How to Save More Money on the Raw Food Diet

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Now what you’ve all been waiting for….  How to save more money as a raw foodist!! (and time!)

Here a collection of tips I’ve gathered in the past three years on how to save yourself some money (I’m talking hundreds of dollars per year) when going raw:

  1. Invest in a dehydrator and make your own chips, crackers, cookies, dehydrated nuts, etc.  I like to copy down the ingredients of packaged raw food snacks and make my own version of them at home.  It’s more fun for me and I can make enough for some friends too.

  2. Borrow raw food and other health/spiritual books from the library instead of buying them and reading them once from the bookstore or online.   You’d be surprised at how many raw food books the library system has.  Most library websites have a request function that will transfer the book(s) you want to your local branch and notify you when it’s ready to pick up.

  3. Additional book options: You can organize a book exchange with some other health-conscious friends or you can buy those books you know you want for your personal collection from Amazon.com (there are a bunch of books that you can buy from Amazon at a great discount and free shipping if you spend $25 or more here).
  4. Buy your supplements online and preferably in bulk, if possible.  My favorite supplement site is IHerb.com and my favorite bulk superfood website is The Raw Food World.
  5. If you don’t need or want that much product, create co-ops with your friends and buy in bulk from websites like The Raw Food World and split the shipping.
  6. Make your own beauty products out of the foods you now have in your kitchen.   A great book to invest in with tons of great recipes is called “The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances” by Julie Gabriel.
  7. Make and exchange food with friends in order to try out new recipes and save on money and time: Either make raw food recipes in big batches and share among friends, or organize your own potluck and invite some friends.  To make it easy on them, you can give them some easy recipes to choose from or direct them to a site like GoneRaw.
  8. Buy used kitchen equipment:  Check online (Craig’s List or Ebay), at local health food stores on the notice board, or ask your friends and family if they have a food processor, blender, or juicer they don’t use that you could borrow.
  9. Join a wholesale club and save big on family-sized bags and boxes of fruits and vegetables. You will probably go through these just as fast as a family would!  I get my avocados, dates, organic spinach, raw nuts, some frozen fruit, and available organic fresh fruit at my local wholesale club.
  10. Create your own raw food recipe books by copying and pasting all of your favorite recipes posted online onto a word document.  You can use the find function just as you would the index of the book.
  11. Always search several websites online for the best possible price before buying online (especially supplements).  It’s usually the same product online versus at a raw food restaurant or health food store.
  12. Make your own Rejuvelac and/or Kombucha if you can.  (See link pages for my own how-to directions.)  It’s very easy and economical to do.  It could save you money on Probiotic supplements as well.
  13. Sprout your own sprouts.  Each tray of sprouts will only cost you about .20-.30 cents each and $4-5 dollars at the store.  For resources and directions see this page.
  14. Shop where the organic food is most affordable first:  Buy whatever good organic food is available at the farmers market or smaller produce stores before going to the big chain natural food store.  Then figure out your menu or recipe ideas for the week, based on what you have to work with in your fridge.
  15. Buy all your spices and nuts, seeds, grain, and dried fruit in the bulk section of your big chain natural food store.  Because you’re not paying for the packaging, it’s a lot less expensive.
  16. If available, buy mint, basil, rosemary and other fresh herbs in the bulk section of the natural foods grocery store for substantial savings.
  17. If you can’t afford to buy all organic produce (some are quite hard to even find organic), switch to buying conventional product for those fruits and vegetables carrying the least amount of pesticides when grown conventionally: broccoli, eggplant, cabbage, banana, kiwi, asparagus, sweet peas, mango, pineapple, sweet corn, avocado, onion.  Buy only organic for the “dirty dozen,” produce found to carry the highest amount of pesticides when grown conventionally: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes.  For more information, see this article from Natural News.
  18. Free yoga classes: Check out this post for lots of tips for getting free yoga session in to keep your body energized and balanced
  19. Love your sea veggies? Avoid buying the $5 to $6 bags unless you are experimenting with new ones.  I’ve found that buying online in bulk (2-4 lbs at a time) is most economical.  You could also split the order with someone else to share the cost of the shipping and handling.  Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is my favorite sea veggie online store.
  20. Forage for FREE wild foods for SUPER NUTRITION (e.g. dandelion, clover, purslane, stinging nettles, etc.)  See here for more ideas and resources on this.
  21. Don’t forget to all of those other areas you’re saving in now that you’re living more of a raw vegan lifestyle:  gas bills, doctor and hospital visits, prescription medicine, OTC medicine, coffee, soda, candy, (and other junk food,) expensive cooked food restaurants (not that you won’t go to these again but you won’t be ordering $35 entrees and appetizers and desserts there).

Have more ideas?  Let me know!  E-mail me at lenette @ gorawhavefun.com.  I’d love to hear them!

Some Extra TIME-saving tips for you:

  • You could have a dehydrating day where you fill up all the trays with crackers, cookies, nuts and seeds, etc.  Make snacks for the entire month! Just make sure you carefully plan out the night ahead what you need to soak and make sure you have enough of everything for the next morning or day.  Dehydrate fully and they will last in ziplock baggies for a long time.
  • If you’re thinking: this takes too much time!  I don’t have time to soak, sprout, and dehydrate foods—then forget about it! You don’t have too. Green smoothies, superfood smoothies, and green or energy soups are the easiest and healthiest ways to go!  They are so quick and easy to make, as long as you have lots of fresh produce in the fridge!  Don’t get burnt out in the kitchen)
  • I actually spend much less time in the kitchen now than I did before because I’m never waiting for water to boil, or for things to cook in the oven or microwave.
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