Saturday, April 3, 2010

Organic food

     My lovely sister-in law and I were discussing grocery shopping and of course that lead to organic produce. We were talking about how expensive it is to eat healthy. We were thinking that maybe having less meat meals might be cost effective, but that isn't an option for her meat eating hubby;) It was pointed out that meat maybe a large chunk of the bill, but produce costs just as much, if we're talking about portions. The small amount of meat you need compared to the large amount of fruits and veggies we are suppose to consume, both are major munchers of moneys.
      Of course if you want to eat organic, and not feed yourself and your children all the poisonous pesticides, then you're going to be spending even more. Organic produce costs a lot more then non-organic. How are we going to be able to feed our families healthy foods and not break the bank??
      Well I'm not even going to talk about organic meat, or the fact that "needing" milk is a myth. I'm just going to focus on the veggies.
      My sweet sister pointed out that there is an option to eating healthy and being money smart. There is such a thing as the "Dirty Dozen". Follow the link and download the list. What it is, is a list of the dirtiest and cleanest produce. Dirtiest meaning pesticides. On another website they quoted: "It is estimated that if a consumer avoids eating non-organically grown produce in the top 12 ("Dirty Dozen") on this list, pesticide exposure can be reduced by up to 80%. This list was compiled by the Environmental Working Group from approximately 87,000 studies by the USDA and FDA of the 47 fruits and vegetables listed between 2000 and 2007".
      I printed out the list of Dirty 12 and Clean 15. It will go on my fridge and I will follow it for buying my organic produce.


      Something else I found that I think is even better then buying organic produce at the store. Terrace Local Foods/Sustainable living meet up group. I think this is terrific. If we can buy and sell our food locally to each other we're not only doing ourselves a huge favor, but the environment too. I joined! I won't be able to make it to the first meeting, birthday party here, but hopefully the next one.

      I think my closing thoughts are, Think Clean, Think Green:)

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