Heidi Kenney’s downloadable Dirty Dozen Cheat Sheet gives a quick at-a-glance look at whether or not to buy organic. There are some fruits and vegetables that have higher treatments with pesticides and this cheat shet will help you decide what is worth/not worth spending the extra $ on.
We have been trying to buy as many organic fruits and vegetables as we can, but the area we live in sometimes makes it a bit of a challenge. Our local grocery store has just started to carry a few organic items like strawberries and potatoes, so I almost always drive the 15-20 miles outside our town to get groceries elsewhere. Please keep in mind I do try and limit this trip to every other week, run other errands that are in the same area etc. It is not as if I say “oh we need organic strawberries, let me drive 15 miles for them”
That being said I wanted a handy way to remember the “dirty dozen” (or foods with the highest pesticide residue which was measured after washing and or peeling) and the “clean fifteen” (or foods with the lowest or no pesticide residue) Because sometimes I can’t find something organically and need to decide if I am still going to buy an onion or not
You can find lots of info on the tests etc by googling “dirty dozen organic”.
I know this won’t pertain to everyone, but personally it is something I really care about when I am going to buy produce. So I made this handy little card to keep in my wallet. It is about the size of a business card. I just printed it out, cut the card out of the gray area, folded it in half, and had it laminated. I also realize that organic foods can be more expensive, but some times they are not, or its a small amount like .25 You can look for sales, etc. Plus with this list you can maybe just focus on the produce with higher pesticide residue
You can download the printable file here. Please remember this is for personal use only
Edited to add: Hey guys I have some great links from Amy
Heidi, that’s a super cute interpretation of our guide. I’m from Environmental Working Group — the organization that makes the original Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists — and just wanted to give the link to the original version (www.foodnews.org) where you can see the full list (we rank 47 different types of produce) and get answered any questions you might have. And we do have an iphone app, which you can download there. Cheers, Amy
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