30 day Challenge for those on a budget!:-)

[teva]

Can anyone tell me what they ate for their first couple of weeks. I want to get started Thursday...

[bodaflower]

Raw food can be very inexpensive =) I just made flax crackers with onion, parsley and tomatoes, and some salsa, all I used were brown flax (you can get so much flax for really cheap), and then for the salsa I uesd tomato, onion, parsley a little bit of green pepper...and then green onions.

You can get apples and eat an apple a day for sweetness, stuff for salads, just greens and then whatever other vegetables you like (i make my salads with romaine lettuce, onions, carrots, pine nuts, cheese (you can find raw cheese), tomatoes, and use whatever you like for dressing

Also getting some raw honey is good for sweet things

[Liserpiece]

I found that when I started raw I went way overboard and spent way too much $$! :) Out of necessity, I learned the hard way to SIMPLIFY. I was really tempted by the recipes that called for a lot of ingredients, some of which were too expensive to stay w/in my budget. So now I buy less variety, but always the things I love... apples, bananas, pears. spinach, kale, green bell peppers, onions, lemons and my ultimate fav CABBAGE, both purple and green. These fresh fruits and vegies are less pricey so I can buy a lot. I also learned how to sprout, very easy, and I buy my seeds in bulk which is super cheap... quinoa and mung beans I find are the least expensive and easiest to sprout. I buy pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in bulk as well and again it's very reasonable. I spurge and buy raw hemp powder about once a month. Adding this to my green smoothie in the a.m. bulks things up a bit so I tend to eat less and feel okay doing it. I do buy avos, kinda important :) , but when things get tight with the $ I can go w/o for a while. It has been a learning curve for me, but keeping it simple (I don't have a dehydrator or a blender, I just use my 15 year old Quisenart :) to make my smoothies and seed butters) and staying as close to how Mother Nature made it has been the best way for me to do this and not have a totally outrageous grocery bill.
Hope that helps!

[menat]

when I first went high raw I bought too much as well. That is because raw food lasts a long time since you get full quicker. When you cook food, I discover that you use more. So I ended up throwing out a lot of withered veggies and fruit in the garbage. My cooked food grocery bill was on average $60 for 1 to 1.5 weeks. My raw bill is like $20. However, if you juice, it might cost you more, if you like having your juices/smoothies really thick and pulpy. I don't, I like mine kind of "watery" or milky.