Lately I've been hearing a lot about the pros of buying organic foods. It's not a new concept, but the news if full of health concerns about the pesticides and antibiotics used in foods. I have read some articles that have really made me consider trying to buy more organic foods. Of course there a pros and cons. Organic foods don't have all those yucky pesticides and chemicals in them. The meat comes from farm raise, grass fed animals and the milk is from animals not treated with rBST. The biggest con though is the higher cost. Being a family on a budget ( who am i kidding, aren't we all on a budget?) I try to get the most "bang for my buck" and with come organic foods costing twice the amount as non organic, who can afford to only ea organic? Plus, organic foods don't always stay fresh as long because they aren't preserved with chemicals. Another issue is there aren't a lot or restaurants in town that only use organic products meaning we can eat as healthy as we want at home, but if we eat out, we won't be eating organic. This makes everything confusing, that is for sure! Places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's(my favorite!) have a lot of organic options, and TJ's is pretty reasonable, but unfortunately the closest ones to Dubuque are in Madison.
I can across this graphic though that gives you a good place to start : Produce.
This chart is nice because it shows what produce has the mst pesticides hat you should buy organic, and which ones are okay not. This article is always nice too. I explains what you should buy organic and why:
Today Baileigh went to the store and. Was determined to try to buys organic meat, produce (from the dirty dozen list) and dairy. Out try was a success, but I'll admit I spent more than usual. Usually I plan out 4-5 meals for the week and get those items, milk, fruit, yogurt and snacks and spend about $50-$75 for the week. I am a thrifty shopper! This week I planned 3 nights of meals but the other ransoms things we needed. Today I spent $68 and got everything I needed but I didn't get nearly as much for my money! A gallon of organic milk was over double the cost of non, $6.89! I bought two red peppers for $6.99, which was $3 more than non-organic. I also bought yogurt for Baileigh and I that was only a little more expensive. For meat I bought 1 lb of grass fed ground beef for $6.15, about $2 more than usual. Those were just a few of the items. It sure is interesting to see the different in cost. I'm looking forward to the meals this week and to see if there is a taste difference or anything.
Do you buy organic items? If so, what ones? Are starting slowly adding items to your cart or diving right in? I'd love to hear feedback!
P.s. I wrote this post on our iPad for the first time and had to code the HTML my self, so try to look past those errors :)
