There is a big movement to eating organic these days. The Big Carrot on Danforth, Toronto’s largest downtown health food store is bustling at almost all times of the day often with traffic jams in the aisles.
First there is the issue of cost which can be twice to three times the regular price especially if we are talking meat here. Seasonally you can get some great buys. Last week squash at Loblaws was .89 lb and at the Carrot organic was .99lb with organic Broccoli at $1.99. Both great values.
The other consideration is authenticity. Is it truly organic? With acid rain and all sorts of other pesticides in the air and water run off who can say what gets into a farmers field. Hydroponics might be the safest best. Also, there will also be a small amount of fraud going on out there. Fraud seems to be a fact of life these days.
So if budget is a consideration how do you keep costs in check?
A newscaster on Global Toronto mentioned the Organic Dirty Dozen last week on the air and I went searching the net looking for references to it. Just after making a comment about Global’s in depth reporting she mentioned the Dirty Dozen below and listed only the top 3 items… leaving me searching for the rest… so much for in depth reporting.
These reporters crash markets. They have single handedly crashed the Toronto Real Estate market a number of years back and this week they certainly were doing their best to put RIM and blackberry out of business.
Organic Dirty Dozen
The Dirty-Dozen Foods to Buy Organic
Although there are benefits to buying organic produce, it can be a bit pricey. That’s why nutrition experts recommend going organic for the 12 vegetables and fruits that tend to have the highest levels of pesticides. Avoid conventional versions of these foods and you can lower your pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent, according to the Environmental Working Group.
Here’s a list of the “dirty dozen” that justify going organic:
· apples
· celery
· cherries
· imported grapes
· lettuce
· nectarines
· peaches
· pears
· potatoes
· spinach
· strawberries
· sweet bell peppers
Give it a try and go Organic on the Dirty Dozen to lower your toxic load and keep your food costs in line.