Grocers and producers have learned that the public is becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of paying more for organic food. If they think you'll buy it, they'll make it and sell it to you. The challenge is to be a smart shopper and know when you should and shouldn't spend those extra dollars.
The Environmental Working Group has put together this handy little list that you can download to paper, ipod, iphone, whatever to take to the grocery store with you. It lists the Dirty Dozen, those foods most highly contaminated by pesticides and therefore worth spending extra money on to purchase organic. This is because organic standards do not allow the use of chemical pesticides.
There's another side to the list though, it's call the Clean Fifteen. These are the foods least likely to be contaminated by pesticides and therefore not worth shelling out extra dollars for. My only change to this list would be corn which is often genetically modified, so I'd still buy that either organic or if you know the farmer and can ask them if it's non-GMO. Essentially foods with a shell or outer covering are good choices to not have to purchase organic. That would include bananas.
So save your money on the organic bananas (20 cents per pound at my grocery store) and put that money toward those foods that are important to purchase organically.
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