Money Is Tight so What Fruits & Veggies Should I Buy Organic & Which Can I Buy Conventionally Grown?

In today’s economy you may be feeling the pinch.  Even if you aren’t, you may be more aware of how much you are spending.  Either that is what is happening to me, or food prices just continue to climb!  Probably both.

But I am a believer in eating organically.  It is a fact that organically grown food has a higher vitamin/mineral content than conventionally grown produce.

Besides that I prefer to eat my fruits & veggies without all the pesticides and insecticides that conventionally grown produce offers you.  If you want to know why it is better to NOT consume these dangerous chemicals – that is a whole other blog!

So what to do when my shopping list is bigger than my budget and I’m out of coupons?  Buy some stuff that isn’t organic.  It doesn’t thrill me but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

What then is the ‘must have’ organic produce?  Which are OK to buy non-organic?

Announcing a new update to an old favorite: it’s the 5th edition of EWG’s classic Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, now with the latest government data. This handy guide shows you the fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides, so you know which to always buy organic and which are pretty clean even when conventionally grown.

The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peach	100 (highest pesticide load)
2	Apple	93
3	Sweet Bell Pepper	83
4	Celery	82
5	Nectarine	81
6	Strawberries	80
7	Cherries	73
8	Kale	69
9	Lettuce	67
10	Grapes – Imported	66
11	Carrot	63
12	Pear	63
13	Collard Greens	60
14	Spinach	58
15	Potato	56
16	Green Beans	53
17	Summer Squash	53
18	Pepper	51
19	Cucumber	50
20	Raspberries	46
21	Grapes – Domestic	44
22	Plum	44
23	Orange	44
24	Cauliflower	39
25	Tangerine	37
26	Mushrooms	36
27	Banana	34
28	Winter Squash	34
29	Cantaloupe	33
30	Cranberries	33
31	Honeydew Melon	30
32	Grapefruit	29
33	Sweet Potato	29
34	Tomato	29
35	Broccoli	28
36	Watermelon	26
37	Papaya	20
38	Eggplant	20
39	Cabbage	17
40	Kiwi	13
41	Sweet Peas – Frozen	10
42	Asparagus	10
43	Mango	9
44	Pineapple	7
45	Sweet Corn – Frozen	2
46	Avocado	1
47 (best)	Onion	1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: We ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

GET THE GUIDE

Find out what changed about bananas, carrots, and spinach (among others), and get a printable version of the wallet-sized guide.

Hope this helps you in making decisions when shopping!

To Your Health!

www.GreenLifeSaver.net