Being a mom gives me so many new passions to get interested in – some which I have focused on in the past but to which I haven’t given my whole mind. Today’s focus is healthy produce. I came across this interesting website while looking at Groupons and LivingSocials, which now flood my inbox daily. Behold: A short guide to buying produce, including what products are really important to buy organic.
While buying organic is something I have done for years, I find that, being a mom, working, and trying to keep up with a neat house and daily chores, it has become a bit more difficult to take care in all the produce we consume. Time is simply limited. With guests coming or us going most every weekend, what we eat is not always entirely under our control.
The other side of it is T and I’s recent focus on personal health and fitness, which we are really hoping to build and maintain so that L has a good example set for him. I’ve completely changed my shopping habits – now perusing the perimeter of the grocery store (produce, fresh organic meats, and dairy staples) and completely avoiding the processed foods, the cookies, crackers, sauces, oils, frozen section, what have you. Our fridge is seeing the difference. For some reason we go through food *much* quicker when we’re not eating bread and rice and frozen burritos all the time, and I’m still sane at the end of the day by cooking creatively. And now, little Baby L has started to enjoy several different foods, including rice cereal, apples and carrots (all steamed, mushed up, pureed, barely making it past his mouth, but boy what fun!). So, even with dwindling time, good food choices have become all the more important.
The list has several “known offenders” including strawberries, blueberries, and spinach. But for some reason I keep forgetting that apples are on the list as well. I’m keeping this list as a reminder to me about what to ensure I buy organic. Most of the “Dirty Dozen” seem to be foods you tend to eat with the skin on, or those which have no skin to speak of – helps you make easier choices when it comes to being at the market and picking ingredients without having the list in-hand. I’m glad we ended up starting the delivery box service with Suburban Organics. I’m hoping it ends up being a good value for our family!