11-09-26
My supermarket has caught organic fever. What used to be a little
table in the produce department with a couple of apples and a few other
items marked "organic" has now morphed into nearly half of that side of
the store.
They have this area situated in such a way that the two different
stacks of bananas are just two feet apart. The one stack marked organic
(at a price of about $2 a pound) is within easy reach of the non-organic
bananas, on sale this weekend for 67 cents a pound.
I stood there for a few minutes just to watch shopper after shopper
pass the cheapies, opting for the two-buck bananas. Are these people
trusting, or what? The bananas look identical. How do we know where they
came from? Bananas are imported, so who sets the "organic" standards in,
say, South America? I am suspicious.
Organic meats, poultry and fish have invaded the meat department. OK,
so maybe I can warm up to this concept a bit if indeed it's true that
many chickens and cows are fed antibiotics and enhancement drugs to
encourage production of finer products. It does creep me out a bit to
think of what we might be eating. But $6 a pound for hamburger? Wow!
And what's with the "organic" shampoo, soaps and cleaning products?
That's where I draw the line. Reading an informative article in Money
magazine, "Whole Foods: The Whole Truth," confirmed what I've been
thinking: There are no recognized "organic" standards in the
personal-care industry. Anyone can call dishwashing detergent "organic,"
spike the price by 300 percent and not have to prove a thing.
"Green" soaps and detergents may be less harmful to the environment
(they say they have no phosphates), but they don't do any better job of
cleaning. In fact, they can keep their green glass cleaner. I, for one,
need that ammonia added to the Windex.
A year ago, I was hardnosed, stubbornly opposed to anything marked
"organic." I've come around a wee bit, now agreeing that soft-skinned
fruits like apples, peaches, apricots and plums do absorb through that
skin what they're exposed to. Onions, avocados and corn are practically
pesticide-free whether they are organically grown or not. Foodnews.org,
the nonprofit Environmental Working Groups website, lists conventionally
grown fruits and vegetables by pesticide content. And the meat issue
does ring true with me. So, if I have any "organic" dollars to spend,
that's where they're going.
As for organic shampoo, cookies, chips, cereal and window cleaner,
forget it. I'll stick with my regular non-organic brands. And I'll bet
you anything the contents of my products are virtually the same as the
pricey organic models. With the outlandish difference in price,
especially when I can get these products on sale, I am smiling all the
way to the bank.
Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 18
books, including her best-selling classic "Debt-Proof Living." You can
email her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday
Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about
Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate
Web page at www.creators.com.
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