go organic .

Summer to me means ripe berries, simple salads, bbqs, and picnics outdoors. After reading Michael Pollan's 'In Defense of Food' and watching documentaries like Food Inc., I have been trying to be a more conscious consumer- a big component of which is trying to eat organic foods as much as possible. While I definitely think that spending a little more at the supermarket for quality organic foods is worth the health & environmental benefits, it can get pricey pretty fast for a girl on a tight budget. That is where the  Environmental Working Group's Food Guide comes in. They put together a list of foods that are low in pesticides (thus you can afford to buy conventional) and foods that literally soak up pesticides (and the conventional are best bypassed for the organic).

The EWG  advocates for buying organic whenever possible (if not for  sake of lower pesticide exposure then for the sake of supporting environmentally friendly farming, as well) but do acknowledge that it can become expensive and hence created this guide. The guide notes: "If you choose 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day from EWG's Clean 15 rather than the Dirty Dozen, you can lower the volume of pesticide you consume daily by 92 percent, according to EWG calculations. You'll also eat fewer types of pesticides. Picking 5 servings of fruits and vegetables from the 12 most contaminated would cause you to consume an average of 14 different pesticides a day." 

Topping the 'Dirty Dozen' of contaminated conventional foods:

1. Apples

2. Celery

3. Strawberries

4. Peaches

5. Spinach

Topping the 'Clean Fifteen' of conventional foods lowest in pesticides:

1. Onions

2. Corn

3. Pineapple

4. Avocado

5. Asparagus

You can download the full list here.
More tips on eating local & organic on a budget here.

Read more about the benefits of organic here.

 photo 1, photo 2