I have received some questions over the past couple of weeks and I will start to answer them via the blog.

The most recent question I received was: How can one eat raw on a budget?

Well it really depends on what type of budget you are talking about. If you are eating raw foods whole without any processing (Dehydrating, Food processor) then I think eating raw on a budget is possible. If you are creating gourmet meals, there will be months where your bill will be higher then others because of the staples you will need to keep in order to make some of the raw food recipes.

List of some Staples:

• Cocao
• Carob
• Nutritional Yeast - Not raw
• Agave
• Raw Honey - If you use it
• Buckwheat
• Barley
• Alfalfa
• Nori Rolls
• Miso
• Flax Seeds - Brown and/or Golden
• Tamari or Braggs
• Lots of spices and herbs
• I could go on and on

You will always want to keep the above in stock. You may not need to buy these every month but you might have to every other month depending on use.

The best way to lower your budget is to

• Replace Walnuts, Almonds, etc with - Sunflower seeds
• Replace Tamari, Braggs, Miso with Sea Salt
  
• Replace Nori Wrap with Romaine Leafs, Cabbage etc
• Make your own Sundried Tomatoes, as buying them can be expensive
• Shop for food at your local farmers market (Sometimes this is cheaper then the grocery store)
• Find a local health food store with bulk bins this can save a ton because you can purchase only what you need by the ounce or pound.
  

What I tend to do most time is make only one nut heavy Gourmet dish a week, this way I only need to buy a cup or two of raw nuts from my local health food store and it keeps the bill down. I tend to make more vegetable dishes even dehydrated veggie dish for my meals during the week. I noticed for me that eating to many nuts slows my weight loss.

Here is my meal plan for the week and how much it cost:
Monday Thru Sunday -
Breakfast: Green Smoothie(Kale, apple, raw honey), plus 1 to 2 pieces of fruit that I take to work
Lunch: Romaine Wraps with Guac and /or Cauliflower rice with peas and chives / or Raw Sausage Pizza
Dinner: Green Smoothie and Raw Soup(Miso Soup)

To be able to accomplish the above I spend about $50.00 to $60.00 for the week, but that doesn’t include the staples. You could get this down to $35.00-$45.00 if you didn’t include the gourmet meal.

I think sticking with simple eating is best but when you first go raw, that might not be possible, but you have to remember you are saving yourself thousands of dollars in doctor bills. For that reason alone paying out a bit more is worth it.

There have been weeks where I survived on $25.00 dollars to it can be done but you have to eat simple.

I do shop online from time to time, I buy

• Sprouting supplies from: Home Grown Harvest
• Raw Food Items: Alissa Cohen Raw Food Store and Raw Reform
• You can also find some great products here: Goldmine Natural Foods

I hope you find this helpful,

Tanisha