Going Organic This Thanksgiving Could Cost You More Than It's Worth

Buying all-organic food for Thanksgiving could cost you twice as much as what you'd pay for regular, non-organic groceries. So think long and hard and ask yourself: would I rather be rich, or smug? No seriously, organic food is usually healthier, but is that enough incentive to pay the big bucks just for peace of mind for one day out of the year? The consumer advice site SmartMoney suggests going half-and-half organic food/poisonous layman's food. The big culprits in toxic food are thin-skinned produce, since they will most readily absorb the pesticides into their flesh, so it's safe to buy non-organic thick-skinned produce like avocados or pineapples (both totally traditional thanksgiving foods, we know.) "Organic" is supposed to mean that the product is better for the environment and better for you, but sometimes the label isn't really deserved, as the definition can include a number of practices that aren't actually sustainable or healthy (e.g. many supposedly organic fish farms). So to make your decision extra-confusing, it's not even always clear what "organic" means, nor what you're putting in your body. Our advice? Buy organic lettuce and potatoes, but screw the rest of it. Those two thanksgiving items scored the highest on the pesticide-saturation index done by an environmental watch group, so it's probably best to try and avoid non-organic varieties. Otherwise, save your money for booze, cause everyone knows that alcohol counteracts the effects of pesticides in your body, right!? We swear we read that somewhere... Paying Extra for an Organic Thankgsiving [New York Times] Wallet Guide To Pesticides [Food News]