Shopping For Produce Close to Home
…Like Really Close to Home
It’s hard to know for sure what you’re getting when you go to the grocery store these days. Sure, their produce all looks shiny and beautiful, but do we really know what went into growing it, what could be on it, or how many people have touched it?
Have more confidence in what you’re putting into your body by knowing exactly where your food comes from because you grow it!
You don’t have to turn your backyard into the produce aisle overnight (unless you want to), you can take small steps too. Prioritize vegetables that are fast growing, easy to care for, and are the ones you like to enjoy raw. Here are 5 Fresh Foods You Could Be Growing At Home
1.
Leafy Greens – Growing leafy greens at home is fast, easy, and, with lettuce being the most recalled vegetable, a logical place to start. Lettuce doesn’t require a lot of space, and its shallow roots make it a great choice for interplanting and containers. Succession plant every two weeks for continuous harvest.
2.
Cilantro – “Between 2000 and 2020, at least 43 cilantro-associated outbreaks were reported to CDC’s National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS).”1 That’s more than two a year, which doesn’t seem like a lot if you’re talking about how many times you ate chocolate cake, but registers as something more concerning when we start talking about the risk of being so sick that the Pepto isn’t going to cut it. Growing cilantro is a cinch because it is not picky when it comes to soil or sun. Grow it in a kitchen window and enjoy fresh cilantro all year round!
3.
Carrots – 2024 saw a nationwide recall of carrots as well, due to an outbreak of the serious Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O121:H19.2 These were organic carrots, which serves as a good reminder that while organic veggies are a safer choice for reducing pesticide exposure, that doesn’t mean they aren’t carrying illness causing bacteria. You can worry less by growing these delicious veggies at home. Whether in a container or in ground, carrots grow happily in any loose soil.
4.
Microgreens – Ideal conditions for growing microgreens commercially can also end up creating ideal conditions for growing bacteria. But these tasty cotyledons are chock full of good stuff, with four to six times the nutrient density of mature plants.3 If you thought eggs were expensive though, you should see what the grocery stores are charging for microgreens these days. So, grow these nutrient dense greens at home instead and save some green.
5.
Spinach – while any or all of the leafy greens deserve to be both on this list and growing in your home garden, I felt spinach warranted its very own mention. This is because according to the Environmental Working Groups analysis of data from the USDA Pesticide Data Program, “[s]pinach has more pesticide residues by weight than any other type of produce”.4 Ewww!
Hard pass, I’ll grow my own, thanks. And you can too!
Get growing today for a healthier tomorrow!
- “Cilantro.” Colorado State University College of Health and Human Sciences Food Source Information, 2026. https://www.chhs.colostate.edu/fsi/food-articles/produce/cilantro/ ↩︎
- “Outbreak Investigation of E. coli O121:H19: Organic Carrots.” Food and Drug Administration, November 2024. https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-e-coli-o121h19-organic-carrots-november-2024 ↩︎
- Zhenlei Xiao, Gene E. Lester, Yaguang Luo, Qin Wang; Assessment of Vitamin and Carotenoid Concentrations of Emerging Food Products: Edible Microgreens. J. Agric. Food Chem. 8 August 2012; 60 (31): 7644–7651. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf300459b ↩︎
- “Spinach is packed with nutrients – and pesticides, including at least one banned in the EU.” Environmental Working Group, 2026. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/spinach.php ↩︎
