If one of your new year’s resolutions was to eat healthier, you may not always have to buy organic to make it happen. A lot of people think eating organic foods is healthier, but it can take a bite out of your pocketbook.

The Sweetwater Organic Farm in Hillsborough County offers farm fresh produce. Members come each week to take their share of locally grown and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Chris Hawthorne works at the farm.

“Organic really just means not using chemicals of any kind. So no chemical pesticides, no chemical fertilizers,” Hawthorne said.

It means farming the old fashioned way, weeding by hand and smaller yields. That’s part of the reason why organic costs up to 20 to 100 percent more.

If you can’t afford the upcharge, it helps to know which fruits and veggies are most susceptible to pesticide. The non-profit Environmental Working Group has a list of what it calls the “dirty dozen”. Those are the produce items that you should try to buy organic, which include apples, strawberries, grapes, spinach and cherry tomatoes.

“If you’re not going to peel it back, you’re going to find a lot more chemical exposure on that plant,” Hawthorne said.

And members of the farm who have been eating organic for a while say you can taste a difference.

“When you eat organic for a long time and then eat conventional fruits and veggies, you can really taste the pesticides, at least I can, the chemicals,” Lynn Bankston said.

Leafy greens and produce you eat whole are worth the investment. Foods with the least pesticide residue include those with thicker skin or rinds, like avocados, papayas, bananas and onions. Those are the foods you can afford to skip the organic option on.

When you’re looking at whether to buy organic, it’s also important to consider how popular the produce is. For example, fruits like apples, grapes and strawberries tend to have more pesticides on them, because growers want to ensure bigger crops for them.

Environmental Working Group’s 2014 “dirty dozen”, foods that are most susceptible to pesticide residue

  • Apples
  • Strawberries
  • Grapes
  • Celery
  • Peaches
  • Spinach
  • Sweet bell peppers
  • Imported nectarines
  • Cucumbers
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Imported snap peas
  • Potatoes

Environmental Working Group's "Clean 15", foods that are probably not worth the extra cost

  • Avocado
  • Sweet corn
  • Pineapples
  • Cabbage
  • Frozen sweet peas
  • Onions
  • Asparagus
  • Mangoes
  • Papayas
  • Kiwis
  • Eggplant
  • Grapefruit
  • Cantaloupe
  • Cauliflower
  • Sweet potatoes