When you eat a lot of fresh produce (as we do), and you use it to make your own baby food (as we do), you think about what pesticides you're ingesting. Sure. But when you think of how much more expensive your grocery bill would be if you made the switch, you may tend to ignore the facts and numbers. Not because they're not alarming, but because solving the problem would cost a lot.
And my priorities are split, to be honest.
But there's light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks to this site, we know the 12 worst foods for pesticide use. The good news is, if you buy just these dozen foods organic, you'll be eliminating 80% of the pesticides you ingest through the produce you eat!
They call them The Dirty Dozen:
They call them The Dirty Dozen:
apples
celery
strawberries
peaches
spinach
nectarines
grapes
sweet bell peppers
potatoes
blueberries
lettuce
kale
That's really refreshing because switching to 100% organic just is not in the cards for us right now.
We don't have easy access to farm fresh produce living in the city (unlike my parents who live in an agricultural haven in Southern Ontario), and our budget doesn't allow for the astronomical costs. You could argue that if it were enough of a priority, we'd find room in our budget - and you're right, it's important to us, but not that important.
But I do believe we could commit to buying The Dirty Dozen organic. And really, we rarely buy celery or kale, and blueberries are most delicious from Quebec (and are often organic and cheaper because they're from our own backyard!), so it would only be like the Naughty 9....or something...
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| TRUE FACT: organic strawberries taste way better than regular ones. that was an easy switch! ALSO TRUE FACT: Lily can hold 3 strawberries in one hand. Hello, Lebron James. |
What about you?
Could you make the switch to 80% less pesticides in your diet by buying The Dirty Dozen organic?
Or is it still just too costly? (hey, wouldn't blame ya!)
What stops you from buying organic?
What makes you buy organic?
I'd love to hear!!
Genius! This is so helpful (especially since I usually do the groceries :-)
ReplyDeleteWoops - that was me.
ReplyDeleteWe started doing exactly this earlier in the year, and we are now trying super hard to buy as much organic/local meat and eggs as possible. It is tough to make the switch financially but it has actually forced us to eat less meat and more veggies and let me tell you the meat tastes 100% better!
ReplyDeleteOh and based on a ton of scary stuff I have been reading I just started doing all natural organic sunscreen for the kids, more expensive but I figure they will have a lifetime of exposure to the stuff so it is well worth it.
for me..meat is huge. Have you seen Food Inc? We switched to a local, grain-fed, organic butcher when we lived in hamilton but now that we live at my moms we're back to the "nasty stuff". I always forget the dirty dozen..but there's lots of printables online for your wallet..I should print one! Good for you for making the switch!
ReplyDeletei think my favourite part of this whole post is the first comment. Made me laugh out loud when I thought that you had called yourself a genius for such a good post!! (makes more sense once I realized it was brad)
ReplyDeleteIf you can make to an organic grocer (I don't know the plateau so I'm not sure what is there.. I'd be surprised if there WASN'T one), if you make it a general habit to buy things that are on sale, it usually isn't much more expensive than buying non-organic. Sometimes, it can even be cheaper to buy on-sale, organic produce.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to consider is signing up for a coop. There are many, many farms in the greater Montreal area that do weekly drop-offs at many locations around the city. Sure you'd have to pay upfront at the beginning of spring or fall for spring-summer or fall-winter boxes produce boxes. But you're buying organic, local, and seasonal. It's a great way to get nutritious food while supporting local economy. You really can't beat that. I also see it as another way to be a good steward for the money God entrusts to you, but that's a way bigger discussion.
we TOTALLY want to participate in a coop - but sadly our schedule with travels out of province so frequently would't make it a wise purchase. we'd be gone a lot and miss out or the food would spoil in our absence :(
DeleteI know summer food boxes don't work for you guys, but the fall/winter boxes could work for you guys since you travel less then and the veggies you get in those boxes tend to be heartier and last longer (eg root veggies).
Deleteactually we'll be gone for 5 weeks in the Fall this year :( definitely something we're hoping to do once were more stable haha!
DeleteFound this old post since you linked to it in your recent post about your new venture!
ReplyDeleteI just thought I'd pass along something that has made eating organic so much more convenient for us. We use www.jardindesanges.com which offers organic food delivered to your door year round! Plus you can choose what you want to get, choose the frequency of deliveries, and pause your deliveries online through your account anytime you are out of town or just don't need it. It's super convenient and they have excellent customer service. If ever I get produce that isn't fresh (very rare) or there is an issue, I shoot them a quick email and they respond quickly and credit my account.
Sometimes the prices for certain foods are higher than I'm ok with paying (even for organic) but those are usually the out of season produce...and I simply don't buy it! You can get baskets but I prefer doing 'a la carte' and getting exactly what I need. We also get coffee from there (sadly coffee beans are like a pesticide sponge! ��) and many other groceries items. They emphasize local produce as much as possible but in the winter, they have to import somewhat or there would be no produce!
Anyway, we love it so I thought I'd share it with you! :)
And for organic meat, we buy a half cow every year from a local farmer that is not certified organic but has even higher standards than the organic industry (grass fed, black angus beef) and it costs us no more than standard beef at the grocery store (maybe even less!). Plus I go to the Costco in Burlington 3 times per year to stock up on organic chicken which I freeze and use as needed.
Anyway, there are definitely ways to save even when eating organic! It just takes a little planning and some networking to find the right farmers and services. :)
Good luck on your journey!