Shopping the produce section can be disheartening these days. Paul & I LOVE avocados and we’ve been doing without more often because they cost $3 a piece! Grocery prices have gone up in every aisle. Most of us are looking for ways to stick to our commitment of eating healthier without eating through the cash in our wallets at the same time.

I’ve always preferred buying organic produce, and after Amira was born, it was even more important to me. But we’ve been on harder times financially in recent years and buying all organic produce just isn’t practical or possible. When lists came out giving me invaluable information on which produce items are most heavily sprayed and covered with pesticides and those that aren’t… now that’s some information I can use! So here’s a quick cheat sheet for you!

12 fruits and vegetables that you can BUY CONVENTIONAL if you can’t afford the organic:

• Broccoli
• Eggplant
• Cabbage
• Banana
• Kiwi
• Asparagus
• Sweet peas (frozen)
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Sweet corn (frozen)
• Avocado
• Onion

12 fruits and vegetables that you should try to always BUY ORGANIC:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet bell peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Lettuce
• Grapes (imported)
• Pears
• Spinach
• Potatoes

Click here for a complete and printable list of 43 fruits and vegetables from the best to worst in terms of pesticides. And to read detailed information on pesticides, nutritional variations between organic and conventional produce and GMO produce, read this article on Dr. Mercola’s website.