Are Organic Strawberries Worth it?

I like the idea of organic produce, grass fed beef, free range chickens, and all things along those lines.  I'm sure I am like many of you.

However, organic produce, grass fed beef, and all things along those lines are usually significantly more expensive.

For a girl with a budget, buying all of those things that I like the "idea" of gets difficult.

Though, awhile ago I was at the store and noticed organic milk was the same price as Lactose Free and even Almond Milk (the other kinds of milk I have to buy for my family).  So, I gave organic milk a shot.  Now, I buy it all the time.

Organic milk tastes different (I think better) and has a much longer pull date (which I think is crazy and I still don't know why).  I find organic milk to be worth it.

I've done this "test" with other things as well.  My latest test was much more scientific and dealt with strawberries.

If I was in school, or producing a science fair project I would write this up lap report style.

The question of the day was, Are organic strawberries worth it? To buy, or not to buy organic strawberries?

Now that it is becoming strawberry season, I could somewhat affordably buy one quart/pound package of organic strawberries and one package of not organic strawberries for my little experiment.

I treated the strawberries exactly the same, and kept them separate the entire time.

First, I gave each package of strawberries a vinegar bath in separate bowls for the same amount of time (30 minutes). I love vinegar baths and do this with almost all of my produce.  After every vinegar bath I always end up with dirt and what not in the bottom of the bowl.  It's gross, but I am always glad I washed them thoroughly.

After the strawberries received their vinegar bath I compared the dirt and gunk in the bottom of each of the bowls.  Both bowls had almost the same amount of dirt; the difference was negligible.

I then let each package of strawberries be drained in separate colander bowls and allowed time to dry for the exact same time.

Second, I performed a blind taste test between the organic and not organic strawberries.  According to the few individuals that participated in the blind taste test there were no real difference between the two.  We all had a really tasty strawberry from each bowl (taste of strawberries really depended on ripeness not organic or not).  The strawberries seem to have tasted the same, had the same texture, and they both kept their quality of taste until we finished the bowls (a couple of days).  Obviously, if I had been a real scientist and didn't want to feel I was wasting my money I would've left the strawberries in the fridge to see which bowl lasted longer.

Overall, the Verdict of Are Organic Strawberries Worth it? In my humble opinion, and according to my experiment, I say No.

I still like the idea of organic, and if I had money I would probably buy organic everything.  However, for a girl like me there is a big difference between $3.99 for organic strawberries on sale and $0.99 for not organic strawberries on sale.  Since they tasted the same, and overall compared similarly (aka we couldn't tell a difference between the two in my experiment) I have to say that I will not be buying organic strawberries unless the price is similar.

Any thoughts/opinions from the peanut gallery?