The dirty dozen: when to buy organic

I dream of the day when I'll be able to afford all organic food. Until I become a millionaire and own my own farm, or at least, afford to buy all my groceries at Whole Foods (i.e., Whole Paycheck), here's a list of the foods that you should aim to buy organic. It's known as the "dirty dozen," 12 fruits and vegetables that are the most at risk for contamination of pesticides. If you have to pick and choose which groceries you spend the extra money on, these are it, according to Organic.org:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

The Today Show recently aired a segment on about what "organic" actually means. Organic means that the animals have not been treated with antibiotics, growth hormones, or feed made from other animal byproducts. Instead, they are fed organic feed for least a year and have access to some time outdoors (period of time isn't regulated). Organic also means that the food hasn't been genetically modified, irradiated, or treated with sewage fertilizer or synthetic ingredients and the produce doesn't have synthetic chemicals used as pesticides.

If the package says:

100% organic - it means it's 100% organic

Organic - it means it's 95% or more organic

Made with organic ingredients - it means it's made with at least 70% of organic ingredients.

Some other groceries to consider buying organic:

• Milk
• Beef
• Poultry

According the article, it's not worth the extra money to buy organic bananas, kiwis, mangos, papaya, pineapples, asparagus, avocado, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, onions, or peas because these products generally do not contain pesticide residue.

If you looking for find the tastiest brands of organic foods, Men's Health (Kevin's favorite go-to guide) has a slideshow of its favs. I'm glad to see organic french roast coffee is on the list.