Brand new to raw and on a budget

[FantasticSarcastic]

Hello all! After the holidays, I am planning to travel down the raw path. I am currently pushing 250 pounds and with a 5'4 small frame, that is not comfortable (or attractive) luggage to be carrying around! A friend of mine who is a raw vegan directed me here. I am on a strict, limited budget. My friend only eats fruits, seeds and veggies and doesn't really do anything fancy. Is it possible to be healthy and not broke doing that? I found a raw vegan kitchen in my neighborhood and it is delish, but expensive! I could use some ideas and suggestions on a few things. First off, the best way to get started without breaking the bank and the simplest way to keep this up. I am lazy an impatient and have no desire to spend hours prepping food. I can't afford a dehydrator or a Vitamix right now, so the simplest paths going to have to work for now. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you all so much! This site offers so many wonderful resources. I am glad it's here and grateful to Gina for directing me here.

[Traceyraw]

Keep it simple. Buy whats in season its usually cheaper and fresher. I go to the farmers market Sunday afternoon and everything is reduced. I read in one blog about rabbit produce. They go to the produce department ask them for scraps because they have hungry rabbits at home. Sprouting is inexpensive. i've been making chia pudding yummy cheap. Fruit is the Ultimate fast food. Keep plenty on hand. I would splurge for some almond butter at first it helps if you get hungry.

Some places have organic co-op buying clubs google your area they also have good prices.
I am on a budge too. I buy mostly organic. My Target has an organic section. They carry the seeds I need.

My favorite snack. Celery, carrots , and peppers dipped in almond butter/agave mixed. Yummy and filling.

Cut up veggies and always have them ready.

I drink hot water with my meals it makes me feel more satisfied. You will figure out what you like stick to that until you have time to venture on.

Smoothies are good you don't need a vitamix. You can blend and strain for juice if you don't have a juicer. There are many posts on money saving ideas. They all say sprout your own seeds.

Welcome. Do what you can do, whats comfortable for you.

[ZombieDawn]

Do you have a juicer? I found that I was a lot more inventive about raw foods and recipes after I did a week juice fast. Oranges, carrots and ginger juiced really satisfied me for quite a few days. I got more adventurous and added a bit of greens bit by bit as my taste buds acclimated. I don't know about you, but I needed to ease in! Juicing helped more than I can convey!

[qwerty988]

Smoothies are also really delicious, filling and inexpensive for meals since the main ingredients are pretty cheap -- usually a few bananas, some other fruit and whatever greens you'd like to add, something like kale or spinach or lettuce. I don't have a Vitamix yet, I just use my old cheapie blender and it's fine for now.

You can search on this site and also on Youtube for lots of great smoothie ideas. Lots of people practically live on them, especially for weight loss.

I usually have one huge smoothie meal a day. I also usually have one huge salad meal a day. Those are the basics that I started with, then I filled in with fruits and simple veggie dishes..... after a few months I added nuts and seeds.... now, a few months later, I got a dehydrator and am looking into making things like crackers and more fancy dishes.

But at first, you can stay super simple and you don't have to buy expensive ingredients! I live in a town with NO health food stores, hahahaha! So I decided I was going to be raw and just shop at local supermarkets, and I was fine that way for several months. Bananas and avocados were my staple foods (and still are!) I created a daily plan based on the foods I love.... avocado, tomato and onion salad.... lettuce wraps with avocado and sprouts and shredded carrots and zucchini....massaged kale salad with creamy dressing.... lots of guacamole..... fruit and veggie juices, yum! For treats, I snacked on fresh coconuts, dried dates and almonds (all available at my supermarket.)

Anyhow, congratulations to you -- what a wonderful way to start a new year!

Welcome and ENJOY!

[michigan roman]

heres an old thread on topic : http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=22555&highlight=budget

* bananas are my staple . and grind any seed or nut to make mylk then add fruit for hearty smoothie ,
throw in a few greens and youve a complete meal . thats the green smoothie outlook . can do in cheap
blender if make the mylk / fruit smoothie first , then add light amount of greens . just have to be sensible
with cheaper blenders and not over load them , make a half blender full smoothie instead of filling it up

[Mary Kay]

Sounds like you've gotten some good advice. For me though, I just cannot eat sugary fruits ---like bananas (carbs) or many apples or oranges etc. Some others feel that they don't lose as much weight either while eating the fruits.

Others, like me probably have some candida issues, and I'd suspect? if you are severely overweight, that you might as well.

Good for you for setting some goals. If you can't afford a Vita-Mix, many say that the Osterizer is a good blender. (I can't say though, don't have one). But I can say I gave a Magic Bullet to an elderly friend, who used it to make wheatgrass juice, and other smoothies and lost 20 lbs....I have both a Vita-Mix and a Magic Bullet, and the Magic Bullet does work about 90% as well as the V-M, it's just a toy though compared to the V-M and you have to baby it....

Oh, and others mentioned sprouts to get more bang for your buck...I agree. Also growing your own wheatgrass gives many beneficial minerals....You have to cut it up into 1" pieces before mixing with liquid in a Magic Bullet or other blender though. Then get a one gallon nylon-mesh paint strainer from Sherwin Williams or other, to strain it easily...

I know I'm jumping around...but just thinking out loud!

Good for you!

Mary Kay

[FantasticSarcastic]

Thank you all for such good advice! Smoothies seem to be something to look into. While I would like to lose weight, I really want to be healthy. Health comes first. My friend who is a raw vegan eats fruits and veggies all day and does lots and lots of Bikram yoga and is the epitome of health. She has energy and is barely ever sick. That is my goal. Thank you to all and Happy Holidays!

[Ucat]

I've been trying to do raw food on a budget and although I was doing quite well, I started losing energy because of not eating enough. I also got blood sugar swings because I ate too many fats and kept drinking caffeine. So I would recommend only small amounts of fats per day and definitely quitting caffeine BEFORE starting the diet.

(Excess fats supposedly interfere with the blood sugar balance and also stop some of the oxygen getting into your cells.)

And while it will be easy to eat very little when raw (your feeling of hunger completely changes to something much more tolerable) I would make sure to always have fruit juice (even if not raw) and/or bananas and other fruits nearby for a quick calorie/ blood sugar fix. Juice should be an easy way to make sure you get enough calories. Easy to have a juice if you don't feel like making dinner and need fast food..... That's what I'm going to try next at least. (But of course it should be juice with no additives and no added sugar.)

Eating raw on a budget I ended up eating too little to try to save money - and got tired and irritable - but when juice fasting I felt much better. That's why the reduced fat intake and calories from fruit seem to make sense to me right now.
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www.cheap-health-revolution.com

[RawDad]

Ask for produce that can't be sold at local grocers. I've gotten free cases of apples and bananas like this, some organic. Don't be afraid of a bruised piece of produce, even some slight damage, especially if you have a juicer.

I take advantage of the $.79/lb bargain produce crate at my local health food store (http://www.marlenesmarket.net/). Today I got 2.57 lbs of organic roma tomatos out of there for $2.03. Also got some ripe clearance bananas at $.49/lb, I picked up 5 lbs for $2.43.

I was reading another thread and saw the idea getting the trimmings from produce being prepped for the shelf, great idea if you can figure out the right times to check local produce markets/sections.

Buy fruit and vegetables you use a lot by the case.
-We get cases of organic apples from $5 (day old Jonagolds that wouldn't fit on the shelf) to $40 (our favorite right now Washington grown Cameos.) A case lasts us about a week.
-We get organic carrots by the 25 lb bag for $20-25. This lasts us about a week.
-Case of organic bananas costs us US$29. Lasts us about a week once ripe.

Beans are cheap! Under $2 a pound and when sprouted provide a lot of food and combination options.

Ucat I think it is great that you are tracking your spending and purchases on a raw diet. I track my spending and tracked the items for a while but it got too time consuming so now I just track my spending. To feed my family of my 2 yr old (23month) son, my 22 yr old gf, and me (23) totally raw vegan costs about $1000 per month. Right now I've been keeping track since October 28th and as of today December 24th the total spending is $1,866.93 US Dollars.

We would have difficulty affording this diet and feeding our cravings without free food, government, and family assistance. We get $230 in food stamps every month and my parents help a lot. I've been studying wildcrafting (http://www.markusrothkranz.com/freelivingnov/freelivingnov.html) to try to figure out how to eat for free, and while I might be able to eventually it is a long ways off. I've also been looking into starting a garden next year.

[MysticTree]

I've been studying wildcrafting (http://www.markusrothkranz.com/freelivingnov/freelivingnov.html) to try to figure out how to eat for free, and while I might be able to eventually it is a long ways off. I've also been looking into starting a garden next year.

The best way to learn about foraging for wild food is to find someone who already knows about foraging and to ask them to help you. You would generally be uninterested in foraging for mushrooms as many of these need to be cooked to get rid of toxins so you wouldn't be a threat in that area.

However, as someone who forages for wild food and teaches others about foraging, I can't recommend highly enough having a veg and fruit garden. It makes much more sense to have all these foods growing in your back garden or close by on an allotment than to have to hunt about over hill and dale for wild foods. You can introduce wild foods to your garden by collecting seeds from the wild and they'll grow happily alongside your "regular" vegetable and fruit crops/

[Ucat]

Ucat I think it is great that you are tracking your spending and purchases on a raw diet. I track my spending and tracked the items for a while but it got too time consuming so now I just track my spending. To feed my family of my 2 yr old (23month) son, my 22 yr old gf, and me (23) totally raw vegan costs about $1000 per month. Right now I've been keeping track since October 28th and as of today December 24th the total spending is $1,866.93 US Dollars.

Thanks! I found that I spent on average 7.83 pounds per day (which at the moment is $12.21). This comes up to 239 pounds per month, which would be $373 per month. This seems to be a little more than what you spent per person in a month... But like I said in the earlier post, I don't think I was eating enough, trying to save money. And tracking the costs did get too time-consuming. That's why I stopped after the 9th week. But I try to be better prepared next time and start again after the holidays. On a second thought, if I reduce my fat intake from nuts etc. and just include more fruit juices (as well as green superfoods, for other reasons) I should be fine. Maybe I would even not end up spending more...

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www.cheap-health-revolution.com

[SunshineMN]

We're going to start sprouting tomorrow to help keep our costs lower, at least I'm hoping. We have lots of kinds of seeds, but I don't know how many days a lb of alfalfa seed will last us, etc. Should be an interesting experience.

[FantasticSarcastic]

Thanks to everyone for their input. Would anyone mind telling me what you spend per week on food? I am the only one who will be eating a raw diet. My bf dropped out, and we don't live together so it will just be my food bill. I am just trying to get an idea of what I have to expect and see if I can actually afford to do this.

[MysticTree]

Thanks to everyone for their input. Would anyone mind telling me what you spend per week on food? I am the only one who will be eating a raw diet. My bf dropped out, and we don't live together so it will just be my food bill. I am just trying to get an idea of what I have to expect and see if I can actually afford to do this.

It really is up to you. There are many who eat very cheaply - Mr Raw for example hardly spends any money on food itself but he does follow a very extreme form of raw, which, notwithstanding, suits him or he wouldn't do it!

Others spend a regular amount on foods and others still spend vast amounts because they like exotic fruits or many "super foods".

I think it's a bit more expensive if you've never done it before and at the start, like any other form or food regime, you have staples to buy but you can grow much yourself if you have a garden and you can grow your own sprouted foods for just pennies.

Other cost effective ways of eating raw involve bulk buying of some foods, choosing inexpensive foods, in season foods and looking out for reduced produce at the end of the day.

If you can grow much yourself then for 6 months of the year you can live very cheaply - at least here in the UK. You will save on fuel bills if you stop cooking foods.

Best tip for economy is to keep it all nice and simple.

[FantasticSarcastic]

I found a produce market very close to my house. It isn't organic, but the stuff is really inexpensive and, the people I am buying it from are the people who grew it. I think if I soak it in lemon and salt water before I use it, that should take care of most pesticides. Ufortunately, I live in a mid-rise in Houston and have no way of gardening. I tried sprouting once a few years ago, and my cat really enjoyed knocking the jar over! LOL! There is a community garden in Houston that will let you take produce home if you volunteer in the garden. The idea about asking the grocery store about scraps for rabbits is great! I will call Kroger and see if they will do that.

[MysticTree]

I tried sprouting once a few years ago, and my cat really enjoyed knocking the jar over! LOL!
Time to try again but make your efforts cat-proof.




There is a community garden in Houston that will let you take produce home if you volunteer in the garden. Go for it. You'll get exercise, food and also gain knowledge which will be useful if you ever do have your own garden. It's a win-win-win situation :o)

[Traceyraw]

I have cats too. I have been able to sprout lentils and they do not bother them. They are really easy to do.

The community garden sounds great. Where I live they also have co-op or organic buying clubs that cuts down the cost of produce.

[FantasticSarcastic]

We have a co-op here too. I really should check it out. The prices are insane if you aren't a member! I guess that where there is a will, there is a way! The garden really is cool. He built it in 5th ward which is poverty and drug stricken. He teaches the residents about gardening, health and they get free food if they help. He also lets traveling hippy folks park their RV's in the garden if they help. He really is a cool dude.