Steps to success...keeping the costs down

[mattm]

Heya guys, hope these series of posts of mine are of some help to you and I want to move on to discuss the dreaded 'raw bill'. When at especially university this is a big thing for most raw foodists and I just wanted to give some ways I was able to live on 100% green smoothie diet for most of the year, consume an aweful lot of ingredients and spend much less than any of my friends did.

My first and biggest secret is something infact I've just posted about and you might have read....FORAGING. This one thing in itself cut my food costs by over 50%...it's quite incredibly and the idea that you can eat all that stuff that grows in the countryside in such incredible abdundance was a complete revelation to me when I was shown by a friend. Now...I'm definitely a novice with this but things like berries, cleavers, dandelion and nettles are soooo easy to identify and you can literally come home with literally bags and bags full of FREE, WILD and FRESH produce that will be a million times more nutritious than the expensive organic produce in the shops that is probably as unfresh as you can get. So everyone get foraging...there's a load of FREE food out there for us...just make sure you wash it well first otherwise might also get some insect protein!!

My second secret was that I always prioritised my health above anything else...a lot of people spend all their money on drinking alcohol, eating out in SAD restaurants, buying expensive gadgets, DVDs, CDs, etc...ever since going 100% raw I've found myself content but much less and I don't waste my money on all these things I used to. People have got into the mindset that minimal should be spent on food but I think that is wrong to an extent, our health is sooo important to us and I would rather ensure that by spending a bit more on quality organic produce than go out and getting some fancy gadget that I will probably get bored of.

My third recommendation is try to go to the source of produce (if not foraging of course!) so you cut out as many middle men as possible. I do this through my local organics shop which, even though small, knows the locals, the farmers and can get the produce DIRECTLY from them...FRESH. Also I can buy in BULK all my fruit and veg for the week which further reduces the cost.

The fourth idea, though not possible in my particular situation, is to perphaps get a job during study in an organics shop if you feel you have the time for it. I've known people to have done this and they get free produce, major discounts and additionally you make friends with like-minded people healthwise...can't be a bad thing.

As I said, hope these few ideas are of help to you guys and anymore ways you've discovered for keeping the costs down please post.