The Red, White, and Green

Last week, I wrote about the Environmental Working Group‘s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, which shows you how to reduce your exposure to pesticides up to 80 percent by avoiding (or buying organic) the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Conversely, you can save money by buying conventional produce in the “clean 15″ — those fruits and veggies with the least amount of pesticide residue — if organic is out of your price range.

I wanted to find out exactly how much you can slash your grocery bill by buying conventional produce in the clean 15, so I went on a mock shopping trip this morning. I couldn’t find conventional and organic types of everything on the list, but here are the results:

Now, obviously this isn’t an exact comparison of what your groceries would cost (after all, the average cabbage weighs at least 2 pounds, and when was the last time you bought only one measly pound of sweet potatoes?), but it does give you an idea of the potential savings. Let’s say you did this very shopping once a week. You’d save almost $13 by buying conventional versions of the clean 15. The savings add up quickly: $52 a month, or $624 a year — that’s no small potatoes (sorry)!

Of course, organic is always the best choice when possible. In addition to the obvious health benefits, buying organic also supports small (and often local) sustainable farms. But if you’re pinching pennies like most of us these days, it’s nice to know that you can lower your pesticide load and your grocery expenses at the same time.

I did discover something surprising while conducting this experiment, however: Organic isn’t as expensive as you think. You just have to shop at the right store, as well as choose the produce that offers the most bang for your buck.

I started my mock shopping trip this morning at Whole Foods, but because I couldn’t find conventional versions of everything on my list, I also stopped by Ralphs (a So Cal grocery chain). I found that organic produce at Ralphs is considerably more expensive than at Whole Foods, and quite often, the conventional produce at Ralphs is, in fact, the same price or more expensive than the organic produce at Whole Foods. For example, Whole Foods’ organic green leaf lettuce was $1.99; Ralphs’ conventional green leaf lettuce was the same price — and 50 cents more for organic. Organic avocados: $2.99 at Ralphs, $1.50 at Whole Foods. And while the prices for cabbage in the chart above were from Ralphs — since Whole Foods only offered organic and I wanted to show an accurate comparison — the organic cabbage at Whole Foods was actually only 69 cents a pound.

The moral of the story? You really can save significantly by purchasing conventional produce in the clean 15. And when you do buy organic, avoid the big chain grocery stores. Whole Foods or your local farmers market is a much better deal.

–Jennifer Grayson

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