Calling people who know about organic food!!!

[Jojay]

If I was to change 5 staple items of my weekly shop to organic, which ones should I change??

Milk and meat definitely. After that there is a list somewhere - I'll have a look see if I can find it - of which fruit and veg are most often found with pesticide residues and/or the ones whose cultivation is most damaging to the environment.

Apples, grapes, carrots, and grains.

milk, potatoes, carrots, apples, grapes, eggs
meat if you can afford it

Bump

There are many sites which discuss issues surrounding organic food and which ones to buy, including if you're on a budget.

Try this one from the Soil Association. It has a link to download a leaflet on buying organic on a budget.

Or there's
this one on buying organic, especially on a budget, while here you'll find a list of which fruit and veg tend to be most contaminated with pesticide residues. This site has lots of interesting articles and news about organic food.

This was in the Observer magazine this week. Aparently the best five to go for (in terms of measurable pesticide levels in the foods) are milk, potatoes, peanut butter, ketchup and apples.

I would do:

Bread
Milk
Chicken
Fruit
Vegetables

Apples, grapes, carrots and dried beans are the most frequently cited that I've read.

Milk
Carrots
Apples
Tomatoes
chicken (unless you already have free range)

if you already normally by free range chicken then the 5th item would be...

yogurt

carrots and tomatoes actually taste different IMO.... in fact i eat almost anything at all, eyt i only eat organic carrots, as other carrots have no taste

carrots

I believe there's actually a list of the "fab 5" and "dirty dozen" when it comes to organic foods - maybe worth a google.

All dairy, all meats, apples (there's more than 5 here if you include the meat/dairy). I think I can get you a free veg box from Abel and Cole if you want to try one? To be clear, they will send me one as well (not too fussed about this though).

I'd rather eat a non organic apple from up the road than an organic one from south africa which is where the organic ones in sainsburys come from!

Nice chemical free apples - cancelled out by the carbon footprint of air miles.

You could look for a local box scheme, Bethlehem. They have a tiny footprint as all of the fruit and veg are from local suppliers.

I would do local rather than organic.

The problem with local, is that in winter you'll be living on turnips and swedes with the occasional kale...

Nooo. They send you what's in season. The farmers grow more than turnips and swedes.

Useful!

I do local and freerange rather than organic.

I go for high fat items, toxics accumulate in fat. So butter, milk, meat, sometimes cheese. We eat a lot of carrots, too and they aren't too much dearer.

Our local veg box (kent veg) had a giant sqash, red cabbage, greens, beetroot, carrots, onion and potatoes last week. We get their eggs from a small free range chicken farm as they are cheaper than the supermarket

What you eat the most of:

Milk
Eggs
Bread
Chicken
Butter

I agree about meat and diary. If you have the cash things like peppers and mushrooms. Eggs too.