Tips for Eating Organic on a Budget

*This post has been updated to reflect the EWG’s latest release (2024) of the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen.

Choosing to eat organic is one of the best choices you can make for both your personal health and that of the environment. It’s not always realistic to purchase everything organic, though, so keep these guidelines handy to help you choose the foods that are most important to purchase organic.

Meat and Dairy

Choose organic animal products whenever possible. This includes beef, poultry, eggs, dairy, and pork. Conventionally raised animals are (mis)treated with antibiotics and hormones that, when consumed, lead to a host of health problems including altered hormones and dysbiosis (gut bacteria imbalances). Organic animal products come from animals raised without antibiotics and hormones and are also higher in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.

P.S. If you’ve ever wondered, what does organic really mean? or what’s the difference between organic eggs and free range eggs? this article by Prescribe Nutrition answers all your questions!

Produce

Organic produce is grown without the use of pesticides and is generally higher in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. I recommend organic produce whenever possible but for our wallets’ sake, there are some foods that are more important to purchase organic than others. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out a list each year of the produce with the highest and lowest traces of pesticides and chemical residue. Foods on the Dirty Dozen list are the most contaminated and highest in pesticide residue. These foods should be purchased organic whenever possible. The Clean Fifteen list includes fruits and vegetables that have the least amount of chemical residue and can generally be purchased non-organic without too much concern.

Dirty Dozen

1. Strawberries

2. Spinach

3. Kale, collard greens, mustard greens

4. Grapes

5. Apples

6. Grapes

7. Peaches

8. Pears

9. Nectarines

10. Apples

11. Bell peppers and hot peppers

12. Green beans

Clean Fifteen

1. Avocados

2. Sweet Corn*

3. Pineapple

4. Onions

5. Papaya*

6. Sweet peas

7. Asparagus

8. Honeydew melon

9. Kiwi

10. Cabbage

11. Mushrooms

12. Mangoes

13. Sweet potatoes

14. Watermelon

15. Carrots

*These foods may be genetically modified so should be purchased organic to avoid GM foods.

Non-GMO

I also recommend purchasing the following foods organic since they are most likely to be genetically modified (also look for these ingredients in packaged foods):

• Corn (corn, corn starch, corn syrup)

• Soy (soybeans, soy milk, soy lecithin, soy products)

• Canola Oil

• Potatoes

• Sugar

• Apples

• Papaya

• Summer squash