Grocery shopping: organic, local, conventional – oh my!

DMP Playgroup TODAY at 10:30!

We are trying out the FREE Splashpark on Fisher Road and we’ll also be trying out some juice from Cal-Tex and offering our opinions!!

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With two children under the age of two, you can imagine that grocery shopping isn’t always the most enjoyable or efficient process for me. But my husband and I are committed to “voting with our dollars” to make sure that we are still buying food with the least amount of chemical pesticides – for our children and for the good of the environment. Making “greener” and more healthy choices at the grocery store is easier than you might think, if you know what to look for.

There are three versions of nearly every produce item:

Conventional – typically grown in bulk, sprayed with pesticides, treated with chemicals that make them mature faster, and sometimes genetically modified to be larger, juicier, or repel bugs. Pesticides and growth treatments are absorbed into the cells of more thin-skinned fruits and vegetables and they mature and passed on to the digestive tract of whoever eats them. A build-up of these chemicals over periods of time can have negative effects on the body, especially in children.

USDA certified organic – these fruits and vegetables are treated with less toxic chemicals or no chemicals at all. The chemicals that are used must be certified harmless by the United States Department of Agriculture and the produce cannot be genetically modified. These items also have a lower impact on the environment by keeping chemicals out of the ground water in the farming process, and require less dependence on foreign oil because most pesticides require petroleum-based chemicals. When you are shopping, the sticker with the PLU on organic produce will start with a “9”.

Local – local produce can be organic or conventional. The idea behind the “local” campaign is that it doesn’t have to be shipped from a long distance, therefore reducing our dependence on oil/gas and carbon footprint.

So with these choices, when do we choose which one?

We like to support local farmers when we can, but we buy organic first and local second. Since we are on one income, we can’t buy organic 100% of the time. When deciding what foods to purchase organic, I try to focus on avoiding the “Dirty Dozen”, which are the 12 produce items that absorb the highest amount of toxins. Here is the list from Organic.org:

1.     Celery

2.     Peaches

3.     Strawberries

4.     Apples

5.     Blueberries

6.     Nectarines

7.     Bell Peppers

8.     Spinach

9.     Cherries

10.  Kale/collard greens

11.  Potatoes

12.  Grapes

Here are some more tactics I use to make these 12 items more affordable:

•   Join a Community Supported Agriculture co-op to get organic items in bulk for cheaper (I blogged about how we joined a CSA here). With a co-op, you don’t even have to go to the grocery store, you just pick up a case of produce every 1-2 weeks.

•   Shop at smaller grocers or farmer’s markets. If you have older kids, visiting a farmer’s market is often a lot of fun for them as well!

•   Sign up for the emailing list or follow Whole Foods on Twitter or Facebook, they have sales every week.

•   For canned or frozen items, many major stores like Tom Thumb and Kroger have store-brand organic options like the “O Organics” brand which are a lot cheaper than big-brand organics, but just as convenient.

Overall, I feel good about buying organic for my kids, not only because it is good for the earth, but because I believe that the reduced exposure to chemicals probably saves us a lot of illness and medical costs in the long run. For more information on how conventional produce is grown and the alternatives available, I recommend the documentary Food, Inc., or the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. There is even an Omnivore’s Dilemna for Kids , if you’d like to get your kids involved in the learning!

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Jenny is a wife to Christian Bradford and mother of Little Sir, born Oct. 2009, and Little Lady, born Feb. 2011. She is a mom, part time Social Media Specialist for Blue Volcano Media, and the author of Conscientious Confusions, a blog about living consciously. The blog encompasses not only living more “green”, but also healthy eating, conscientious consumerism, and natural parenting.