I never really thought much about what I should be buying organic...until I got pregnant and had my babies. Now I think about it all the time, which is one of the more tangible pieces of evidence I have that I might actually be a grown up. Once when I was pregnant and had just started buying everything organic, the kid ringing up my groceries finished scanning all my food, looked at the total, and said 'You know, good for you, buying organic and eating healthy while your pregnant - it sure is expensive!'. To which my inner monologue chimed in ' Uh thanks man - I definitely have no anxieties about the financial implications of having twins, but I guess that's a compliment?'. But it did make me wonder if I needed to be buying everything organic because it IS expensive, and especially once your kids start growing and eating more, it really does become a noticeable difference in the grocery bill. As it turns out, every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyzes pesticide residue testing data from the Department of Agriculture and the FDA to come up with the rankings for 48 popular produce items to determine which are most contaminated by pesticides (the Dirty Dozen) and which are the cleanest (the Clean 15). They have some cute list downloadables on their website, but we decided to take it one step further and create our own cool visual lists. You can download them below so you have something pretty to hang on your fridge for reference when you are making your grocery list. Enjoy!
