Simple Tips For Saving Money On The Raw Food Diet

It costs money to eat healthy and it costs even more more to eat raw. Right? Well, not exactly! You can save money on a raw food diet and purchase record amounts of fruits and vegetables every week. These tips show you how!

Get A Warehouse Club Membership

The first thing you should do to cut your grocery bill on a raw food diet is to get a warehouse club membership to a place like Costco or Sam’s Club. I pay a $50 annual fee for our Costco membership. I get mangoes, huge pineapples, tubs of organic spinach and baby greens, 10 pound bags of organic carrots, organic strawberries, organic raspberries, melons, kiwis, oranges, dates, tomatoes, avocados, mushrooms, wild frozen blueberries and more. The prices we pay for these bulk items are cheaper than any of our local supermarkets. We are able to get more produce for the same price, or save a considerable amount of money on things that I’d pay more for elsewhere. The annual membership fee pays for itself just about every week!

Buy In Season or On Sale and Freeze

Another way to save money is to purchase produce when it is in season and on sale. Purchase twice the amount and freeze half of it for later use. Your grocery bill the next week will be smaller as you use the stuff that you purchased on sale and froze earlier. I mainly do this with strawberries and bananas.

I generally do not recommend that you freeze everything and rely on frozen fruits and vegetables for your nutrition. A few items are fine and shouldn’t be too nutritionally compromised from freezing. It is better to buy on sale, save money and freeze than to not buy at all and go without. I also recommend that you always buy fresh greens and not freeze them.

Grow Your Own Food

If you have a garden or a backyard, consider planting some food crops. It’s pretty easy to grow your own tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, herbs and anything else you want. What you pay for some plants or seed packets will produce a bounty of veggies for pennies!

You can also set up an indoor herb garden as well as a sprouting station for alfalfa, sunflower, beans and lentils.

Invest In A Dehydrator

A quality food dehydrator isn’t expensive at all and can actually save you a ton of money, especially if you routinely buy raw food bars or specialty raw treats like cookies, crackers, cereals and breads. It is not hard to make these yourself at all and you can find lots of recipes online. You can make your own snacks using fresh ingredients without paying the ultra-premium price that prepared raw foods cost.

I highly recommend the Excalibur food dehydrators. You can get a simple 4-tray unit for just over $100. They also carry larger units with timers and other features as well. The great thing about Excalibur dehydrators is that you can control the temperature that you dry foods at. While some other brands heat foods up past 118 degrees Fahrenheit, you can set your Excalibur at any temperature setting you want to preserve enzymes and nutrients.

Reduce or Eliminate Superfoods and Supplements

You do not need expensive superfoods or supplements if you are on a raw food diet. Don’t get me wrong, both have a place in a healthy diet and lifestyle and some people might need to take these, but you might be overpaying for nutrients you don’t need. If you are on a well-planned raw food diet that is based on fruits and vegetables, you don’t need to take a daily multivitamin. You probably don’t need that calcium, iron or protein supplement either. If you’re vegan, stick with a vitamin B12 supplement and maybe a vitamin D supplement over the winter. See Raw Food Nutrition for more information on getting nutrients from food.

As for superfoods, you can get all the nutrition you need from fresh, organic fruit, greens, nuts, seeds and sprouts. If you wish to use superfoods, use them sparingly, medicinally or see if you really need them at all. If you’re taking maca every day, go off it for a week and see how you feel. Don’t get caught up in the superfood craze and stock your cupboards with eight or so different “must-have” potions and powders. Use one or two at a time and rotate them. Or simply do without because your fresh, organic fruits and vegetables are superfoods!

Limiting the amount of superfoods that you buy can save you a ton of money each month. You won’t sacrifice your health and you will free up some extra money for your grocery bill.

Save Money (And Stay Healthy) By Not Buying Organic

Wait, did I say NOT to buy organic? Well, what I mean is that you don’t have to buy absolutely everything organic for health reasons. Avocados, pineapples and mangoes are among the fruits lowest in pesticide residues. You also typically peel these foods before eating them. So you can save a bit of money by purchasing certain conventionally grown foods that are low in pesticide residue.

How can you find out which ones are okay to buy non-organic and which ones to always buy organic? Check out the “Dirty Dozen List” by the Environmental Working Group.

Seek Out Fruit and Vegetable Markets In Your Neighborhood

A cheaper alternative to your supermarket’s limited produce section might be a neighborhood fruit and vegetable market. I have several of these in Chicago. I go to Stanley’s Fruits & Vegetables every week for incredible deals on produce, including lots of organic items.

Buy Young Coconuts At Asian Markets Rather Than At Health Food Stores

If you routinely buy young Thai coconuts from a health food store, you should seek out a local Asian market. My experience has been that Asian markets typically sell coconuts for up to half what a health store chain would sell them for. Plus, they are often better quality coconuts with fewer bad and fermented ones.

Make A Grocery List

Studies show that people who shop with a grocery list typically spend less on groceries than those who do not shop with a list. The reason is that you are less likely to “impulse buy”. Impulse buying can get expensive. Even raw foodists can impulse buy. You might walk through the produce section and start filling your cart with new things you haven’t tried. Then you get sticker shock at the checkout. Take some time before you go shopping to make a list and think about the recipes or foods you will make and eat over the next week. Make a list of the ingredients you need and stick to it.

Keeping a grocery list is also important if you are on a high-raw diet since you are even more likely to increase your grocery bill by buying both raw and non-raw foods.

What are your favorite ways to save money on a raw food diet? Post a comment below with tips and tricks you use to keep your food budget under control.

Tags: costco, farmers market, Raw Food Diet, sams club, saving money, young coconut