Introducing the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen of Produce!

Have you heard of the "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean Fifteen" of produce? After not being able to sleep last night with a stuffed up nose and cough (Netti Pot, don't fail me now), I did a little research at midnight while planning tomorrow's shopping trip. The Dirty Dozen (shame, shame) are the fruits and vegetables with the highest amounts of pesticide absorption in conventional growing... buy these organic if possible! Apples and celery are on top of the list. The Clean Fifteen are fruits and vegetables with the lowest amounts of pesticides in conventional growing, so go ahead and buy the non-organic, cheaper version if your budget is tight (ahem, like mine). I thought this was a helpful little chart to share.

Tomorrow will be my first attempt at buying organic produce and meat for our upcoming week. I may be grumpy with a sinus headache and completely overwhelmed. We'll see if I can still pull off my original March grocery budget. There's some exciting changes up ahead for us as we try to weed out the most harmful foods on a frugal budget! I'll keep you posted on my success (or failure).