We all see the range of choices for each item every time we go to the grocery store. You just need some avocados, but should you pay extra to get them organic? Or perhaps you’re looking for ground beef, and you don’t know what lean-fat ratio is worth it, or if you should invest extra for grass-fed. For many on a budget, it can be tough to navigate which of these things justify the price, so here’s a quick guide on how I view some of these debates on my weekly trip to the grocery store.
Produce
Organic or not organic? This, as it turns out, is highly dependent on the item you are purchasing. One simple framework that I use to think about it is asking myself, am I consuming the part of this fruit or vegetable that would have been sprayed with pesticides or tainted with other chemicals? If the answer is yes, I would try to buy the organic option. Of course, this framework is far from foolproof, and sometimes not intuitive. Fortunately, there are helpful guides for this. Every year an organization called the Environmental Working Group releases their “Dirty Dozen,” which is essentially the list of foods most worth purchasing organic due to contamination and other harmful processes. The pretty consistent top culprits are strawberries, spinach, and other greens, so I tend to be selective in making sure I buy organic for all of those. Conversely, they also release the “Clean Fifteen,” where you can probably get away with buying non-organic while still avoiding much harm to your health. Unsurprisingly, most of these are things like avocados, corn, or pineapple, where you are consuming the inside of the plant and avoiding the outside barrier or peel that may get contaminated.
Eggs
In a previous Instagram post, we explained the difference between cage free, free range, and pasture raised eggs, concluding that pasture raised eggs are clearly the most nutritious. Unfortunately this comes at a cost, however in this case I do make the investment in pasture raised eggs. This is because I think pasture raised eggs are significantly more rich in critical nutrients such as choline and other vitamins that are tough to find in substantial quantities elsewhere. Additionally, eggs are a generally cheap item to purchase at the store already (even despite price increases in the egg market as of late), and the price gap between pasture raised and cage free eggs is not so large that I feel it’s a major rate-limiting blow to my budget. Pasture raised eggs are a staple of my diet, and since it’s something I consume frequently, I do find it worthy of investment in quality. That said, eggs are quite healthy on the whole, and I definitely would encourage everyone to eat them regardless of the tier they can afford.
Meat
Particularly when it comes to red meat, grass-fed is again going to be more nutritious than not, similar to pasture-raised for eggs. The animals are out roaming, consuming more natural, nutrient-rich feeds, and that translates into greater nutrient density in the meat. I go back and forth on this one, because of course the price will vary greatly depending on the cut of meat in addition to the grass-fed status. For this reason, I will sometimes buy grass-fed when buying something already on the cheaper side, like ground beef. However, in all honesty, usually grass-fed prices per pound are just too costly when I’m buying actual cuts of meat. Again, like with eggs, I think grain-fed red meat is already rather nutritious, and the price gap to grass-fed does seem to be more rate-limiting for my budget. That said, I will occasionally switch things up and buy grass-fed if, say, there seems to be a good deal. When it comes to protein-fat composition of ground meat, higher protein formulas will of course be generally better due to lower caloric density and extra protein, but more expensive. For me, I usually don’t find this health benefit to be entirely worth the price gap, since I can still cook off more of the fat when I’m preparing my meals if I bought a higher-fat formula. It also appears clear that saturated fats have been unfairly demonized with regards to their contribution to disease risk; they do track closely with blood low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or so-called “bad cholesterol” levels, but if this truly gets to be an issue for someone, there are several good tools for correcting this. For all these reasons, I usually will buy some compromise ratio with moderate protein and moderate fat content, but I don’t hesitate too much to buy some higher-fat formulas if the price is substantially cheaper.
Fish
I think fish is a fantastic thing to include in one’s diet, both as a source of quality bioavailable protein, and important “healthy fats” like omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Salmon in particular is a great option which I’ll focus on for this segment, as it contains both protein and omega-3’s in significant quantities. This of course comes at a price, but I feel this price for salmon is worth it at least once a week on average. Particularly when it comes to the omega-3 intake component, it seems one can get the majority of the benefit towards cognitive function and cardiovascular health with roughly 1 or 2 servings of foods rich in omega-3’s per week. Typically in my meal prep, this will average out to one day of salmon being my main lean protein source. There is a lot of concern over farm-raised salmon as opposed to wild-caught salmon, and perhaps some of this is justified using the same argument as the eggs and meat (i.e. wild-caught have greater access to natural feed, and thus greater diversity of nutrients getting into the fish). I am not super concerned with this, though, as I am largely after the omega-3’s when consuming salmon, and you’re still getting a great deal of those with farm-raised salmon. There are also points raised over increased mercury content of farm-raised salmon compared to wild-caught, and I don’t find this very alarming. The only real concern for mercury toxicity with seafood consumption comes with big game fish like swordfish, shark, and some tuna, which contain much higher levels of mercury than smaller fish like salmon. The difference in mercury between farm-raised and wild-caught salmon dwarfs in comparison, and isn’t that significant on an absolute basis, so I don’t think wild-caught salmon always justifies the price. I’ll still get it if there is an affordable deal, but I don’t mind settling for farm-raised. Elsewhere for fish, simple white fish like tilapia are a great affordable lean protein option, just much lower on the omega-3 index, so I’ll use them as a protein source, but not really as an omega-3 source.
All of this is a framework I use for myself, but this will of course differ greatly depending on your finances, nutritional preferences, and other circumstances. Note that what works for me is definitely not a guarantee to work for you, but I hope it can at least offer insights into how to weigh these sorts of decisions while shopping.
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