Prioritizing organic food

[Phi]

Hi,

My family and I would like to go organic, but we have one problem - organic food is extremely expensive around here (double price or more).

So what we want to do is to start out by prioritizing our organic food intake, i.e. eat organic where we get the most benefit.

I have searched high and low for some information about where we will get the most benefit, but I cannot find any

Should we prioritize fruit/vegetables, meat, milk/diary, eggs, flour or something else?

Thanks, Phi

[Dan.Linehan]

Do you have a Whole Foods in your area? That is by far the best place to start.

Its still expensive, but organic foods are very worthwhile. Higher in nutrients, not genetically modified, no pesticides, etc.

[Dan.Linehan]

Organic bananas here are $0.99 / lb. How about there?

[ChrisRegnery]

I can feel your pain! As a student, I don't have all that much money to spend on organic food, specifically produce.

But, you have to think about it differently. If you think of food as costing this much, you will just have to force yourself to deal with it. Don't consider conventional foods as real foods, and just acknowledge that the price of food has gone up... dramatically!

Peapod.com, a grocery delivery service, sells bananas for $0.39/banana! Needless to say, I have about 60 Bananas in my basket as we speak!

[Phi]

Heard a lot of good things about Whole Foods, but we don't live in US. We live in Copenhagen, Denmark and there is only one, extremely expensive, organic supermarked around here.

A bag with 5 small bananas is around $5 here - Conventional bananas is 10 for less than $4.

[Phi]

Originally Posted by ChrisRegnery

I can feel your pain! As a student, I don't have all that much money to spend on organic food, specifically produce.

But, you have to think about it differently. If you think of food as costing this much, you will just have to force yourself to deal with it. Don't consider conventional foods as real foods, and just acknowledge that the price of food has gone up... dramatically!

Peapod.com, a grocery delivery service, sells bananas for $0.39/banana! Needless to say, I have about 60 Bananas in my basket as we speak!

I like your approach, but are you able to be 100% organic within a student budget?

[Lucas]

I would start with your favorite foods. Often the organics taste better, and that may stimulate you to not worry about the price as much.

In my opinion, everything is a process, so there is no need to jump into all organic right away. If you aren't already eating healthy on a non-organics, you should start there as well.

[Amandaaa]

Organic produce is pretty expensive here too. We don't have a Whole Foods or Costco anywhere near here, so I try to go to local markets instead of big grocery stores. Sometimes you can actually find a better deal.

But anyway... if I wanted to prioritize which items I should buy organic, I would go by the level of pesticide residue most commonly found on fruits and vegetables.
This list shows them ranked from worst to best: Latest Pesticide Analysis of Common Fruits and Vegetables - Dr. Ben Kim .com

(Like.. they say that apples and strawberries are some of the worst, so I would start buying those organic.)


and if you eat meat, I think it's definitely worth paying more for free-range meat that doesn't contain antibiotics and hormones.

Top 10 Eco-Friendly Reasons to Buy Organic Meat & Dairy :: Green Living at Care2


good luck!

[C33]

Hi,

Congratulations on going organic! It is not an easy decision as it is an expensive one,at least in your country.

I read somewhere that if you have to go Organic, and have to be selective in your choices , financially, the best bet is to eat organic animal ( meat and fish)or animal derived products ( dairy ).

Do you have any delivery service in your area, from local farmers? This is the kind of service where you pay a set amount per week and they send you veggies and fruit according to the season and availabillty.This might come cheaper...

Also, you need much less organic produce to feel satisfied, than regular produce.Not that you have to starve yourself, but whole foods, in general ,is more filling than processed, pesticides ladden food.

Good luck to you!

[Phi]

Originally Posted by C33

Do you have any delivery service in your area, from local farmers? This is the kind of service where you pay a set amount per week and they send you veggies and fruit according to the season and availabillty.This might come cheaper...

We have a delivery service, Aarstiderne (in Danish), but I'm not sure if it's cheaper or not. The amount of fruit/vegetables seems rather small considering how much the boxes cost.

Originally Posted by C33

Also, you need much less organic produce to feel satisfied, than regular produce.Not that you have to starve yourself, but whole foods, in general ,is more filling than processed, pesticides ladden food.

I have heard that one before. Is it really true and how much less food do you need? (sounds like the perfect diet, although both of us are already very fit)

Originally Posted by C33

Good luck to you!

Thanks

[Phi]

Originally Posted by Amandaaa

But anyway... if I wanted to prioritize which items I should buy organic, I would go by the level of pesticide residue most commonly found on fruits and vegetables.
This list shows them ranked from worst to best: Latest Pesticide Analysis of Common Fruits and Vegetables - Dr. Ben Kim .com

(Like.. they say that apples and strawberries are some of the worst, so I would start buying those organic.)

and if you eat meat, I think it's definitely worth paying more for free-range meat that doesn't contain antibiotics and hormones.

That was my point of origin as well. Start with the fruit/vegetables and meat/dairy, later continue with other things like for example flour.

[bdp]

Organic vs Conventional

[eblight]

Even though organic produce is almost double in price of sprayed and treated foods in the long run it may be cheaper. This is when you consider that you are protecting your health when you eat organic foods and possibly saving a lot in future medical expenses.

[Phi]

Originally Posted by eblight

Even though organic produce is almost double in price of sprayed and treated foods in the long run it may be cheaper. This is when you consider that you are protecting your health when you eat organic foods and possibly saving a lot in future medical expenses.

Health care (except the Dentist) is free in Denmark, so we can't use that as a factor in our calculations

(but it may of course affect our income if we get really sick for a long time)

[Lauxa]

I would say #1 is meat/dairy, because pesticides will concentrate in animal fat. Next is fruit where it is sprayed with pesticides and you eat the skin. Berries and grapes especially because there is a large skin/fruit ratio. Peppers are another good thing to get organic. I don't worry as much about bananas, since you peel them, or about veggies that grow underground, since there is probably not as much pesticides underground.

[Jennihul]

The idea that eating organic, especially high on the foodchain (ie: meat and dairy) is that the more complex the food/organism, the more toxins will have concentrated in their body structures.

Like if you take plankton. One of the smallest sea creatures. A small fish eats the plankton. A larger fish eats the smaller fish which ate the plankton. An even bigger fish eats the larger fish which ate the smaller fish, which ate the plankton. By the time you get to the swordfish, one of the largest of fishes, the toxins absorbed by Mr Swordfish, that were contained in all the smaller fishes he ate, are what makes swordfish dangerous to eat.

There are also websites that classify fruits and veggies, as well as fishes, by their overall toxic risk.

For instance, I would never eat a conventional strawberry, apple, peach or green pepper. Ever. One local strawberry farmer, who was talking with an agriculture student friend of mine, said that the waste berries and leaves that fall to the ground on one of his farms, are so loaded with residual pesticides that they don't even have to respray all year. Just the decaying berries act as fresh pesticides.

I carry a small version of The Blood Type Diet pocket book in my purse, to have my ideal food listings with me at all times. I have listed in the inner and outer covers, all the foods I should ONLY buy organic and all the foods that are ok to buy conventionally. Then I never have to wonder or fight to remember.


Jennifer

[DennyChapin]

Originally Posted by ChrisRegnery

I can feel your pain! As a student, I don't have all that much money to spend on organic food, specifically produce.

But, you have to think about it differently. If you think of food as costing this much, you will just have to force yourself to deal with it. Don't consider conventional foods as real foods, and just acknowledge that the price of food has gone up... dramatically!

Peapod.com, a grocery delivery service, sells bananas for $0.39/banana! Needless to say, I have about 60 Bananas in my basket as we speak!

I'm also a student and while I'm not 100% organic, if you're in a city and you don't mind walking around, you'd be surprised by how easy it is to find affordable organic foods.

It's hard though. Less money on the occasional (and expensive) pint! Now I just drink water in clubs or bars.

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Here's an article about the top 12 foods to buy organic:

Photo Gallery: The Dirty Dozen: Top 12 Foods to Eat Organic : Slide 1

Maybe that will help. I am not sure if it just applies to the US though.