Healthy Eating 101 Budget Cooking Guide 15 Foods You Don't Need to Buy Organic Some fruits and vegetables are less likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, so you can feel good about buying them conventional if you are trying to stick to a budget. By Penelope Wall Penelope Wall Instagram Penelope Wall is EatingWell's digital content director. She has a bachelor's degree in English and studio art and a minor in French from Middlebury College. Growing up in Vermont with a Puerto Rican father and English mother, Penelope's exposure to different food traditions has always been quite varied and diverse. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines and Carrie Myers Carrie Myers Instagram Website Carrie Myers is a portfolio entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the health and wellness space. As a freelance writer and editor, Carrie has worked for both consumer and trade print and online publications. She's been quoted in several articles as a health and fitness expert. Carrie is also a certified life and wellness coach and exercise physiologist, and the founder of CarrieMichele Co., a lifestyle company that helps women create lives they love where they can be authentic. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 16, 2023 Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD Instagram Jessica Ball, M.S., RD, has been with EatingWell for three years and works as the associate nutrition editor for the brand. She is a registered dietitian with a master's in food, nutrition and sustainability. In addition to EatingWell, her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Real Simple, Parents, Better Homes and Gardens and MyRecipes. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Share Tweet Pin Email Eating more fruits and vegetables—organic or not—is better than eating none at all. And while many of us would love to be able to buy organic produce all the time, it can be expensive. Is the price of organic worth it for your health? Pesticides can be absorbed into fruits and vegetables, leaving trace residues. According to a 2017 review in Science of the Total Environment, higher exposure to pesticides can have many health consequences, from immediate effects like throat irritation, nausea and dizziness to asthma, certain types of cancers and cognitive and reproductive issues from long-term exposure. One way to limit your exposure to pesticides is by choosing organic. But if that's not a financial reality for your family, you can also shop smarter: Buy conventional produce that's the least likely to contain pesticide residues and save your organic dollars for produce that tends to have the highest amounts of pesticide residue (aka the Dirty Dozen). I'm a Dietitian & I Don't Usually Buy Organic—Here's Why Pictured recipe: Avocado Toast with Burrata Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, releases a Shopper's Guide to Pesticides that identifies fruits and vegetables with the highest and lowest pesticide residues. The Clean Fifteen is the list of foods that are least likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, so if budget is a concern, you can feel good about buying these 15 fruits and vegetables conventional. According to EWG: Out of the Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples, almost 70% of them had no detectable pesticide residue.Less than 2% of the avocado and sweet corn samples had any detectable pesticide residue.Less than 5% of the Clean Fifteen samples had residues from two or more pesticides (compare that to the Dirty Dozen, where more than 90% of the samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for two or more pesticide residues).The first six on the Clean Fifteen list showed residue from three or fewer pesticides. Of note: Some produce—like corn and papayas—might be grown from genetically engineered seeds. If you try to avoid genetically engineered foods, you will want to opt for organic corn and papaya or find brands that carry the Non-GMO Project Verified label. Another way to tell if your produce is organic, conventional or genetically modified is to check the little PLU label on the produce. Here's EWG's 2023 list of the Clean Fifteen, starting with the least contaminated food, along with some tasty ways to eat them. 1. Avocados Brie Passano Pictured Recipe: Avocado Goddess Sauce 2. Sweet Corn Photographer: Antonis Achilleos, Prop Stylist: Christine Keely, Food Stylist: Karen Rankin Pictured Recipe: Skillet Corn 3. Pineapple Pictured Recipe: Pineapple & Cucumber Salad 4. Onions Jacob Fox Pictured Recipe: Melting Onions 5. Papaya Jenny Huang Pictured Recipe: Dulce de Papaya con Jengibre y Cúrcuma (Candied Green Papaya with Ginger & Turmeric) 6. Frozen Sweet Peas Pictured Recipe: Lemony Linguine with Peas 7. Asparagus Pictured Recipe: Grilled Asparagus 8. Honeydew Melon Pictured Recipe: Honeydew Melon Agua Fresca 9. Kiwi Pictured Recipe: Chocolate-Pistachio Kiwi 10. Cabbage Pictured Recipe: Melting Cabbage 11. Mushrooms Pictured Recipe: Roasted Mushrooms with Brown Butter & Parmesan 12. Carrots Victor Protasio Pictured Recipe: Cumin-Roasted Carrots with Dill Yogurt Sauce 13. Mangoes Photography / Caitlin Bensel, Food Styling / Emily Nabors Hall Pictured Recipe: Mango & Avocado Salad 14. Watermelon Brittany Conerly Pictured Recipe: Watermelon Poke Bowl 15. Sweet Potatoes Ali Redmond Pictured Recipe: Hasselback Sweet Potatoes with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit