Walk down the produce aisle of your favorite health food store or supermarket and you can find various brands of fruit and vegetables washes. Given the fact that so much of our non-organic produce is sprayed with a variety of pesticides, the concept makes sense.

But the real question is: does the cost justify the end result? And are there other ways to arrive at clean fruits and veggies without resorting to expensive washes which purport to safely remove pesticides, waxes and chemicals?

I’ve used the washes before, in fact, I even still have a little bit below my sink. But my take is that there are simpler ways to thoroughly clean fruits and veggies that can save your precious pennies (and these days every little bit helps).

My favorite and totally inexpensive approach to removing wax and pesticides is amazingly simple: salt. I simply put my veggies in a bowl of cool water with a few dashes of salt. A simple scrub in the salt solution and they’re  good to go.

In a perfect world, I’d buy everything organic, but these days there are certain items I always buy organic and others that I don’t.  Check out a recent post I wrote about this sharing the “dirty dozen” — those items you should definitely try to buy organic. In the end, however, organic or not, I always like to be sure I spend a few moments thoroughly cleaning the bounty of fresh fruit and veggies that I’m treating my body to.

What’s your preferred method for cleaning fresh fruits and veggies? Are you like me, believing that cleaning veggies can be quick, simple and cheap? Do tell!

Filed under: Fruit, Salt and Sodium, Vegetables