Lisa blogs at The Domestic Life Stylist helping moms to “live life at home with finesse and style, amidst occassional domestic chaos but always great fun & fabulous food.”  Lisa is stylish and chic herself and gives readers ideas on food, decorating, parenting, and more with lots of style and flair.  You should definitely check her out!

First off let me say that I did not always eat organically or semi-organically in my case. I did not grow up this way. Well with the exception of maybe the fruit trees in both my parents and neighbors’ yard in my childhood island home anyway. My chemistry teacher once said that “there is too much fuss about organic food because anything that has a carbon backbone is organic”. Maybe so, but there are many benefits to buying organic. But the truth is, buying organic foods 100% of the time is just not feasible for some. Truthfully, buying all organic foods all the time, is not even necessary. At this point in my life, I still don’t buy 100% organically grown. It is just not cost effective.

But every since I had my daughter two years ago, I am so much more conscious of every bite that goes into her mouth and by default mine as well. At some point last year, I was juicing our regular apple, kale, carrots juice and noticed a film floating at the top of the juice. I had washed all of the produce thoroughly and was certainly surprised by this. I later discovered that it was the waxy residue left over from the apples that I had purchased.

Needless to say, 90-95% of the apples that we now eat (and juice) are organically grown. In addition, when I shop for my family, I also try to make sure that at least these foods are organic:

Pears
Cucumbers
Carrots
Eggplants

A good rule of thumb is, if you are going to eat the skin, you should try to buy the organic variety.

Organically Raised:
Eggs (if I have a good coupon, just being transparent here)
Milk
Yogurt
Chicken (trying to be more consistent with this one)
Beef (once bought an organic prime rib cut, hopefully more to come)

I don’t buy the organic varieties of:
Bananas
Oranges
Avocados
Kiwi

There is no need since you will be peeling the skin off of the fruit before eating.

Organic foods are not as “out of reach” as they may seem to be. You can even find organic foods at your local grocery store.

Here is a list of resources that you can use to not only find organic foods in your neighborhood but some websites even tell you what to buy when:

www.epicurious.com (seasonal & local produce guide, along with recipes)

www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org (reveals what is in season when)

www.simplesteps.org (This is a great source that tells you which farmer’s markets are in your area. There is also an app for that.)

So the truth is, buying organic is not always necessary, but a good idea for foods like the “Dirty Dozen” where residual pesticides tend to be higher. In meats and poultry, pesticides tend to get trapped in areas like the skin and fat, so be sure to cut these off if you can’t buy the organic variety.

Are you and your family eating or buying organic foods? What about an organic spring garden? Tell me about it!