Want to eat raw but little money..

[Gurkan]

Hi!

I hope that somwone understand what i write.

I want to start to eat raw but i dont have so much money.

I live in Sweden and the fruits her are very expensive:(

some from sweden or any else how have any god ideas:) please;)

[Frugal Raw]

I don't live in Sweden - never have - but do you have farmer's markets? What about co-op farms?

What about focusing on veggies, nuts, and sprouts and having fruits as treats from time-to-time? Would that lower your expenses? Using sunflower seeds in lieu of more expensive nuts is also a way to be frugal.

[ShelShel]

I don't live in Sweden either, but I don't have a lot of extra money to throw at food either. Here are some of the ways in which I save so that I may eat raw:
1) Apples and bananas are almost always your cheapest fruits and they are so versatile. I buy apples by the bag and take whichever type is on sale that week. Also, I'm not sure if yours does, but our grocery store will bag up all the very ripe bananas and sell them at a major discount. I can usually get several bundles for $1.50. Go through the bunches and any very ripe ones, I slice up and freeze to make raw ice cream later on. ;)
2) I also find that making things like raw potato chips (or whichever kind of raw chip you like) is a great way to conserve money. It takes so little veggie to make so much snack. Sliced thin on my spiral slicer, one potato fills every one of my dehydrator trays. I get two baggies full of chips.
3) Dried fruits and frozen veggies are another inexpensive way to go because they don't have the short shelf life of their fresh cousins. :) I'm a grazer, so raisins, medjool dates, and nuts (sunflower seeds are always the cheapest and Rawvolution uses them a lot) are wonderful for those quick hunger urges without having to spend a ton.
A very quick cheap dinner that I really enjoy is to fill half a bowl of frozen corn & half of frozen peas and let it set out on the counter until room temperature. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. It's yummy, filling and you probably only spent a couple dollars on the meal.
These are just some of the ways that I cut corners financially and am able to stay raw. Hope some of the ideas help. Good Luck!

[Gurkan]

I don't live in Sweden - never have - but do you have farmer's markets? What about co-op farms?

What about focusing on veggies, nuts, and sprouts and having fruits as treats from time-to-time? Would that lower your expenses? Using sunflower seeds in lieu of more expensive nuts is also a way to be frugal.


Yeah,that sounds like a very god idea:) thank you so much!

What do you think about frozen veggies and fruit? is that okej to frozen for a long time? think about the vitamins and minerals..

[Gurkan]

I don't live in Sweden either, but I don't have a lot of extra money to throw at food either. Here are some of the ways in which I save so that I may eat raw:
1) Apples and bananas are almost always your cheapest fruits and they are so versatile. I buy apples by the bag and take whichever type is on sale that week. Also, I'm not sure if yours does, but our grocery store will bag up all the very ripe bananas and sell them at a major discount. I can usually get several bundles for $1.50. Go through the bunches and any very ripe ones, I slice up and freeze to make raw ice cream later on. ;)
2) I also find that making things like raw potato chips (or whichever kind of raw chip you like) is a great way to conserve money. It takes so little veggie to make so much snack. Sliced thin on my spiral slicer, one potato fills every one of my dehydrator trays. I get two baggies full of chips.
3) Dried fruits and frozen veggies are another inexpensive way to go because they don't have the short shelf life of their fresh cousins. :) I'm a grazer, so raisins, medjool dates, and nuts (sunflower seeds are always the cheapest and Rawvolution uses them a lot) are wonderful for those quick hunger urges without having to spend a ton.
A very quick cheap dinner that I really enjoy is to fill half a bowl of frozen corn & half of frozen peas and let it set out on the counter until room temperature. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. It's yummy, filling and you probably only spent a couple dollars on the meal.
These are just some of the ways that I cut corners financially and am able to stay raw. Hope some of the ideas help. Good Luck!


Hi!
You are an angel,thank you!

Yeah,i really want to stay raw for a long time and sometimes its hard but you help me a lot.

[Veganforlife]

:DThe less time frozen, the better, but if it's your only option, then go for it.
Also, ask the local grocers what they do w/their "blemished" or very ripe fruits and veggies. Even if you can cut half of an orange and use it and have gotten it for free - it's worth it.
Where there's a will, there's a way...

[oai]

Yeah,that sounds like a very god idea:) thank you so much!

What do you think about frozen veggies and fruit? is that okej to frozen for a long time? think about the vitamins and minerals..

that is true about frozen veggies & fruits losing their vits. & minerals, but it is better than going SAD. have the frozen ones for emergency back-up just in case you can't find anything on sale. :) or to bulk up your fresh meals. ;)

the other day my grocers were putting out oranges at 15/$1. i got 2 bags and will get more if someone takes me. i peeled them & put the whole bunch of them in the freezer. :p the bananas were actually more expensive than them... one bundle for $1.xx, but i got 1 anyway. me love nanas!

[Gurkan]

that is true about frozen veggies & fruits losing their vits. & minerals, but it is better than going SAD. have the frozen ones for emergency back-up just in case you can't find anything on sale. :) or to bulk up your fresh meals. ;)

the other day my grocers were putting out oranges at 15/$1. i got 2 bags and will get more if someone takes me. i peeled them & put the whole bunch of them in the freezer. :p the bananas were actually more expensive than them... one bundle for $1.xx, but i got 1 anyway. me love nanas!


SAD? what do you mean?

Thanks,hope to find good bananas:)

[Veganforlife]

Standard American Diet - but it's really the standard world diet - thanks to America's lovely fast food places and poisoning other areas of the world...

[oai]

yep. it is Standard American Diet. like another rawker said, just do your best. :) i find that after freezing the extras i get from on sale... i don't worry too much about whether i can afford RAW or not. it's def. better than vits. and powders on sale, b/c i believe the nutrition we get from food work synergetically in our body. when in vit. or powder form, it loses that synergy despite how much mg. the bottle says we're getting of vit. C, A, etc... or what have you. :D they are a good alternative, if one really can't get them raw, freeze or dehydrate the food for next time.

when i was at the grocers with my mom, i remember hearing an announcement for about $0.29/lb for bananas for the next 10 mins. people around me and my mom just said "how are we going to even eat it all?," end getting a little (since they were on sale, b/c they were very ripe... may spoil in 2 days) or just not getting them at all. instead of picking the fruit, people just grab the noodles or other instant foods that last long but provide no nutrition, synthetic nutrition, or god, even dangerous chemicals to the body. it's better to freeze or dehydrate the fruit or veggies, lose some vits. & minerals but still get some nutrition.

[ShelShel]

Gurkan, glad to help. :) Just eat the best you can afford and don't worry about all the details. Your body will thank you for all your efforts and a positive spirit really adds to it's ability to heal and restore itself. ;)

[ShantiLove]

Just a question :)

When you say frozen peas and corn, do you mean some you froze yourself from fresh produce or the one you buy allready frozen from the supermarked ?
hasent the one you but at the supermarked been blached before frozen ?

[ShantiLove]

Hello neighbour :) Im in Denmark so I know that the prices on fresh produce is soooo expencive (actualy we are one of the most expencive countries in the EU).
Farmers markeds around here are not so much sheaper than the supermarkeds. There are not many of them and it is kind of trendy to go to farmers markeds and that takes up the price. It is also quiet expencive to be a farmer around here (they are a dying bread). And I know that in Sweeden it can be difficould to get organic produce (they come to Denmark for that ;).

Most of what we get here is importet fruits and vegies. And I belive it is cheaper to buy from the supermarked because they can buy bigger quantities at the time and therefor get it cheaper, and sell it cheaper.

But still local and in season fruits and vegies might be the cheapest: Carrots, kale, corn, pumpkins, zuccini/squash, sellery, beets, a.s.o.
Flax, sunflower, sesame and pinenuts are the cheapes nut/seeds I have found around here and haselnuts too. Maby you can get into sprouting ? it is a cheap way to get nutriens and protiens.
Fruits; well bananas are always a relatively cheap fruit, berries when in season, apples at this time of year, a.s.o. maby look around to find a book that tells what is in season and when in sweden, then you can get an idear of what to look for and when.

I can tell you what my stabels are; bananas, romani salat and hearts of romani, cucumber/gurken ;-), squash/zuccini, champion, avocados (not always cheap, depending on the season, but I cant live without them), Flaxseeds as flaxcracors, sunflower and sesame seeds in "cheeses", pinenuts in my salads, and other tings depending on the season. I also eat a lot of watercrest, crest and parlsely to ad to the greens in my diet, but dill and other herbs will work just as fine.

I dont know where in Sweden you are but this company is delivering boxes with fruits, or fruits and vegies or.... to you door. They are not much more expencive than organic produce from the supermarked, and they have really good quality. I know that they are starting to deliver in the souther Sweden, so maby that is an idear ?
http://www.aarstiderne.com/

There is also a raw food coach in Sweden called: Erica Palmcrantz Aziz, she just wrote a book on raw foods: Raw food på svenska.
http://www.pzi.se/ Maby get her book at the libary or talk with her, maby she can give you some good idears :-)
And by the way I know that there are a few living food centers in Sweden (can remember then names of them), maby check them out too ? :-)

Otherwise search the internet, and youtube and find recipies, instructions, lectures and articles on raw food and get idears form there. Be creative ;-)

Best of luck :-)

[rawmiss]

I eat a lot of frozen fruit: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. The frozen fruit hasn't been blanched, it's just the frozen vegetables that get blanched.

As far as loss of vitamins and minerals, the frozen fruit has been picked ripe and then frozen almost immediately, the fresh produce might have been sitting around for a few days, so there actually might be almost the same loss of nutrients between frozen and fresh, unless you buy from a farmer's market.