Every year, the EWG comes out with a list of the cleanest produce and the dirtiest produce. If you have never checked out the EWG website I would encourage you to do so because it is a really amazing resource. You can find information on products, foods, water, toxins, and so much more! You can find there website here!
Back to these lists. Produce can be drentched in pesticides and chemicals. Clearly you don’t want to be putting these toxins in your body! Produce can get very expensive, especially if you are going to be buying everything organic. As much as I would love to get all our produce organic, I just can’t swing it sometimes. That’s why I like to refer to the dirty dozen and clean fifteen list.
The dirty dozen is a list of twelve produce items that should always be purchases organic. This is due to the amount of chemicals and toxins they are exposed to. When I am going through our grocery list or shopping for groceries, I always make room in the budget to purchase these items organic.
The clean fifteen is a list of fifteen produce items that should be the least of your worries when trying to purchase organic. I rarely purchase any of these items organic which really helps keep the grocery bill down!
Below are the two lists!! I like to actually keep a list of these in my phone just so I have them for reference!
The Dirty Dozen
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Hot Peppers (bonus!)
The Clean Fifteen
- Avocado
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapple
- Frozen Sweet Peas
- Onions
- Papayas
- Eggplants
- Asparagus
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cantaloupes
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Honeydew Melons
Like I said before, I like to make sure the dirty dozen produce is purchased organic and the clean fifteen is rarely purchased organic. If you can not afford to purchase anything organic I have a few tips for you!
1. Avoid the Dirty Dozen List
This might be a little hard to do, but if you can’t afford organic you can try to avoid the dirty dozen list. Search for recipes that don’t include any of the items. Also, try to find recipes or purchase items off of the clean fifteen list! The clean fifteen list gives you a lot of awesome produce that you can do a lot with! I do believe there is a website where you can enter in the items you have and it will give you recipes!
2. Produce Wash
I actually do this with all my produce regardless of whether it is organic or not and I would recommend everyone do the same. All it is is fulling the sink with cold water, about a cup of vinegar, and then tossing all the produce in there! Let the produce sit for about ten minutes and then put them on towels to dry. It gets the gunk and dirt off and can help remove chemicals. This will not remove all chemicals but it is a good place to start!
This is also a good thing to do with organic produce because organic produce can have more dirt or bugs on them. I know that’s kind of gross, but it’s the way of life and how they are grown!
I hope these lists help everyone out as well as the tips I have provided!