Getting Started?

[PansyLo]

Does anyone have advice on the best way to get started into a raw lifestyle?

Is there an easy way to get into it?

I'm 21, living on a very low income. I can't afford any expensive equipment or ingredients. There's a few shops I know of that sell raw ingredients but none that specialise just in raw food, they're just general health food stores. I can't grow anything to save myself. I always kill any sort of sprouting seeds etc I try to grow.

I have a raw food cook book that I use but to become 100% raw you just seem to need to spend so much money and donate so much time to it. I literally flip through page after page thinking "Can't make that. That needs days of growing things... that needs some weird kitchen equipment... I don't even know what half these ingredients are..."

Is there a way to get started that's more doable? Then as time goes on I can slowly start buying the extra equipment for my kitchen and finding where I can buy weirder ingredients etc?

Also what's the first things to save up for etc? What's the most essential things I need to find to buy? I'd love to do like a month long challenge for beginners where you stick to a schedule or something.

I've had a look at the book on this site and it sounds a lot like what I need but I don't have the money to spare and really struggle getting anything delivered to the flat I live in. Is there anyway to get started in the meantime and get the book in a few months?

[Joanna.K]

Hey there, i'm 22 and also on a very low income so in a similar situation to you. From the UK too so hopefully my input will be helpful to you!

Im about 85% raw atm, breakfast is where I cheat. I have Branflakes with soya milk, mainly cos i enjoy them also cos its far cheaper than a load of fruit. Having said that i've done some research, thanks to this site, about soya and it seems its pretty bad for you. Ill be swapping to almond milk within the next week or so. Shop bought is fairly expensive so ill be buying almond in bulk from the market and mixing with water and a couple of dates for sweetener. (There's lots of "milk" recipes out there, just Google :) )

For Lunch i have about 100g-150g of mixed nuts and a piece of fruit.

For tea i have a biiiig salad! This is usually a mix of tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion, carrot, courgette, lettuce, kale, cabbage, baby sweetcorn etc. That's the "bulk" and to that i add my "flavours". (That's how i categorise it anyway) This usually consists of olives, gherkins, sultanas, sun dried toms and then lots of different dried herbs n spices. Oh and chillies!

Ill then have a few snacks throughout the day of fruits.

Fruit wise, the cheapest/most value for money i find is: bananas, oranges, pears, apples, dates, dried apricots, sultanas, mixed dried fruit/nut mix.
Id like to say shop at the smaller local shops, organic, grass root places etc but hey, like we've both stated, when your on a budget i must say most my stuff comes from the big supermarkets. ><

I have a fairly cheap blender, does the job for me when it comes to making salsa, guacamole, milks, smoothies, pesto's etc. Can usually pick em up for £30 or even less on Ebay or so on. Shouldn't be a problem for u to pick up :)

So yeah, top tips:
- Stock up on dried fruits and nuts. Always good for snacking.
- Even the cheaper fruits are perrrrfectly good to go for.
- Stock up on dried herbs and spices to give your evening meals a kick and something to vary tastes from day to day, keep it interesting.
- Lotsa herbal teas :) Yogi is an awesome brand imo! As is Clipper and Celestial.

Anyway, i'm new to Raw too, about 7/8 weeks now... Just giving you the info i know from my limited experience. Hope it helped!

[RawLibrarian]

Does anyone have advice on the best way to get started into a raw lifestyle?

Is there an easy way to get into it?



In a word, yes. You do NOT need to make gourmet raw meals with lots of exotic ingredients, expensive nuts, and so on. I don't, myself. I don't own a dehydrator and I've been raw for several years.

You can totally make this work by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and seeds, and you don't have to eat expensive nuts and seeds, either (like macadamia nuts and so on). I don't eat a lot of nuts anyway, and nuts that are "completely raw" are monstrously expensive. I'm perfectly okay with eating bulk raw nuts from the health food store even though they are not 100% raw. I'm sorry, I'm just not going to obsess about the rawness of every atom of food that I eat.

In terms of equipment, a blender and a food processor are nice; I would say that of the two, a blender would be a higher priority. I did not have a high-speed blender when I started out (like a Vitamix or a Blendtec). A regular blender is perfectly fine for fruit smoothies, and if you want to make green smoothies (fruit + greens) in a regular blender, you might have to make it in batches and run the blender longer. However, a high-speed blender is a really fabulous tool. I did end up getting one, but the regular blender was perfectly okay. As I say, I still have no dehydrator and do not plan on getting one. I don't use my food processor all that often, but my blender, and a good knife, get used constantly in my kitchen.

One book, besides Alissa's to consider is 'Raw food made easy for one or two people' by Jennifer Cornbleet. She has some videos on YouTube from a DVD of hers, showing how to make some of the recipes in her book. No dehydrator required, no high speed blender required, and the vast majority of recipes call for items you can get at a regular grocery store. That is, no maca, lucuma, young Thai coconuts, goji berries, and so on. I consider items like these to be completely optional, and I cannot imagine how expensive they must be in Glasgow, if you can find them at all (Thai coconuts, for example!)

I eat a lot of green smoothies (fruits plus greens like spinach, kale, collards, etc.); blended soups, and salads. So my blender gets a workout every day. :-)

This might be a minority opinion, but if you can't get organic produce, or organic is out of your price range, buy conventional produce. You will be way ahead even if you can't afford organic, and I know that a lot of people simply can't.

Keep your meals simple, and you can make this work.

Best of luck.

[PansyLo]

Thanks! This has been so helpful :)

I think I'll try and at least greatly increase the amount of raw food I eat to start off with and avoid cooked food as much as possible. Then when I have a bit of money invest in a couple of good books for beginners and maybe a green smoothy book.

I have a blender but it's cheap and not all that good, it actually belongs to my flatmate and can't cope with much. The first thing I'll get when I'm not struggling so much with money (things are particularly bad right now due to recent health problems) might be a high speed blender.

I think my problem was just starting with the wrong book. The book I have, while it explains everything, is probably for people who have been raw for a while and have a good understanding of it and know where to source more unusual food.

And one day I might manage to sprout seeds without killing them...

[Traceyraw]

Keep it simple fruits and vegetables. Bananas. Buy whatever is in season and on sale. Stock up when you see good prices. You can freeze ripe peeled bananas for smoothies or ice cream. You can eat as many fruits and vegetables you want.

[qwerty988]

Keep it simple fruits and vegetables. Bananas. Buy whatever is in season and on sale. Stock up when you see good prices. You can freeze ripe peeled bananas for smoothies or ice cream. You can eat as many fruits and vegetables you want.

I totally agree -- especially at first, the only way I could do it was SUPER SUPER SIMPLE.

Salads. Fresh fruit. Smoothies. Check out youtube for simple raw smoothies, blender soups and salad ideas!!

My staples are: bananas, avocadoes, tomatoes, sprouts, kale..... and whatever else is in season, like tracey says! I also like to throw a handful of cashews into smoothies or soups, makes them thick and creamy, yum!!

For sweet cravings I love dates! And I love to buy regular old coconuts and smash them and chow down on the fresh coconut meat, DELISH.

Spend time reading through the older threads on this site..... there are SO MANY valuable threads here just brimming with great advice for beginners!

[blessteve]

I buy lots of what is on sale. Oranges are in season and I have been eating and juicing 10 to 20 a day.

Butt loads of bananas.

Sprouts I get bird food sunflower seeds. Way cheaper then buying ones marked FOR SPROUTING.

[Living Food]

And one day I might manage to sprout seeds without killing them...

It's really not that hard; look for a thread here called Sprouting! (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?64973-Sprouting!&highlight=sprout), there's a wealth of information there. Peas, lentils, and the like are extremely cheap and filling and all sprouts are loaded with nutrition, which sounds like it will be especially important for you with your low income.

[PansyLo]

^ Yeah I know it shouldn't be but I always kill them. Normally because I'm not in the flat so much with work. I think I was also putting them out into the light too early and I wasn't sure what to cover the tops of the jars with. I'm in the flat a lot more now though so I'll maybe give it another go. I have a packet of alfalfa for sprouting. Following the advice on the spouting thread I'll give it another go!

I've seen packets of mixed spouted beans in the supermarket but it says you have to cook them on the packet? Is is safe to eat these raw or do they somehow go bad being stored in the packet and have to be cooked to be edible?

Also is freezing food okay? I have a craving for ice-cream and found a recipe to make ice-cream using avocado's and coconuts. Nothing is cooked it's just blended and frozen.

I know I'm asking dumb questions but it's totally new to me.

The thing I'm finding hardest is figuring out what things are actually raw! I'm using up some of the cooked ingredients I have in the house such as beans/non raw honey etc.

Can you get raw milk? Is rice/almond/oat or anything like that raw? I did drink light soya milk before trying to convert to raw food because I prefer the taste even though people say soya products are bad for you...

[Mack!]

Hi PansyLo and fellow forum members.

My name is Mack, and I just joined the forum today. PansyLo, I think that you asked some very good questions. I wanted to ask some of the same questions myself because I would like to start eating raw but know little about getting started. I will start off by buying Allisa Cohen's 'Raw food made easy for one or two people' and Jennifer Cornbleet book. Thanks for starting this thread.

[PansyLo]

Hey Mack. :)

Well the advice given here has been great for me. I've just bought Alissa's book too so that will give me something more solid to follow but I'm actually feeling good without it. Early days. Since starting though I've gotten really enthusiastic about it so I feel now like this is something I'm going to stick to.