Organic vegetables and fruits

It would be great if I could buy all organic produce, but it's simply not reasonable. First of all, you can't easily find everything organic. Even if you go to Whole Foods you won't find every type of fruit/veggie in an organic option, and Whole Foods is kind of far from my house. Secondly, organic produce is almost always more expensive (particularly at the grocery store). This will be a very difficult switchover for me because I love a good bargain. Strawberries for $2? Um, yes!

A general rule of thumb for what to purchase organic involves considering the skin of the fruit or vegetable. Is it hard/inedible (like a melon rind or orange peel)? Buy the regular stuff. Is it soft/tender or do you eat the skin? Buy it organic. Tomatoes are a great example of a thin skin that you eat.

A couple of helpful lists:
Dirty Dozen (worst first)
1) Apples
2) Celery
3) Strawberries
4) Peaches
5) Spinach
6) Nectarines (imported)
7) Grapes (imported)
8) Sweet bell peppers
9) Potatoes
10) Blueberries (domestic)
11) Lettuce
12) Kale/collard greens

Clean 15 (best first)
1) Onions
2) Sweet corn
3) Pineapples
4) Avocado
5) Asparagus
6) Sweet peas
7) Mango
8) Eggplant
9) Cantaloupe (domestic)
10) Kiwi
11) Cabbage
12) Watermelon
13) Sweet potatoes
14) Grapefruit
15) Mushrooms

Those are long lists and kind of make my head spin! Here is a wallet-size card you can download for easy reference (link on left side). There's apparently an app for it, too, since there's an app for everything these days.

The rule of thumb I mentioned above holds true for 100% of the dirty dozen (if you eat potato skins) and for 10 of the clean 15. The full list is worth a look, too, but if it all gets jumbled in your mind then just try to remember the rule of thumb.

This year we had a trial vegetable/fruit garden. Things I liked growing included cilantro, raspberries, tomatoes, italian green beans, spinach, and basil. I love tomatoes and find homegrown ones to be vastly superior in flavor. Our beans were delicious, the spinach was easy and flavorful, the herbs were no issue, and the raspberries grow wild and spread quickly.

Things I still haven't decided whether I'll repeat include cucumbers, zucchini (both are very unruly and this stresses me out ... neat rows are my thing), peppers, carrots, and radishes. Things I definitely will not waste time growing again include onions (way easier to buy), strawberries and sugar snap peas (getting a couple berries/peas every so often isn't worth it). Next year I will definitely have a potted herb garden of parsley, mint, basil, and cilantro and maybe thyme because we use those herbs so often when we cook. It has been great going out to the garden to snip cilantro or basil whenever we need it.

Strides I've made at the grocery store:
1) Switched to buying organic canned tomato products (for sauces)
2) Bought organic potatoes, carrots, spinach and leeks for recipes this week

Still can't quite let go of the $2 strawberries ... maybe one day. Every little bit helps though.