6 ways to go organic!
organic carrots
Not many of us need convincing any longer about the health and environmental benefits from an organic lifestyle.
If you’re concerned about the amount of toxic pesticides you eat, don’t want to wear chemicals against your skin, care about animal welfare or the quality of the air your breathe, then choosing organic products can help you make a difference.
Here are 6 ways to go organic. Why not try one today!?
1- Sign up for an organic vegetable box scheme where you’ll get fresh, seasonal and local produce delivered to your door. Find details on the veg-box recipe site.
2- Check with your local farm shop – do they sell organic produce? Have a browse and see what you can find. You’ll find details of your nearest farm shop here.
3- Commit to spending a certain percentage of your weekly budget on organic food. If your finances are limited, then switch to organic meat and dairy first or choose a product that your family eats lots of, such as bread or bananas.
4- Treat yourself to an organic item of clothing or beauty product. Try Natural collection for some lovely toiletries. Alternatively, try eBay for some second hand organic clothing bargains
5- Sign up for an allotment or grow some organic food at home. If space is limited, try tomatoes in a hanging basket, herbs on your window sill or salad leaves in a windowbox.
6- Try your local farmers market. Many small scale farmers grow organically, but have not paid for creditation. It’s possible to pick up some organic bargains like this!
Aside from the health and environmental benefits, organic produce tastes so much better. It’s worth any additional cost for the extra flavour.
Your post makes it easy for me to see where I can change my purchasing habits. Thank you!
H 🙂
We can’t always afford to buy organic all the time, and sometimes organic options are simply not available at any price. A simple rule when trying to decide what to buy organic is to not worry so much about the fruits and vegetables where we remove the skin (oranges, mandarins, corn, etc), since many of the sprayed-on chemicals will be removed with the skin.
For things where you eat the whole fruit/vegetable (apples, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, etc) try to get organic, since you don’t have that “buffer” between you and the chemicals.
It’s not a perfect rule, but it helps – especially when budgeting.
Also, go for locally-grown produce over “supermarket organic”. Industrial organic farms still use a lot of water, fuel, etc and transport the food long distances. In most cases very large organic farms have just replaced artificial chemicals with organically-certified ones without changing their farming practices.
@Hannah: Hi Hannah,
thank you for taking time to visit and leave a comment. I agree with you – much of the organic products TASTE so much better! I find that especially true of carrots – do you have a favourite tasting organic food?
I’m going to pop over to your site now and see what you have been up to 🙂
@Darren (Green Change): Hello Darren, That is a great ‘rule’ you have come up with. I think I might have seen a ‘dirty dozen’ list or similar of the most sprayed crops to try and buy organically. Have you seen this?
We are very lucky where we live, with local farms and orchards to buy produce. How about you – what’s it like in your area?