Living cheap...now with pictures!

It's awfully easy to overspend on this raw lifestyle. There are a lot of books, supplements, snacks, energy bars, retreats, lectures, and other awesome things to assist those new to eating living foods. I think it's fun to play around with these things, experiment and learn and screw up, but the price tag tends to be pretty steep. Pre-packed raw snacks can cost upwards of 7$ for a little bag of dehydrated kale chips. True, they're made from the finest organic ingredients and cost quite a bit to make, but still...7$? Maybe once, as a treat (or in my case, a covert attempt to learn the recipe), but as a lifestyle? Most of us would be broke before we finished writing out that monthly menu plan.

Eating simply is always at least part of the answer to most health problems, from the condition of your colon to the vitality of your bank account. Maybe it's boring to some, but I don't think looking forward to food is an ideal perspective on life. I'd much rather look forward to all the things I'm going to accomplish with the energy my food provides.

Now I'm going to stop being flowery and be honest: this really is effing cheap. Today, I paid 20$ for these...



...50lbs of oranges, which will last me a week and provide me with huge breakfasts and salad dressing, and an occasional meal here and there.

Yum.



Bananas are 5 for 0.95 cents at Trader Joe's, and at Savemart the bags of bruised or ripe bananas are just 0.99 cents and usually contain 10 or so perfectly edible bananas. Medjool dates, which pack a caloric punch, are only 3.69$ a pound, which really lasts me days, since I only use them once a day or so in smoothies. Persimmons are 4lbs for 3$ at my local Farmer's Market. Red and orange bell peppers are 0.50 cents each at the local dollar store, or 0.75 cents each at the Market. Giant bundles of dark, leafy greens are 1$, sometime 1.25$. This is just a glimpse into the possibilities of eating raw in winter. Can you imagine how cheap and easy this is in the summer?

Here's my current stock of persimmons...





...a box, a bag, and a bucket filled to the top. There are deals to be found where you live. Don't whine at me and say, "Oh, yeah, well, it's easy for you, you live in California." Yeah...I do. But I live in Northern California, which you might be confusing with Southern California. That's where you really wanna be. Well, if we're playing this game, you'd actually want to be in Costa Rica. But I've seen people live like this in Canada. Wherever you are, uncover the method of living well in your area. Find that fruit wholesaler, google those asian food markets, and whatever you do, avoid health food stores unless you need something specific, because they sell some epic stuff at insane prices. The only things I buy at health food stores are in bulk bins, and that's herbs and seeds.

Yesterday, I had:

Breakfast: Juice of 9 oranges, 1/2 a cucumber, 4 carrots and 1 stalk of rainbow chard

Lunch: Banana/pineapple smoothie with 6 bananas and 1 cup frozen pineapple

Second Lunch: 6 Fuyu persimmons

Dinner: Salad of romaine and red bell pepper and 1 raw dehydrated cracker (buckwheat, flax, banana, date)