Let’s face it, groceries are expensive. They are even more expensive when you purchase organic produce. But, there is a hack that will give you the most bang for your buck.
The Environmental Working Group or EWG.org released its 2024 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 List. Should you use these as a guide when making your produce choices? I say yes! I use this list all the time, when making the decision to buy organic over conventional produce.
The Environmental Working Group or EWG, tests all produce every year for the amount of pesticides load in each fruit and vegetable found. They release the results each year in the form of lists. These lists are called The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15.
If you have never heard of these lists, get ready to add a great tool to your arsenal toolkit for a healthier lifestyle. The Dirty Dozen List is the most helpful list for picking clean fruits and vegetables that come with a lower pesticide load.
So, if you are considering starting a diet or changing your habits, these lists will go a long way in helping you save money. The Dirty Dozen are the 12 top fruits and vegetables that contain the highest pesticide load. These are pesticides like round-up and others, which we know cause cancer. You will want to purchase these in their organic form.
The Dirty Dozen is as follows:
Strawberries
Spinach
Kale, Collard, and Mustard Greens
Grapes
Peaches
Pears
Nectarines
Apples
Bell and Hot Peppers
Cherries
Blueberries
Green Beans
The Clean 15
Now, the Clean 15 is the list that has the lowest amounts of pesticides and you can save money by purchasing conventional products instead of organic. This provides a great cost savings when you are at the store shopping.
These are:
32. Carrots
33. Sweet Potatoes
34. Mangoes
35. Mushrooms
36. Watermelon
37. Cabbage
38. Kiwi
39. Honeydew Melon
40. Asparagus
41. Sweet peas (frozen)
42. Papaya
43. Onions
44. Pineapple
45. Sweet Corn
46. Avocados
You can find the lists on EWG.org, and I urge each of you to use these when shopping. Snap a picture and save it to your home screen on your phone. That way, you will have it with you every time you shop.
Meal planning for quick and easy meals is without a doubt one of the most time consuming parts of eating healthier. The only thing worse that this is, the actual meal prep itself. Let’s face it, planning, shopping and then prepping can take an entire day. Who has a whole day to dedicate to this? There is an easier way.
When you plan, you will want quick ideas. For this, you will need to re-think your way of cooking. For me, cooking was more of an art than a necessity. I would spend hours in the kitchen for one dinner, but that was when I cooked the good old southern way. Those days are now gone. I am focused on nutrition now.
What is your why?
You have to ask yourself “what is my why”? This gets you clear as to why, now what is your goal? You have to set an achievable goal. Ask yourself these questions:
What is my goal?
How can I get the most bang for my buck in the way of nutrients?
How can I cook or prepare quick easy and budget friendly meals?
My Goal
First of all, my goal was simple. I needed a diet plan that would support my nutritional goals of eating healthier and losing weight. Some things I needed to forgo were wine, cheese, ice cream and really most dairy altogether.
I was always heavy on the meat and startches, so I needed to add more fruits and vegetables in my mix, and cut the additional salt. Okay, I had my first base covered. I had a specific goal and kept it simple. I have my why and goal covered.
My nutritional needs
I knew that if I incorporated nutritionally dense foods, it would help my body repair itself and provide the nutrients it needed to stay healthy. So, I focused on getting the most bang for my buck. This would provide the much needed nutrition for energy and weight loss. If you need a list of those top nutritional foods, you can find them at the link below:
I also needed to save money on my grocery budget, so I followed the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen rule of buying produce. This will save you money, while forgoing those cancer-causing pesticides. Click the link below for that list:
I knew my cooking style had to change overnight. I needed to let go of my three and four course meals and focus on meal planning for quick and easy meals. This meant incorporating things like smoothies and oatmeal with fresh fruit, during breakfast and lunch, and cooking “one pot meals” or all-in-one meals for dinner. See my post below for one-pot meals:
Success comes down to having a plan and working the plan
I knew planning, shopping and prepping could not be done for me all in one day. I just simply ran out of stem and didn’t prep. I thought, “I will do it tomorrow” and tomorrow never came. Groceries go to waste like this, so a new plan of action had to be born!
I decided I would meal plan my quick meals during the week and would make a full shopping list for each of the two stores. I would also take inventory of my panty, refrigerator and freezer for the foods I needed.
I had my lists for both stores. You might ask, why two stores, why not just one? Well the reason is two-fold. First, our supply chain hasn’t recovered and my stores do not always have the things I need, so I am forced to make a second stop. Second, you always want to look at the ads for cost-savings and add those to your cards so you can take advantage of those extra digital coupon savings.
My Plan
This meant on Thursday, when the ads came out I would research and load everything I need to my digital coupons for money saving ideas. Friday night, I would clean my refrigerator out, and take inventory of anything I might need. I would make my lists for each store. If I had time, I would look to on-line healthy recipes or a book for inspiration. I may not follow the actual recipe but it will give me a guide. I tend to make my meals a bit healthier.
Then, when Saturday/Sunday rolls around, I grab my lists and keys and head out the door. Inventory was already taken from my refrigerator, pantry and freezer and lists are in hand. This keeps me from purchasing unneeded items and spending more money than planned. Let’s face it, groceries have gotten so expensive, we need all the help we can get in this area.
When I get home, I unload, wash and stock things away. Remember, the refrigerator is already clean and ready to go from the night before. I go directly into the prep of washing, cutting and containing, what I need for the days ahead. This would typically give me about 5 days of easy food ready to go for a quick toss. Realistically, I can prep and cook any dinner in 30-45 minutes and this included clean-up.
Now this will take some getting used to. It will take time to perfect your craft, but you can teach an old dog new tricks, so stick with it. You will find quick and easy ways to get healthy and nutritious foods in your body, without spending an entire day cooking.
Being successful at eating healthier is 80% of our getting healthy journey. If you can master this, then you can add walking (or the exercise of your choice), for the last 20%. All of this together is going to equal a healthier and hopefully lighter you.