Most Important Organic Foods?

[Arianwen1174]

We can't afford much organic food but I want to buy some. I almost always make our bread and am switching to organic WW flour for that. I want to get organic grapes as often as we can afford to since it's so hard to get the chemicals off of grapes. I've heard that milk is an important organic to buy because of the hormones and other crap in mainstream milk and am willing to pay more than twice as much for that. I'll do what I can when I can but my real question is, what would you consider to be the few most important organic foods to buy. I make most meals from scratch but we do eat some packaged things. So, what are your most importants?

[rebirth]

milk an produce that I eat the skins of are the top choices for me. Berries in particular I feel have to be organic. Staples that you use often but are not a huge jump in price for organics would also be on my list- like oats, beans, rice/grains.

[cristeen]

Any animal product, since the toxins get concentrated. The Dirty Dozen fruits/veg, and any GMO (like corn, soy, canola, etc.).

[sg784]

http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

[organicmidwestmama]

milk, meat, eggs and any animal fats ie. lard such be from pastured pigs. organic butter if you can. true, conventional (not organic) grapes probably have pesticide residue but overall, unless you are on a diet that consists mostly of grapes, you aren't usually eating THAT many grapes that often.

[Maela]

Originally Posted by organicmidwestmama

milk, meat, eggs and any animal fats ie. lard such be from pastured pigs. organic butter if you can. true, conventional (not organic) grapes probably have pesticide residue but overall, unless you are on a diet that consists mostly of grapes, you aren't usually eating THAT many grapes that often.

: This is what I buy organic when we have the money. Milk, meat, cheese, eggs.

[Arianwen1174]

Thanks so much, everyone! This really helps. Another question: what do you think of "natural" chicken? The kind that's not raised organically but has no added hormones, abx, etc. Organic meat would be hard for me to get and would almost always be outside our budget. Our meat is almost entirely chicken (usually boneless/skinless breasts that I cook, dice, freeze and add to things throughout the month) and ground turkey. I do sometimes buy the natural chicken and obviously it's better than mainstream, but I'd still like organically raised too.

[organicmidwestmama]

all chicken in the us HAS to be hormone free by law, so this "hormone free" thing is a labeling manipulation of the consumer. skinless boneless chicken breasts are the MOST expensive peice of chicken, even fornon-organic. get some skin on,bone in thighs. even with the bone taken out you will get way more meat for your money. plus chicken skin is delicious! and i believe its betterto eat a wholepeice of the animal,obviously not including the bone (thoughbone broth or bone marrow is great for you). i dont always buy organic chicken, but i do try and buy from a seller that is local and a smallish farm.

[Arianwen1174]

Wow, thanks, Organic. I'm surprised I didn't know that. I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the label on the chicken that says "natural." Now that I think about it, I do recall it saying something about no added flavorings, etc. And your idea about buying thighs is a good one, especially considering our budget. I'm already cooking the chicken at the beginning of the month anyway, so it would take hardly any more time to do thighs vs. breasts. Don't ask me why I never thought of that!

[sunnysandiegan]

I have heard many "experts" recommend buying organic for the foods you eat that are farther up the food chain. Therefore, animal products would be more important than produce.

I understand the logic, but we have yet to put it into practice full-time. I focus more on local foods (and hormone-free, antibiotic-free especially dairy) rather than strictly organic, but pick up organic produce far more than milk, cheese, eggs, meat, etc. I am more interested in sourcing raw milk and cheese and butter made from raw milk. I found one source quite on accident, but was pretty flabbergasted at the substantially higher price ($8 for half-gallon of raw whole milk). The raw skim milk was on sale half-price and, although I barely see the point, I purchased it to try it. We used it in everything, but no one drank it straight, and not being big milk people, it went sour before we finished it. Before I found a use for sour raw milk, DH poured it out and recycled the bottle.

[Elizabeth2008]

all the berries and peaches/nectarines/plums/apples and grapes are loaded with pesticides if they are not organic. I think peaches are supposed to be the worst. Fruit in general is more important to eat organic than veggies because they are more susceptible to pests and more fragile. But some veggies, like bell peppers (wait - are they a veg or fruit?) have a ton of pesticides. I think organic dairy is critical and I try to never eat non-organic corn or soy because most of those are genetically modified.

I guess the things I wouldn't sweat too much would be vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, peas, carrots, onions and things with thicker skins that you peel (avocadoes). Bananas although they have a peeling are apparently just DOUSED with pesticides for their long journey from central america, so i try to get those organic as well.

I know a lot of people say organic meat is important and I tend to agree, but not if you know the farm and how the animals are raised, treated and fed. I would feel better buying nonorganic eggs from a farmer I trusted than getting the whole foods "organic" eggs at the store..

[Arianwen1174]

More great input--thanks so much!

[arb]

Elizabeth sums up the way I am thinking about it these days, for the most part. My priority is local. Local and organic is even better, but not always possible. I'd add two links for your consideration: a piece by Dr. Greene about what he thinks our organic priorities should be, and a link to a report on organic milk (and the reason I refuse to buy anything from Horizon):

http://www.drgreene.com/21_2154.html

He says: milk, potatoes, peanut butter, baby food, ketchup/marinara/pizza sauce, cotton, apples, beef, soy, corn. His list is very interesting because he is thinking in terms of which agricultural industries are most harmful to the environment.

http://www.cornucopia.org/2008/01/da...and-scorecard/

We now buy local, non-organic milk, but from an excellent dairy. And we are about to start getting 1/2 gallon raw milk per week and I plan to make yogurt with that. I know I am very lucky to live in an area where I have these options.

And lastly, since reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, I have cut way back on bananas. But I do still buy them for smoothies sometimes. I wish we had a domestic alternative.

Originally Posted by Elizabeth2008

all the berries and peaches/nectarines/plums/apples and grapes are loaded with pesticides if they are not organic. I think peaches are supposed to be the worst. Fruit in general is more important to eat organic than veggies because they are more susceptible to pests and more fragile. But some veggies, like bell peppers (wait - are they a veg or fruit?) have a ton of pesticides. I think organic dairy is critical and I try to never eat non-organic corn or soy because most of those are genetically modified.

[...]Bananas although they have a peeling are apparently just DOUSED with pesticides for their long journey from central america, so i try to get those organic as well.

I know a lot of people say organic meat is important and I tend to agree, but not if you know the farm and how the animals are raised, treated and fed. I would feel better buying nonorganic eggs from a farmer I trusted than getting the whole foods "organic" eggs at the store..