You know, I try to avoid getting all worked up about the latest thing "the experts" are telling me are bad for me. Part of the time they take it back in a few years and other time's I just think, "I have so many OTHER things to worry about that I'm just going to do my best to be conscientious but try not to obsess." So when I hear about all the movements (only organic, only bottled water, no meat, cow milk is bad for you, chemicals in our drinking water, pesticides in our food....it could go on and on) I get overwhelmed. If I left it to the "experts" I'd have nothing left to eat, drink or wear and my blood pressure would be through the roof. So I pick my battles and try to do my best with what I have to work with.
And I have no desire to go off-grid and live a self-sustained life in the boonies. Cuz guess what, we've probably tainted the soil and air there too.
So my latest chosen battle is a concern for store bought produce that could possible have pesticides on the skin. I've been eating lots of apples lately and every time I reach for one I think I need to wash it before I sink my teeth into it. But what the heck do I wash it with? Water and a good scrub from a towel just doesn't seem good enough to kill any pesticides that might be on the skin. Hand soap seems to just add to the problem and I'll be danged if I'm going to buy some expensive wash just for my fruit. I don't even buy expensive wash for my own skin.
The answer to my problem? Why, this awesome link of course. A little lemon and vinegar in a spray bottle? Perfect. THAT, I can do.
12 comments:
Nice. that works well for everything! I keep some baking soda by the sink and use that for my fruit such as apples, but this spray would be really handy for things such as lettuce.
I wonder how long the bottle is good for? I would think, because of the fresh lemon juice, that it would need to be refrigerated. Probably the best thing to do would be to treat all of your produce when you bring it home from the grocers, then put away. I am going to try this, cause tho much of my veggies are either homegrown or organic, most of my fruit is not.
Awesome tip. Can't wait to start using it... like right now. Thanks so much!
i like to avoid the hyped up news myself.
Oh but be sure to use a food grade plastic spray bottle. That could poison you too...hehehe
I'm like you- I can't keep up to all the stuff we are supposed to do. This is easy enough though, thanks!
Thank you so much for posting that! I always scrub the fire out of my apples and other fruits and veggies and still feel like they are not clean enough! But now I will!
I have found that using straight vinegar in a spray bottle also does the trick when washing fresh fruits and vegetables; just rinse them thoroughly; there won't be any residual taste either and the smell quickly disapates. We do have a multipur filter for our drinking water and that is what we use for our food as well. Our chemicals in this part of the country are very strong--especially the chlorine.
Great tip. Thanks!
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see where it said how much vinegar to add. Anyone know?
I will definitely be using this tip. Thanks so much for the post.
I keep a glass shaker jar by the sink (cheap from the import store) filled with baking soda. I then wet my produce and sprinkle on baking soda a scrub away. Not sure if it does the trick but it makes me feel better doing it. :)
Scrubbing non-organic product DEFINITELY helps - even with good ole soap and water, but the vinegar and lemon is wonderful, too. There is also a fruit/veggie wash that is pretty inexpensive as you only need a few drops in a sink full of water to clean your entire produce.
The problem with non-organic fruits and veggies is that they are GROWN with them, so all during the growth process, they absorb the chemicals. Kinda icky. It's best to just check out the organic produce, because nowadays they have great sales on most common organic produce.
Some of the worst foods to eat non-organically? Strawberries, nuts, grapes and any type of berry. They absorb chemicals like crazy.
happy scrubbing!
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