Dirty Dozen, Clean Fifteen: Eat Organic on a Budget

It’s so common for people to tell me that they want to eat organic, but they just can’t afford it. The fact is, organic food is usually more expensive. However, there are ways to make sure you can accommodate organic produce in your budget. One of the ways to cut costs is to follow the guidelines released by the Environmental Working Group on the dirty dozen, clean fifteen.

The dirty dozen is a list of the top twelve types of produce that have been found to have the highest levels of pesticide on them. The clean fifteen is a list of the top fifteen types of produce that have been found to have the least amount of pesticides on them. Whenever possible, ensure that you are choosing organic when purchasing the items off of the dirty dozen list. If you are trying to cut costs, you can purchase the items on the clean fifteen list as conventional, non-organic produce.

Dirty Dozen:

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Nectarines
4. Apples
5. Peaches
6. Pears
7. Cherries
8. Grapes
9. Celery
10. Tomatoes
11. Sweet bell peppers
12. Potatoes

Clean Fifteen

1. Sweet corn
2. Avocados
3. Pineapple
4. Cabbage
5. Onions
6. Frozen sweet peas
7. Papayas
8. Asparagus
9. Mangos
10. Eggplant
11. Honeydew melon
12. Kiwi
13. Cantaloupe
14. Cauliflower
15. Grapefruit