Don’t Know What Produce to Buy Organic? This List Should Help.

Concerned about eating conventionally grown produce, but have a limited grocery budget?

Yeah, me too. Especially now that I have my twin toddlers to look after.

Two lists help me when deciding whether or not to buy organic: The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen,” which lists the produce most likely to have the highest pesticide residues and “The Clean 15,” a list of the produce that bears little to no traces of pesticides.

Here’s the “Dirty Dozen” list for 2011:

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines
7. Grapes
8. Sweet Bell Peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries
11. Lettuce
12. Kale

Here’s the “Clean 15″ list for 2011:

1. onions
2. avocados
3. sweet corn
4. pineapples
5. mango
6. sweet peas
7. asparagus
8. kiwi fruit
9. cabbage
10. eggplant
11. cantaloupe
12. watermelon
13. grapefruit
14. sweet potatoes
15. sweet onions

Eating organic doesn’t have to be an all-or-none proposition. When you can’t afford to buy all of your produce organic, just make sure to choose more fruits and vegetables from the “Clean 15″ list.

Whatever you do, though, don’t buy fewer fruits and vegetables for you & your family because you aren’t able to buy organically-grown produce.

Eating conventionally grown produce is much better than eating no produce at all.