Organics and Green Cleaners

Buying organic food is something that Matt and I go back and forth on. Obviously, we would love to only shop at Whole Foods. There's no denying the quality of produce and meat available there, but our budget doesn't always allow it. Aside from the price of it there's also the limitation of giving up those certain delicious items that wouldn't exist without some mad food science. I'll be damned if I don't love me some Velveeta and Diet Coke.

CNN had a pretty informative article this morning about buying organic: How to buy the best organic foods. We've already started doing one of their tips which is gradually replacing items in your kitchen with their organic counterparts. First up in our house was eggs. The difference in price is pretty freaking big. ($2.40 vs $1.00) but I swear they taste better. There's more of an egg flavor to them. It makes sense though... A lot of the flavor in our meat and animal byproducts is lost because of the way they're breed and housed. Free-range chickens move around a lot more than caged chickens so the muscles have a stronger flavor to them. It's kind of like white meat verses dark meat. Dark meat comes from the muscles the chickens use (legs and thighs) and white meat comes from the muscles they don't (breasts and wings).

I also think it would be nice to rid my household of chemical cleaners. I'm slowly but surely replacing things like laundry detergents and cleaners with safer alternatives. Seventh Generation has some great products and even coupons on their site. Real Simple also had an incredibly thorough article a few issues back about items you may already have around the house that double as safe grime busters. I also think it's a smart thing to do now since we often have our little nieces and nephews over and might one day have kids of our own running around. Kids touch everything, investigate everything, put their mouths on everything... I'd feel much better knowing that my house is free of any unnecessary chemicals.

What does everyone else think of buying organic and natural? Is it important or just a bunch of hippie BS?

Also check out:

• Dirty Dozen: Top 12 Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic
• 18 Easy Convenience-Food Upgrades