Day 6 of Turning Your Kitchen Upside Down: The Quick (and cheaper) Guide to Organic

Alrighty.  We've spent the last five days talking about what not to eat.  Now let's take a look at what to try to get into your shopping cart...or to your doorstep (more on that in a few days).

So what's the deal?  Why eat organic foods?

Short answer: They're "cleaner"

Extended answer: no artificial pesticides, artificial fertilizers, sewage sludge, artificial additives, hormones, or antibiotics, no GMO's, and hasn't undergone irradiation or been chemically ripened (Strickland).

Most people are familiar by now with the organic labels and can easily spot them at the grocery store.  Not every store carries organic food and some have a better selection than others.  I will touch on that in a few days when I talk about grocery shopping.

It's no surprise; your grocery bill will be higher when buying organic food.  The question is always,"why is organic food so expensive?"  The best way I've heard it explained is by a young farmer (I apologize, I do not remember the source) who said, "The real question you should be asking is why is conventional food so cheap?"  I will not go into the ins and outs of what industrial farming has done to our food because there are countless resources out there.  I am going to focus on how to eat well on a budget.

I would love nothing more than to stock my entire house with all organic foods, but that is simply not practical for us right now nor is it necessary for every food we eat. So how do you choose what to buy organic and what to buy conventional?

These lists are great cheat sheets to follow when making your grocery list.  They are also good guidelines if you can only replace one food at a time.  That's the way we've done it.  You pick a place to start (usually with foods you eat the most of that have the highest amounts of pesticides) and go down the list one by one.

Think potatoes are safe?  How about your morning cup of Joe?  Think again.
Click here to see TLC's list of 10 things you should buy organic.

My other go-to is the Environmental Working Group.
They are known for the Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen lists on what to buy organic and what is safe to do conventionally.  Wonder where apples fall?  Check out the full list to find out.  You can also see the list of 45 produce items ranked by amount of pesticide used and much more.
Another way to keep up on relevant articles and recipes is to   
I have a board called "food stuffs" where I stash all this tasty information.

This post is part of a series.  To see the last one, read:
Day 5 of Turning Your Kitchen Upside Down: Trans Fats, Highly Processed Foods, and Refined Sugar