Nuts are expensive!

[TectonicLacklustre]

Okay so you all know the story: super skinny, high metabolism, growing boy. I eat tons of greens, balance all of my foods very well, follow proper food combining. But I specifically eat a lot of nuts. They make me feel satisfied and that feeling tends to last longer. (and I'm hoping they'll help me retain what little weight I have left :p )
BUT THEY'RE EXPENSIVE!
...and I dont even buy 100% raw nuts.

But I go to the store and get the organic, rawest nuts I can find and I simply cant afford to keep buying them.. (even though I pay the NOT organic price..)

There must be a cheaper way to find nuts?? I'm spending almost 30 dollars a bag on cashews! Almonds are 25 and I don't even want to mention pecans or macadamia.
Where do the grocery stores get their nuts from?


Or maybe cheap nuts is too good to be true? Is there something else that can give me the same benefits? I just just started experimenting with different seeds....

[klomasius]

Ok, there's quite a few things you can do. :)

* Sub less expensive seeds such as sunflower, sesame, etc. Depending on the recipe you are using them for, a particular seed will sub very nicely.

* Find a co op and buy in bulk there, often co ops are less expensive, especially when it comes to organic produce.

* Get a business number (not sure what they are called in your country), which gives you permission to buy in bulk at wholesale prices, then you can buy lots at a time for a drastically reduced price. You might even be able to join up with others and form a tiny coop to increase your buying powers.

* Is it calories you are looking for, or the specific heaviness of nuts? If calories, you could try eating more of the cheaper fruits such as oranges and on special bananas. I eat a lot of fruit!

* You could also use cold pressed oils to bulk up the calorie value of your meals.

* Do you have a middle eastern shop anywhere near you? Middle eastern stores sell nuts an dates at REALLY reasonable prices, sometimes like $10 a kilo for broken nuts.

That's all I can think of at the moment, hope this helps! :D

[EscapeArtist]

It might actually be cheaper for you if you do buy the 100% raw nuts. Then you can soak them, if you're not doing this already. Soaked nuts will fill you up WAY more than dormant nuts. Also, dormant nuts contain enzyme inhibitors, not good and pretty much contradicts the whole raw thing if you're eating a ton of enzyme inhibitors. So it's quite important to soak 'em. Way more nutrients so you'll be fuller faster.

When I soak mine I usually only need a handful and i'm full, whereas with regular store bought nuts unsoaked I can just keep eating and eating and eating....

[freespirit]

yes definitely soak them, but you should check out your local flea market. Mine has raw nuts in bulk that are very inexpensive compared to grocery or health food stores.

[Mikey_H]

I purchased 50lbs of Pecans, 50lbs of Walnuts and 25lbs of each Cashew and Macadamia about 2 months ago through Nature's Best distributor's (through the Natural Market I used to work at)
and it all comes out to very cheap per lb price, and I vacuum bag-sealed and froze them all.
I know this is not a practical option when you don't have several hundred to spend at once but if you do happen to be able to do so it's very wise. I won't have to buy these nuts for... well, a loooooong time!

[TectonicLacklustre]

Alright, I'll try subbing seeds and soaking more nuts.
I do soak all of my almonds before I eat them but I really really enjoy cashews right now and they're a little soft when soaked. The only wholesale price I can think of (live in Vancouver, BC) is Costco and I know that almost all of their nuts are salted and roasted.
And yes! there's a middle-eastern produce outlet across the street. I'll try it out!

But.. last time I checked.. flea markets don't sell food.. am I wrong?

[DebB]

Alright, I'll try subbing seeds and soaking more nuts.
I do soak all of my almonds before I eat them but I really really enjoy cashews right now and they're a little soft when soaked. The only wholesale price I can think of (live in Vancouver, BC) is Costco and I know that almost all of their nuts are salted and roasted.
And yes! there's a middle-eastern produce outlet across the street. I'll try it out!

But.. last time I checked.. flea markets don't sell food.. am I wrong?

Just a note - you do not have to soak cashews, only the dark skinned nuts like almonds, walnuts, etc.

The only time you need to soak cashews is if the recipe calls for it - say you're making a dressing or frosting - then it's only so they'll blend easier. You don't need to soak macadamia nuts either.

And I've also read, even though Brazil nuts are dark skinned - they don't need to be soaked. Hope this helps! *Ü*

[SunshineMN]

Azure Standard sells 2 lbs of raw cashews for $10.10. 5 lbs for $24.00. (Okay cashews are complicated since they aren't truly raw. They are steamed to get them out of the shell which is more than likely true for any store bought ones as well, but the seed itself isn't roasted.)

You might want to check into them. They have a large variety of seeds and nuts, domestic and imported, raw and roasted.

I live out of their range for free shipping on their trucks but their truck shipping prices are well cheaper than UPS if there is a drop point close to you.

[Non]

Just a note - you do not have to soak cashews, only the dark skinned nuts like almonds, walnuts, etc.

The only time you need to soak cashews is if the recipe calls for it - say you're making a dressing or frosting - then it's only so they'll blend easier. You don't need to soak macadamia nuts either.

And I've also read, even though Brazil nuts are dark skinned - they don't need to be soaked. Hope this helps! *Ü*

Cashews are not really raw. You need TRULY raw cashews. All cashews even if they say raw in their packaging are usually steam processed to get the poisonous resin off.

So yea, only sunfood, eatraw (or is it raweats?), rawfoodworld, etc. have raw cashews.These are all .coms by the way.

Raw cashews I think are supposed to be really light, or white. If they're not chances are they're not raw. They are also supposed to be crunchy, not soft.

As for soaking them, yes you shd soak cashews but no more than 2 hrs. It takes 2 hrs for the enzyme inhibitors to deactivate.

[TectonicLacklustre]

Great! Thanks for all the advice!
I'll look at Azure Standards.
Yes, I know they're not completly raw but I'm not too worried about that. I still get them as raw as I can and they're an off-white color.