This week I have challenged myself to begin buying Organic fresh produce while sticking to my $70 per week budget.

I looked into several options. There are a lot of certified online organic box options for about $40 that are delivered in Melbourne, but I decided against that, not only for the cost, but also because I am growing many things. For example, over summer I was self sufficient zucchini wise and at the moment I am self sufficient in my leafy greens. I did not want to spend money on things I had.

I have therefore decided to opt for the strategy of buying organic (or grow) from the ‘dirty dozen list’ from a few local green grocers and leaving the rest at the moment (unless its a good comparable price). I hope this will ease me into the idea and keep within my budget, but please ask me about how I am going in a couple of weeks!

You can check out the list here.

Basically, according to the Environmental Working Group the fresh produce with the most pesticide residue are:

-Apples

-Celery

-Cherry Tomatoes

-Cucumbers

-Grapes

-Nectarines

-Peaches

-Potatoes

-Spinach

-Strawberries

-Kale

-Zucchini

-Chili

-Capsicum

 

Whereas the “cleanest” fresh produce includes the following:

-Asparagus

-avocados

-cabbage

-rock melon

-sweet corn

-egg plant

-Kiwi

-Mangoes

-Mushroom

-Onions

-Pineapple

-Sweet Pea (frozen)

-Sweet potato

As a result, yesterday I bought my first piece of organic produce:

(Ok so its not on the list, but leafy greens is one of the more nasty ones and my son just loves munching into raw broccoli)

 

If you are interested in some organic box options here are some of the suppliers I found in Melbourne (I have not used any of them so I am not recommending anyone in particular):

–Aussie Farmers Direct

–Victoria Organic Delivery 

–CERES Fair Food

–Earth and Sky Organics