photo by cajunjenn

At a wonderful birthday party this weekend for my son's 5-year-old buddy, I was completely impressed by the birthday boy's mom's choice of foods. She offered peeled tangerines, boxes of raisins, pizza and organic juice boxes. It's hard to come by organic juice boxes.

A good variety of organic products are not only often hard to come by, but the exorbitant costs could scare anyone away. The truth is, I don't even look for organic juice boxes because the 100% juice brands are expensive enough. I never mean to, but in front of the eggs in every market I'm in, I actually have conversations with myself--aloud. Organic? Cage-free? In Cafe Kim's post  "Can You Afford Organic Food?" she outlines reasons we should lean organic with our food choices--and offers a helpful list of which foods are an organic must, and the ones we can get around to. Some of the produce on both lists are kids favorites.

Pesticides are the problem, especially for our children, and they are very high in common foods like apples and lettuce. So, if you're going to make the $$$ sacrifice for organic foods, says Cafe Kim, do it for these:

12 Worst Fruits and Vegetables (you should try to buy these organic):

  • Peaches
  • Apples
  • Sweet Bell Peppers
  • Celery
  • Nectarines
  • Strawberries
  • Cherries
  • Lettuce
  • Grapes (Imported)
  • Pears
  • Spinach
  • Potatoes

Read Food&PartyBuzz for the 12 Best Fruits and Vegetables and much more on the topic of organic foods. Also checkout the conversation going on over at the organic food is expensive CM group.

Do you feel like organic food is too expensive?