Hellobee

We try to buy organic apples, strawberries (other berries), peaches/nectarines, spinach. Since we so much on a weekly basis.

The other stuff, we just buy regular and wash really well!

Interesting – I’ve heard that bananas are extremely “dirty” so those are one of the things that I always make sure to buy organic….but they’re not on either of these lists!

This made me curious, so I just read this EWG article on bananas. It makes sense to me, since you don’t eat the peel! http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2014/04/bananas

An interesting part of the whole organic vs conventional debate that I feel like people forget…what about the people who pick/grow/handle our food! That’s a major benefit of buying organic for me, and guess what, it doesn’t matter to them how thick the peel is!

Before I had my daughter and even while i was pregnant, I didn’t really buy organic. Now that she’s eating solids tho I do try to buy organic whenever possible. I’ve definitely become worried about pesticides and hormones going into her.

They have an app to!! Actually 3 apps. Search for Environmental Working Group.

‘Skin Deep’, ‘Dirty Dozen’, and ‘EWG’s Food Scores’ allow you to easily access important ingredient and pesticide info while you are out shopping!

Very much so! It’s hard because it does get expensive but less so in Oregon than other places where farms or year round producers like California are close by.

We try when we can but sometimes it’s not even available at certain times of the year. We try to prioritize beyond the EWG’s Dirty Dozen to budget for organic milk and meat. I just did a post on how we save on free-range beef and pastured pork this week, and discuss how we try to eat organic vegetables when available and reasonably priced. Berries this time of year are a delicacy in the house!

http://www.allthingsbigandsmallblog.com/2015/02/thrifty-tuesday-buying-grass-fed-meat.html

I buy organic when I can, but I lightened up about it after reading this: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2014/01/organic_vs_conventional_produce_for_kids_you_don_t_need_to_fear_pesticides.html

You’ll also notice that the price difference between conventional and organic is the greatest for the dirty dozen! I remember once paying $15 for organic strawberries a month ago…i think i must have been out of my mind.

We usually try to go organic for foods listed under the dirty dozen. For meats and eggs, our preference is to buy from a local butcher who will source from smaller, reputable farms as opposed to organic from a large farm.

In the summers I go to farms or smaller markets and buy organic or at least local farms that aren’t officially “organic” and don’t use pesticides.
Winter is so hard, I buy organic apples, bananas and greens as much as I can, but the cost of groceries in Canada is insane!

No, it depends on what is available and affordable. I try to buy more from local farms that are open to sharing their growing practices.

@hummusgirl: that was a great article – i had no idea that organic farmers could use naturally derived pesticides

I try to use these guidelines, but often fail on the berries and bell peppers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135239/

“In summary, findings conclusively demonstrate that consumer exposures to the ten most frequently detected pesticides on EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” commodity list are at negligible levels and that the EWG methodology is insufficient to allow any meaningful rankings among commodities.”

When we were living in the U.S. I always tried to feed my kids organic. Here in Taiwan it’s harder to find but not completely impossible. Just like the U.S. it’s hard to know if it is truly “organic.” I heard that even if it says “USDA Organic” it’s not truly organic. They still use pesticides but much less than conventional produce. There’s a good size farmer’s association here and some of them do sell lower pesticide produce so I try to buy those as much as I can or go to the stall at the wet markets that sells only organic. Some of those vendors also delivers to your home if you order $60 USD worth of produce. We try to buy as a group to be able to get free shipping. One of the organic milk farms also delivers their milk to your house; except they sometimes have a shortage of milk so I just buy from a different organic milk farm that sells their milk at a small bubble tea place nearby our apartment. They deliver daily and it’s so fresh that it only lasts a week. I know, a bubble tea place that sells organic milk. Unheard of. Not here in Taiwan. Haha! The great thing about this bubble tea place is that they use organic milk in all their teas/drinks that uses milk. I like it much better and never feel disgusting after drinking a gigantic cup. And I can get the kids fresh milk with real taro chunks or clear bubbles (no food coloring in the bubbles). I haven’t found a bubble tea place that actually sells kid-friendly drinks. Their organic milk is about the same price as the U.S. at around $2.50 per 1/4 gallon. And that’s with a 10% discount b/c I have a “membership.”

My argument for organic bananas is that even if the bananas do not generally absorb much pesticides, the workers on and people who live around conventional banana plantations suffer from side effects from the pesticides, some of which are quite serious. The environmental effect on the workers and the community where the crop grows is enough for me to switch to organic bananas.