As a parent, you want to give your child the best of everything. But do you really need to buy organic fruits and vegetables? Or are there just certain ones that should be only consumed in organic? Here’s the truth – we don’t buy all organic in my house. This is largely due to my personal skepticism over the standards used to determine whether something is organic or not. That’s not to say that I don’t buy any organic. If you are a fruit or vegetable with a thin outer skin, or no outer skin, it’s likely that only your organic cousin will make its way into my grocery cart. This means that I generally buy organic blueberries, strawberries, carrots, broccoli, potatoes and leafy greens. And I only buy organic cow’s milk. I don’t buy organic watermelon, cantaloup, mangos or avocados – they all have tough skins.
Then I came across the Environmental Working Group’s list of the 2012 Shopper’s Guide with their list of the Top 45 Fruits and Vegetables. While it looks like my general rule of “thin/no skin, buy organic” was on the right track, I realized there are lots of fruits and veggies that are hight in pesticides that I wasn’t aware of (grapes and bell peppers are really high in pesticide but cabbage is clean- who knew?).
If you want to buy organic but can’t justify or afford a full organic grocery list, the EWC’s list of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 is a great guide on which fruits and vegetables you should try to buy organic.
