organic or not at all?

[urquie]

considering the different lists of top fruits and veggies recommended to buy organic... if organic is not available, or i'm not willing to pay the price, should i just skip the worst offenders?

we buy a ton of fruit and veggies from costco, most of which is not available organic (strawberries, blueberries, peaches etc). we wouldn't eat nearly as much if we didn't buy from costco.


i've heard that buying local is better than buying organic. that makes me feel like i have a little more wiggle room :)

[egoldber]

I am conflicted on the local vs organic. I do think they are not as treated if they do not have to ship them very far, but I am still uncomfortable with pesticides.

It has been a gradual process for me. I am now pretty much at the point where I won't buy fruits unless they are organic, but it took me about 2 years to get there. ;)

[ThreeofUs]

Balancing the risks vs the good you get from food is hard, even for chemists. Fruits and vegetables, fish, etc. - all great foods for you, but all carrying the potential nowadays for harm.

I don't know where to draw the line, but because of "insider knowledge" I draw it a little conservatively. We eat some non-organic fruits and vegetables, and some fish that might be problematic from a PCB standpoint (only because I can't be in Alaska or at the fish farms doing my own testing!)

For us, we have good local vendors of organic fruits and vegetables, so we eat those almost exclusively. Our one exception is apples in the fall.

Unfortunately, the orchards here are NOT organic as they were in CA so apple-picking is ... hard for me to handle but impossible to give up. We do wash and peel most of our apples, so I hope that we get rid of most of the pesticides that way.

That's hard enough for me right now!

As for local vs organic, there are good arguments on both sides. Depends on where you are on energy use as well as large-scale pesticide use.

One thing you *can* do is to ask local farmers what pesticides they use - they have usually thought this through pretty thoroughly and are willing to discuss their choices with you. Also, any smaller farmers can't afford the organic certification, but farm organically anyway. Go to the green guide www.thegreenguide.com/reports (http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports) to understand what chemicals are in use and which to stay away from.

[hillview]

This is my order:
local AND organic
local AND low spray
organic (not local)
not organic (skip worst offenders) and not local -- don't do often and basically never for the kids
not organic and worst offenders -- never really do

/hillary

[hellokitty]

This is my order:
local AND organic
local AND low spray
organic (not local)
not organic (skip worst offenders) and not local -- don't do often and basically never for the kids
not organic and worst offenders -- never really do

/hillary

That's pretty similar to the way I buy food for my family too.

[Bens Momma]

As for local vs organic, there are good arguments on both sides. Depends on where you are on energy use as well as large-scale pesticide use.

One thing you *can* do is to ask local farmers what pesticides they use - they have usually thought this through pretty thoroughly and are willing to discuss their choices with you. Also, any smaller farmers can't afford the organic certification, but farm organically anyway. Go to the green guide www.thegreenguide.com/reports (http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports) to understand what chemicals are in use and which to stay away from.


:bighand: I try to buy local as much as possible and luckily there's a GREAT
selection here this time of year. Ivy, great suggestion to ask them about their pesticide use and the Green Guide link is AWESOME! Thanks!

[linsei]

\For us, we have good local vendors of organic fruits and vegetables, so we eat those almost exclusively. Our one exception is apples in the fall.


Ivy,

I sent you a pm.

[linsei]

I struggle with this.

I think the dirty dozen list contains some of the most difficult to find organics - such as blueberries, strawberries, and peaches you mentioned. I think these are nearly impossible to find fresh, and when I do find them they look horrible. It's frustrating.

It's easier to find things on the safe list, like organic bananas.

I don't have a Costco, just Sam's. The only organics they have are spinach, spring mix, and carrots. Yhey also have a habbit of discontinuing the organics that I do find there (pb, cheese) because trhey do not sell enough.

I'm really trying to focus on meat and dairy now. I've almost given up on the dirty dozen list.

Is there a way to know what is used on local produce?

[lablover]

I try to always buy organic with the dirty dozen. I always buy organic grapes for DS, but if we are at another house I don't stop him from eating conventional ones. My husband mostly buys conventional, although he's coming around. So it's a matter of who gets to the store. He's the primary cook and I eat what he makes. Our farmer's market has had THE best peaches this year, and I've been eating them for the past month or so. I bought organic peaches from Whole Foods and they were nasty, so I've let myself enjoy the local ones - pesticides and all. For the 12 items containing the least pesticide amounts I do not buy organic.

[kijip]

We get the bulk of our produce from a farm box. It is organic. There is fruit in it year round (though we eat a lot of apples in the winter, being in WA state!) It costs $30 or so a week. We spend an additional amount on bananas, berries etc at the co-op. We also buy frozen fruit for the wintertime.

It took awhile to adjust to the prices but we do all organic now.

[purpleeyes]

I follow the dirty dozen list pretty closely e.g. if the store I am at doesn't have organic apples, we don't get apples that week! :) I rotate my grocery shopping (back and forth between Trader Joes/Whole Foods) and I also go to our farmers market, too. We just got 2 new farms that don't use pesticides, etc. so I feel great buying from them. It also helps to buy what is in season-cheaper.
I plan my budget to include organics, even if it means giving up some "extras"... thats how I make it work! ;)

[urquie]

thanks for all the replies! and thanks for the great link - it had info i was looking for in another post about safe nail polish :)


Go to the green guide www.thegreenguide.com/reports (http://www.thegreenguide.com/reports) to understand what chemicals are in use and which to stay away from.

[urquie]

this is what i wanted hear!

"However, food-safety experts advise that the health benefits of eating produce -- organic or nonorganic -- outweigh the risks associated with pesticide exposure.)"


How to Choose Produce That Reduces Your Exposure to Pesticides
http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/article.html?article_id=45227

[kijip]

this is what i wanted hear!

"However, food-safety experts advise that the health benefits of eating produce -- organic or nonorganic -- outweigh the risks associated with pesticide exposure.)"


How to Choose Produce That Reduces Your Exposure to Pesticides
http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/article.html?article_id=45227

I have to say I agree. We buy organic for the environmental impact more than the personal risk. Those that can't afford to eat all organic should not skip their fruits and veggies. If our income dropped, we would likely keep the farm box (it's very competitively priced) but switch to buying conventional extras. If our income really dropped, we would switch to conventional foods in season before not eating produce.