for you, but it seems something more specific to the UK and your suppliers of veggies/fruits would be most helpful to you. I hope something is out there for you. Thanks again for sharing your research with us. We miss you all!
Joelyn
This IS helpful. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I also read some years ago now when we first went on to organic milk that carrots and potatoes were another vegetable that can be very contaminated by pesticides and chemicals. I can't remember where I read the article, but I think it may have been in a parenting magazine, but really aren't sure. This surprised me as I assumed that root vegetables would be safer, but apparently not and it was suggested that those two vegetables should be made a priority in the list of which organic vegetables to buy.
I've seen this list (or something similar) before, and I knew strawberries were at the top of the list. Another way to help protect your family is to not eat too much of one fruit/vegetable.
I don't buy organic meat (maybe hamburger, though, but I'm not sure). I do look for the "natural" label for chicken though. (I suppose it makes up for all the junk in sausage and salami, lol.)
Thanks for this list . . it will help me out a lot. Also, we switched to organic milk about a year ago and will never go back. It's more expensive but worth it. I also am starting to add in organic veggies as i can afford it.
Hi Dorothy, thanks for the comment on my blog - as to shade tolerant veggies, my best shot off the top of my head (duh? you know what I mean!) would be the aforementioned oriental vegetables.
Tatsoi, Pak-choi, Mizuna, Mibuna. In yer average garden, you grow them over winter in the g/house, like I have or spring and autumn, since high temps make them bolt and they don't like too much sun. They're great as they are 'cut and come again' so you can help yourself to a tasty organic salad at the snip of your kitchen scissors.
I'll have a think and see if there is anything else, but I'd definitely give these a go. Good luck!
Jackie
It's a good reminder, we're changing our diets too, I slacked the last year or so since life was so hard with accidents and co-op's and such.
I want to really work on food now and also want to improve Colin's diet now that he will be off allergy shots, which are another bad thing in the system (although needed for his type of allergy and my type of anxious Mom). It's one of my goals this year.
We occasionally get organic grapes from HS co-op. They are so good, they are the one fruit items I would say to people to always get organic. I almost want to keep them to myself and hide them from my family. LOL I can't eat regular grapes now as I notice the bad pesticide or whatever it is taste so much. It never seems to wash away completely even with scrubbing (awkward with grapes!) or veg. wash.
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