If you’re looking to stretch your food budget dollars further, start here. I usually recommend buying organic fruits and vegetables if you can, but this list will help you sort out which high quality produce you can get away buying conventionally grown. The Environmental Working Group is a great organization that evaluates common fresh vegetables and fruits for pesticide residues and updates their list annually.Their latest version of the Clean 15 indicates that the following conventional fruits and vegetables have the lowest amount of pesticide residues:
- Onions
- Sweet Corn
- Pineapples
- Avocado
- Asparagus
- Sweet peas
- Mangoes
- Eggplant
- Cantaloupe (domestic)
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Watermelon
- Sweet Potatoes
- Grapefruit
- Mushrooms
These fresh vegetables and fruits have the lowest amounts of pesticide residues and are usually just fine to buy conventional as opposed to organic. Onions, pineapples, avocados, asparagus, and peas are just fine to buy conventional. This list does not evaluate GMO’s or Genetically Modified Organisms however, so I always recommend buying organic sweet corn if you can find it because most of the sweet corn sold is GMO. Check out the Dirty Dozen for the fresh vegetables and fruits with the highest amount of pesticide residues that you should always try to buy organic or check out the EWG’s full list here.
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