Raw for a busy working mom

[GreenJB5]

Hello my raw friends,

Again , I am trying to stay100% raw rolleyes: . But I need some serious HELP!!!!!I work full time and take care of a family. I find that you need a lot of time and great organization skills to prepare a meal. Therefore, I find it very hard to stay raw for a week or even a day. Do you have any tips, suggestions or ideas to prepare quick meals and snacks that will help me stay on track?

[spicyfull]

If its just for yourself and you just want to survive. I reccomend Smoothies......There are Fruit Smoothies, Green Smoothies. Although there are Recipes, I don't use one. For a Fruit Smoothies, its what ever fruit I have, I either add juice or water, put them in the VitaMix and A MEAL.

For a Green Smoothie, I mix whatever Fruit and Vegetables I have, put them in the VitaMix and Another Meal.......

If you are interested, there are plenty of Recipes on this Forum. Just use the "Search" at the top of this page.............

[Nimisha]

as the previous post said, smoothies is a great start, also if you have a juicer you can make a fresh juice everyday. I like the juicer because you can just drop the whole fruit in and you will get the juice out in the glass and you are on your way to enjoy it all in less then 2-3 minutes !!!

Another tip that i feel helped me a lot is i have a big cup of juice for my breakefast and 1 in the evening. this in turn makes me full and energetic.

For lunch/ dinner (either of them) i try with different salad dressing for my salad (when i dont have time ofcourse). else a raw dish when i have time, there are tons of recipes floating around

also you can utilise weekends time to prepare most of your food for the week (atleast the first half of the week).

I am still not a 100% raw, but i am slowly getting there. the above tips helped me focus on my raw eating :) since i have lot of hectic work hours. hope this helps you.

[Veganforlife]

Oh yeah! Green smoothies all the way baby! You'll already have a powerful, healthy, healing drink that is broken down and ready for your body to assimilate it. It's quick and easy and chock full of goodness.
If you get a chance (maybe read in the bathroom???? LOL), but check out Victoria Boutenko's book, "Green for Life". It's a quick read and tells of how healing and wonderful green smoothies are. They are an easy way to "eat" a lot of greens during a busy, busy day. They don't taste green. The fruits overpower the taste.

[Dimond]

Every single thing I eat is very simple to prepare (usually under 5 min).
Some ideas besides smoothies:
Soups (can make a batch that will last for several times)
Fruit Pudding (can make a large batch too)
Guacamole, salsa or other spread on cucumber slices
Walnut Tacos
Ice Cream
Rawpriestess Brownies

Many things you can prepare in advance to always have on hand.

The other choice is to purchase ready-made snacks & meals either through local places or delivery.

[Cinnamon]

You've got some great ideas here! I also am very busy right now (working 50 hours a week caring for my Grandson) and numerous other activities so I really had to streamline my raw diet.

Tons of smoothies and with so much variety I never get tired of them! Salads, for this I do buy organic prepackaged greens and other veggies so it is fast to put them together. These are the main things I eat now.

On the weekend I make a batch of nut pate and some sort of raw dessert and these last all week.

I've really tried to make raw ultra simple for me right now, and I can use some of the above ideas to help me out too!

[shalom]

apples, oranges, grapes, pears, peaches, plums, carrots, peppers, avocados...

all these are great for 'grab 'n' go'......

I have to do this ALL the time - and really if ind it gives me the most energy!

We have two small kids, and i am almost 7 months pregant - and we bike everywhere. SO, i need the grab n go energy!

My favorite a.m. smoothie is avocado, banana, 1tbsp coconut oil, tsp raw honey, greens and water. YUM!

[RawVegan4Health]

I never spend that long putting things together. The longest is marinating mushrooms for an hour. I do fresh fruit for breakfast (how fast is that?) or a fruit smoothie. For lunch it's a green smoothie. For dinner just I may dip some veggies. For the dip I simply put some nuts in a bowl and cover with twice as much water and let soak for the next nights dinner. This takes no time at all. Then toss the nuts in the food processor and make your dip. It takes no time to slice or chop a few veggies to dip in these. If you want you can have a small batch of veggies and dip and have a green smoothie with it. This will make that batch of dip last 2 or 3 nights.

[GreenJB5]

Thanks everyone but let me explain more. When Iwas 100 % raw I ate smoothies and salad every day. If I drink one more smoothie I will scream. I do not want to get to that point with salads. I would like to eat a real meal that does not involve waiting hours for soaking or dehydrating. There were plenty of times I came home and could not find a quick meal to make. So i went to bed hungry. I could not keep this up so i switch back to SAD. I would like to go back 100 raw because i like the way i felt.

[Veganforlife]

Then what I would suggest is taking an evening or a weekend afternoon and preparing various dishes that require dehydrating and then freezing these meals. Alissa's calzone freezes very well and it's HUGE!
How about the Angel Hair Pasta and marinara - that is almost instant and very filling? There's lots of recipes in Alissa's book that don't require dehydrating and/or soaking.
The Salmon Pate is one. I haven't made that in a while, but it is GOOD!

[Dimond]

You do not need to spend much time making meals at all. It isn't necessary to make complicated recipes & use a dehydrator. I have over 20 different simple recipes I rotate so I won't get sick of eating the same things. My Vitamix & mini chopper are all I need.

Recipes (ask if you want others):

Celery Soup
5-10 Celery Sticks
4 cups Water
½-1 Avocado
½ cup Olive oil
1 tsp salt
Herbs
Optional: ½-¾ cup Lemon Juice
Optional: Stir in tomatoes by hand.

Broccoli Soup
3 cups Water
1 cup Cashews (optional soaked overnight)
2 cups Broccoli (tops)
1/2-1 Avocado
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp mixed Herbs

Easy Tomato Soup
Tomatoes
Sundried Tomatoes
1-2 cloves Garlic
Spices

[kiropa]

i work FT too & have 3 kids (ages 6, 4 & 2). my hubby is rarley home -- so i truly understand busy.

here's what's working for me:

breakfast = fruit

snack = fruit or baby carrots

lunch = salad from salad bar at work or nearby deli with fresh pepper, olive oil & lemon. key here is various vegetables & mix it up differently each time. i usually add sunflower seeds and raisins. i LOVE my salads.

snack = fruit or larabar

dinner = nori roll or collard wrap or something prepared

i sometimes un-cook on sundays or evenings for leftovers. my current favs are cauliflower cous cous, mock salmon pate, walnut taco meat.

oh & you mustn't forget RP's brownines -- a staple for all harried women :)

[emarti03]

I've really been into lettuce wraps lately with alissa's mock salmon pate. The mock salmon pate is so easy and quick to make. No soaking, just through it in a food processor. The wrap in lettuce leaves with other veggies. I've also been addicted to the sweet nori roll ups. I use baby spinach, avacado, apple or pear, and agave nector or honey. Roll up and eat. They are soooooo yummy and quick. Good luck with the being a full time raw mom. We all know you can do it.