Hello Beautiful!

It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

when you are lacking funds....

So this month has been absolutely horrible in terms of rawness/health. Basically, the problem is that money this month has been so ridiculously tight that I can

Comments

  • Raw can be very cheap. For example, you don’t need expensive goji berries or hemp protein powder. Also, try sprouting your own mung beans (to save $$ for example—about $1.50 per pound @ Whole Foods bulk bin). They grow in two days & you can use any glass or plastic container & just cover with a kitchen towel. And buy whatever fruit happens to be on sale this week at the local market. It doesn’t have to be organic. Keep up the yoga & walk too! It all goes together. Let us know how you’re doing.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    first off, even if it was TWICE the price of eating “normally”, good health is not only it’s own reward, but it means no meds, vitamins, laxatives, etc… these are EXPENSIVE band-aids for people with poor nutrition.

    also, when i buy all greens (what you want to be eating most of anyway), i can get a HUGE grocery bag of them for a pittance. kale, lettuce (even organic), parsley, chard, etc… are pretty cheap, and compared to say a box of pasta, so much more nutrient dense.

    also, sprouts are the CHEAPEST, and one of the most nutritious foods you can eat. you can sprout those lentils! cut the onions up into your salad, sprout the bag of chick peas (which is cheaper than a can of cooked.)

    hope that helps.

    doubting your amazing decision can poorly affect your help too. my family needed some time to adjust but they came around! =)

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    I think the best price going for food is bananas. Maybe you could make green smoothies for breakfast/lunch and that would be cost effective. It only takes a couple of bananas, another fruit and greens. I get a lot of smoothies out of a whole head of romaine. You could make salads for dinner that your whole family can enjoy.

  • At least do green smoothies every day The Green and Gone Smoothie on this site is a great one. Highly nutritious and not expensive (I’m sure you could make a quart and a half for less than $3.00. Have it for breakfast and later for late morning snack or lunch. You can’t beat that for being affordable, tasty and healthy.

  • I’m in college and I know EXACTLY how you feel! First of all, if you haven’t said goodbye to superfoods, then do so NOW. They are very expensive, as are nuts. Some cheap nuts and seeds include flax and sunflower seeds. I also buy cashews 1x a month when our local HFS has 20% off sale. Keep an eye out for sales, they’re your best friend. As for produce, if you are striving to buy organic then it helps to know which foods are the most contaminated (the ones youll definitely want to buy organic) and the least contaminated (ones you want to be more ‘lax about). I buy conventional avocados bc of this, and when they’re in season.

    Like others have already mentioned, it also helps to learn how to sprout.

    Basically, if you stay away from superfoods like goji berries, cacao, and nuts like macadamia then you should be spending the same or less than on a SAD diet. Especially if you add up all the money that you used to spend eating out.

    Good luck, it is a bit tricky at first but you will figure it out.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Getting a dehydrator is a good way to save money because flax crackers, raw breads etc are really cheap to make and very filling. And you can use your fruit and veg pulp to make cookies.

  • I tend to spend a lot of money on groceries every month, and it seems that I have spent more since going raw, especially since organic produce tends to be more expensive. Also, I will buy packaged raw food items, such as raw tahini, raw almond butter, etc. which are more expensive than the cooked version. Anyway, this week I am more strapped for cash waiting for payday, so instead of taking a trip to the grocery store, I have been more creative with what I have on hand. I have also stuck with buying just the necessary produce, but none of the extras and have still been able to make flavorful meals. I agree with what everyone else has said about sprouting. I have buckwheat sprouting as we speak!!

  • Ditto on the sprouting thing. You can even do it in a bowl. Colanders work great. Also, buy sunflower, mung, chick peas, lentils, wheat berries, buckwheat, quinoa, etc. from bulk bins and not the pricy “sprouting seed” display at the HF store. If you do buy nuts, soak them for more nutrition.

    Sprouted quinoa with various chopped veges and vinegar/oil is a delicious and nutritios meal and dirt cheap!

    The next best tip I’ve heard is to plan specific ingredients for specific meals. I tend to buy “supplies” and have most things on hand most of the time. This is wasteful as some things go bad and get pitched before they can be used.

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    try shopping different places, like the asian market. if you want cheap filler food, find some mung bean sprouts, they come in a huge package dehydrated at any asian market, look for the one that says 100% mung bean. soak in warm water, drain off water add sesame oil, green onions, mushrooms, whatever you like. a bag with 10 serving is about $1.99!! maybe try shopping a place like price club or sam’s club for frozen organic fruit. buying in bulk saves$

  • Wow, thanks so much for the helpful responses. You guys are awesome!

     

  • My grocery bill has actually decreased since incorporating raw into my household. Processed, prepackaged vegan/vegatarian food really doesn’t get you the bang for your buck. I only purchase organic produce if it is known for high pesticide use, like spinach. When I was lacto-ovo I found the most expensive part of my bill was organic milk at $8 a gallon and $4 for a dozen of eggs. Now I make my own milks, and they taste so much better than cow’s milk. I wish I would have stumbled across Raw along time ago. Purchasing raw items through amazon.com can also be cheaper. For most items you can even get free shipping if you spend over $25. This is not only cheaper, but it saves you fuel used getting to the grocery store. I live 25 miles from the nearest health food store. It costs me an average of $7 to travel there for groceries each week. That’s $28 a month! I think it takes a lot of creativity to save money no matter what you do these days. And as far as our loved ones go, we must contantly put things in perspecive to make them understand by eating quality food we are reducing our risk for disease and expensive/avoidable medical treatments later in life.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    I don’t know if this will interested you but have you tried foraging for wild foods. Go out and pick the stuff yourself and it is totally free! Make sure you know what you are doing though so you don’t pick anything poisionous. Get a good book or go on a hike with an experienced forager.

    Looks like you live in Spain so I couldn’t tell you what there would be to pick out there but there are so many things that are wild that we can eat that so many people don’t know about so they don’t take advantage of it.

    This past month there are so many wild grapes by us that we can’t pick them all – makes very tasty (and FREE) fruit to snack on or super yummy grape juice (which you could use in lots of things). Not to mention that wild foods are very nutritious since you are picking and eating them right away.

    We made some wild apple cider, wild grape pie and wild rose hip dip. (combined with some other items that we bought in the recipes but otherwise free).

    Of course, you not everything you might want to eat is safe (or available) to eat wild. But almost all areas have things like berries and wild greens.

    Just a suggestion and something you might want to start getting into if you like the concept of fresh, free raw food.

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    about the dehydrated mung bean sprouts, if you get this kind and rehydrate them,rather than sprouting your own, you get something like ‘noodles’. of course the fresh sprouts are great for other things too. just thought i’d mention it because i tried to make a noodle dish with fresh ones and it was a disaster.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Em-

    You can forage in a big city! I have only lived in big cities. You just need to find the right places. Just don’t pick any of the stuff that is like right on the side of the road or highway where cars pass by. I think the rule is to pick at least 50 feet away from any major polluted areas like roads with heavy traffic. Also if you have any city parks that you know might be sprayed with chemicals (like fertilizers) don’t forage there. Same thing with peoples yard in case they use chemical fertilizers.

    If were you are picking is a good distance away from a road you should be OK.

    Wildman Steve Brill is an expert. Scroll to the bottom of the page for tips on foraging in cities:

    http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Clippings.fold…

  • great link, queenfluff, thanks!

    I love my dandelion greens! I eat them all the time. I mean, I don

  • Vegfean, exactly what types of raw food are you ordering off of amazon? Can i get mung beans from the health food store?(never heard of them). I also read that one is not supposed to eat too many sprouts because they are to hard to digest! Frederic Patenaude’s website to be exact. Anyone with other tips i would appreciate it because i am on a budget right now and want to be 100% without leaning on cooked items.

  • I feel your pain. It’s doubly expensive for me because I have a DH and two children who are not on the same speed in the raw journey as I am. I still have to buy jucie boxes for lunches and snacks that they both can (and will) eat. One of my kids has severe allergies, so it’s not like she can eat just anything, which also adds to the cost of things. And, like someone else mentioned, some of the raw packaged items aren’t cheap.

    I have decided to just to the best that I can do and not sweat it. I did buy what seemed like an expensive raw granola for breakfast at work and it has lasted a surprisingly long time because I don’t really need to eat that much to feel sustained. I go to my local health food store and buy raw tahini in bulk and raw nuts and nut butters in bulk as well. Then I do my other shopping elsewhere because I cannot afford the health food store organic veggies. I then go to Trader Joe’s and I get organic carrots, salad mix, etc. It’s not at cheap as it would be if I went to my local farmer’s market, but it’s less than a healthfood store and still organic.

    What makes things easier for me is having a meal plan when I go shopping. I try to think of how much money I have and how many meals I will realistically need to eat or make. (I did this even when I was on the SAD diet.) and then I think of ways to cut costs, like by having the same thing for dinner, lunch and another lunch, etc. When I don’t have the cash, I don’t buy the fancier things and just the basics that I can to make meals.

    If you’re eating beans & rice and lentils, can you just soak/sprout them so that they’re not actually being cooked? I’m new to being raw, so I don’t know how kosher that is for all types of rice and beans, but it seems like that would be something reasonable.

  • Sunflower seed pate is inexpensive to make, and you can always add different herbs or spices for variety. If you have a lot of cucumbers, radishes, onions, or carrots on hand make a raw version of refrigerator pickles.

  • Also, one way to save money and eat really well is making what I call just kraut. You can make saurkraut, kim chi, or any mixture of veggies. Whenever you can make it to a farmers market or there is a sale on a few good veggies you buy extra and eat some fresh and turn the rest into kraut. All you need is salt, veggies, and a container that you can fit a small plate into snuggly. The in-depth explanation on how and the benifits of fermented foods is on the website below. Cool thing is the raw version of this stuff goes for like $12 a small jar! And man do you feel good eating this a little everyday! Especially if you are eating some cooked foods- you can pair this with it like they did so long ago to help digestion. Hope this helps! http://wildfermentation.com/

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    missthomas86, i’ve heard the exact opposite about sprouts: that they are very EASY to digest…hmm

  • Yea well this is the same guy that said that vegans at some point should consume some type of meat product/byproduct so i guess you cant believe what everyone says.

  • Missthomas86:

    Gogi berries, maca powder, and other super foods are availible on amazon.com. Go to the Gourmet food section for raw nuts and vanilla beans. Or just shop the natural and organic section.

Sign In or Register to comment.