This might seem like a silly question, but I'm ready to transition to being a rawtill4 vegan, but I'm just a bit confused with what to buy. It's like I know that I need a whole lot of fruit, and then rices, pasta, and stuff for dinner, but I just don't really know exactly what?
I have a pretty small stomach so I don't think right away I can eat about 10 bananas for breakfast, but I do know I need to eat higher quantities of food.
I was just wondering if anyone could give me a pretty basic shopping list (I want to keep it affordable).
Also at my supermarkets they don't sell dates so does anyone know a website I could buy them from?
Replies
I live on a super simplified low fat raw diet and it consists pretty much of:
40 lbs of bananas a week, 1/2 watermelon a day, and then a fruit salad.
All together that cost $30 for the case of bananas, $5 *3.5 = $17.5 for the 3 watermelons, and then about $4 a salad.
Sitting right around $75 a week. If your living in a dorm then thats probably the most you would want to have right?
I'm about 165 lbs, 6' tall and very active. So you might be able to get by with less bananas than that, but I would recommend getting more than you need just so that you can give your body the fuel it needs.
Oh, and make sure that if you aren't eating a bunch of organic greens that your supplementing your b12 somehow, and do make sure that you track any changes you make to your nutrition for about 2 weeks so you know your body is getting what it needs.
On the banana/small stomach subject, I like making around 72 ounces of smoothie (bananas, water, coconut sugar) and drinking it over the span of a few hours. If you get a few 32-ounce water bottles (or mason jars, which are awesome) you can bring the smoothies with you and drink them throughout the day. More bananas are of course great because they're high in calories/carbs so will keep you energized. If you get them at Trader Joe's they're just 17 cents each! (You can also ask your grocery store for overripe ones or if you can buy by the box at a cheaper rate)
My shopping list usually evens out to about 50 bananas, dates (which you can order online from Amazon), fresh-squeezed orange juice, grapes, and various other "treat" fruits that I maybe wouldn't eat a full meal of but would eat for a bigger snack (just because they've got a higher cost per calorie). Lately I've been loving clementines. And then, of course, all the dry carbs (rice, pasta, corn, potatoes) I desire-- because they are SO cheap
You want to get some grains and stuff that you can use as your base food which you can add to for other meals so for dinners and stuff you should get things like:
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Tinned Tomato/Pasta Sauce
- Rice
- Pasta
Then for fruits if youre looking for basics and stuff just go to the supermarkets and get what you feel like but find things that will fill you up in the quantity youre getting e.g. if you want berries then you'd need a lot more and will probably spend more than if you were buying a denser fruit like bananas or apples or whatever :)
Ok good tips! Thanks!