At $4-5 per 16 oz bottle, veggie wash seems one of the more expensive purchases on the road to toxin-free, healthy living. Is such a purchase necessary?

After reading ingredient lists and scanning the web, making your own veggie wash seems to be a very easy and a much cheaper option. I have been using the recipe below for a week or two now. It seems to cut the wax on the apples pretty well, but other than that, I really don’t have a way of testing how much of the pesticides it removes. I do know, however, that it is better than the purchased veggie washes which say they contain “coconut derrived surfactants” which could mean SLS or cocamide DEA which are chemicals I am trying to avoid.

Homemade Veggie Wash

Combine 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to 2 Tablespoons of baking soda with 1 cup of water. I put this mixture in a sprayer bottle and keep it under the sink.Spray fruits and veggies and allow them to sit for a few minutes then wipe with a towel. This also makes for a safe cleaner to let your children use as they “play” scrub the kitchen with you!

Please don’t use anything to clean your veggies that you wouldn’t eat! (Like bleach!) Soaking in a sink of water with a few Tbls of vinegar is another option for leafies and such.