pantry logistics

[coolpancho]

I am starting to eat raw food but I have trouble with the raw pantry. Many of the food stuff I never heard before and when I see recipes, I don't have the ingredients. I usually have scattered ingredients and I end up doing bad tasting things because I don't have all the stuff. How do you plan all this? I mean, do you plan 2 days ahead some breakfast? Where can I learn?

[MysticTree]

I don't really make recipes. I just eat raw foods that I like in a very simple way.

Find out what you like and buy those things

[qwerty988]

I have a few favorite meals that are staples in my diet, so I always keep those ingredients stocked. I think that's the key (for me, anyway.) Just figuring out what I like to eat most and trying to keep it simple.

I always have bananas (to eat and for smoothies), avocados, tomatoes, sprouts and kale. Guacamole and massaged kale salads are staple meals for me. I always have cashews, nutritional yeast and zucchini because I love zucchini spaghetti with cashew-cheez sauce. I also love adding cashew mylk to my smoothies. I always have walnuts, carrots, celery and onion because this is my basic nut pate. And I always have flax seeds because flax crackers and guacamole is one of my staple meals.

Every day I try to have a massaged kale salad and a green smoothie, so I try to keep those ingredients on hand. I haven't made too many recipes in the dehydrator -- usually I'm just making the flax crackers.

The only other things I can't do without are: apple cider vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce (or aminos) and agave (or honey). I use these every day, all the time, in just about everything.

My advice is take it slow! There are so many new ingredients and products and recipes it can be overwhelming at first!

[qwerty988]

I don't really make recipes. I just eat raw foods that I like in a very simple way.

Find out what you like and buy those things


Hahhahaha -- we both said the same thing, but you've said it with so much more economy and precision! :heart

[MysticTree]

Hahhahaha -- we both said the same thing, but you've said it with so much more economy and precision! :heart

But you said more useful things like having raw oils and cider vinegar and raw nuts :heart

[SunshineMN]

I like your post qwerty! It's made me think a bit. We just got started on raw, going on the third week. I'm still trying to figure out what I need to buy and how long certain amounts will last us. We've been sprouting and are on our second batch. We're trying different seeds and seeing if we like them. It's all so new! But it's great seeing how someone established views supplying their kitchen. Now I know what we need to do. We need to figure out new staple meals and go from there. :D

[DebB]

When I first went raw - it took me weeks & weeks to slowly stock my pantry. I learned a lot along the way. The costliest mistake I made was buying too much of the "superfoods" like lacuma, maca, to name a few.

I finally went through my stash a couple months back and gave away everything I no longer use. So, what I learned from that was buy as small of a quantity as I can to give it a try and see if it's truly something I need in the pantry for future recipes...

[Traceyraw]

I would try one thing at a time. Even if its raw you might not like it. I went overboard at first but eating all of the gourmet dehydrated foods very pricey. I learned I like the simple things best. Fruits,juices, and salads. Almond butter and chia seeds are my must haves right now.

[adobegirl]

Here are some things I always make sure I have in stock:
Agave nectar or Coconut nectar (which I like better and seems to be more raw)
Honey (an iffy thing for some folks)
Fresh garlic
Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar
At least a cold pressed olive oil, but I also like the cold pressed sesame oil, too
Cinnamon
Dried dates
Chia seeds
Cashews
Flax seeds
Walnuts
Almonds
Coconut oil
Lemons (I use these in my water so they don't go to waste if I don't use them in a recipe)
Nutritional yeast (also one of those iffy things for some folks)

We also eat a lot of avocados so I generally have a few of those (and definitely bananas and oranges).

For everything else, I get as needed but I've found for me, most recipes that I might want to make will use one or more of those ingredients.

As you continue down this path, you will find your own must have ingredients. :) :heart:

[Raw Angel Mom]

What kind of food did you eat prior to become raw? My list is similar to adobegirl.
It always changed. I used to make sure that i have all kind of nuts, anything to give flavour (spices), seed, flax seed, sea salt or celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt, Norri Sheet, sweetener, buckwheat, raisin, dates, coconut butter, honey, raw tahini. hemp seed, vanilla, raw cacao, cinnamon, nut meg, cardamon, cumin seed, coriander seed (i use seed because i grind them to have the maximum flavour), mustard seed, olives, garlic, ginger, nama shoyu, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinager, cold press oil such olive oil and sesame oil, either walnut or pecan, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, almond, nori sheet, dulse flake, seed to sprout microgreen. (all my nuts are kept in the fridge, others are in glass container), lentil, mock-beans, sesame seeds . As for the staples, you will see what you needs.

What i would do, i would look at recipe and get what you need, as you go along and go from there. Many times you can replace an ingredient with something else. There are many simple recipes that don't require many ingredient.

As staples, i made sure to have banana, mangoes, berries, leafy greens, young coconut, apple, oranges, tomato, the rest it depends what i am going to make etc....and what is in season.

Have fun

[RawDad]

I like to have these organic items around: a good stock of dates, raw shredded coconut, raw cacao powder, a huge bag of buckwheat groats, raw sunflower seeds, a bushel of apples, a case of bananas, 25 lb bag of carrots, flax seeds, green and purple kale, spinach, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, lemons, limes, celery, sweet potatoes, onions, basil, bell peppers, avocados, cucumbers, kiwis, sesame seeds with hulls, walnuts, grapes (though I stopped buying them because I couldn't find ones with seeds.)

Braggs Liquid Aminos isn't bad to have on hand, and I eat raw honey by the spoonfull.

[rawmiss]

I felt exactly the same when I started!

[coolpancho]

wow. Thanks for all that info and ideas. Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and organized it for raw food. I am not 100% converted yet and I am still clinging to some things like coffee. My eating background was everything. I tried a 5 day fast-cleansing kit from Amazon and upon experiencing the benefits, I started looking for info on the internet which let me to raw food and here.

Thanks

[Raw Angel Mom]

wow. Thanks for all that info and ideas. Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and organized it for raw food. I am not 100% converted yet and I am still clinging to some things like coffee. My eating background was everything. I tried a 5 day fast-cleansing kit from Amazon and upon experiencing the benefits, I started looking for info on the internet which let me to raw food and here.

Thanks

This is wonderful, congratulation, this is a very important step to have interest. I would stick with green smoothie recipe and fruits up to lunch until you decide what you want to do. Green smoothie heal cravings, you might ditch your coffee just like that after a while on green smoothie.

When you are ready, take the plunge for 100% raw food for 30 days, this reset the craving button.

All the best!

[tiggerbounce]

yes, that is correct. The KISS method is important. Simplicity. There are a LOT of things you can make that do not require exotic ingredients. I try to follow recipes that are primarily fruit or veggie based with maybe some seasonings. At least for the most part.

Romaine lettuce wraps filled with various shredded and chopped veggies with guacamole and salsa and Allissa's corn chips. A full meal with the only added seasonings being salt and pepper. The only thing special needed for the corn chips is ground flax seed (I use golden only, the dark tastes yuck to me) and I adjusted the recipe and did not add any other seasonings to it. Kept it plain.

The rest of my day was grab and go. No prep at all.

If you have Alissa's book, she actually has a 30 day food plan and a shopping list I believe. Recipes, too, of course. Very helpful.

Have fun!