When we started this process back in January, one of our biggest concerns was budgetary. We talked to a lot of health-conscious friends and every single person recommended some combination of organic chicken, meat, cheese, milk, eggs, snack foods, fruits or veggies. However, everyone seemed to do their own special combo (meat and chicken but no eggs, fruits and veggies but no meat, etc.). There seemed to be absolutely no consensus as to what the "best" thing to do was, which was refreshing and overwhelming all the same. So Trey and I started evaluating prices and researching the rationale behind all the organic offerings to determine the best plan for our family.
When it came to fruits and veggies, Trey and I agreed that paying attention to the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists published by the Environmental Working Group was a good place to start. Unfortunately, all our key produce options seem to fall on the dirty dozen list, and going 100 percent organic on all things produce just isn't financially possible for us these days. We plan to start a garden this summer to grow some things ourselves, but I also need to be able to buy strawberries, grapes, blueberries, etc. in bulk at Costco to feed my fruit-loving girls.
So what's our solution when I can't find a good enough price on organic fruits and veggies? Homemade fruit and veggie wash. While I agree it may not be as effective as buying organic, I feel it's better than nothing and it's what we can do right now (not to mention it's really easy and cost-effective). Here's my step-by-step process:
Fill a large mixing bowl about half full of cold water. I have a colander that fits perfectly inside the bowl (not necessary but saves a step if you have something that works similarly).
Add 1 cup of white distilled vinegar and 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp) of lemon juice to your water. I generally take a wooden spoon and stir the solution up a few times just to make sure it is mixed well.
Add your produce to the bowl and let it sit anywhere from 2-10 minutes, depending on the fruit or veggie. For something like strawberries or blueberries, I tend to stick to the lower end of the scale (2-3 minutes) since they absorb so much water. For grapes, I soak them for the full 10 minutes.
When the time is up, either remove your colander or gently pour your produce into a separate colander.
Rinse produce with cold water, moving it around as much as possible to ensure everything gets rinsed.
For strawberries, blueberries and other fruits that soak up the water quickly, I lay them out in a single layer between paper towels and allow them to dry for a bit. For storage purposes, I remove the stems, hull them and put them in a Tupperware container. Disclaimer: berries don't last as long if you rinse them on the front end. However, this works best for me because I don't have time to wash my produce every time the girls need lunch or a snack.
You can do this with anything - sweet peppers, cucumbers, lemons and limes, etc.
Do you buy organic? If so, what are your organic "must haves?" We are still finalizing our plan, but for now this seems to be working well for us!
