New Deals Focus: Raw Vegan Lifestyleby Nikki Goodson | More from this Blogger 07 Jan 2008 11:03 PM Wow! So much has changed in my life these past couple of weeks. I think that many of my Deals blog posts might take a drastic change from now on. I have just recently become a raw food vegan. This means that I will be mostly consuming fruits & veggies, all uncooked, plus some nuts & seeds. I first learned about it in November, at which point I started making a few raw gourmet dishes here & there, but near the end of December, I began realizing how important and how easy it really is, so I decided to commit to 100% raw for at least a week. I'm doing it! Now, I've spent a TON more on food the past couple of weeks than I'd like to admit. I'm buying a lot of produce and some raw condiments that I have not purchased before, so I am not familiar with the prices and I don't know the best places to buy them. I've been to Whole Foods and I've purchased a few things online. I spent $100 on an Organic Starter Kit and some goji berries from Diamond Organics. I spent almost $70 at Amazon.com on raisins, cashews, and raw cacao powder. I've spent over $225 at Whole Foods since the beginning of the month (I said I didn't want to admit it - but there, I did!) So, now that I'm making this leap, I need to figure out how to combine my bargain-hunting with the raw food lifestyle! Obviously, there are not a lot of coupons out for the type of food I will be consuming. So my strategy is changing. And I'm going to take you along for the ride as I discover how to become a raw vegan for as cheap as possible! Maybe I'll even share a recipe or two along the way. ;) PS - I'll still do some other deals too, like some CVS and other hot deals. As always, let me know if there is anything in particular you want to see more of. :) PPS - Check out this picture! It's one of my first raw creations - raw apple pie! Yum! Related Article (although what is explained here is not exactly how I practice it, it'll give you a little bit of background): Learn more about Nikki Goodson  Nikki Goodson started hard-core couponing in August of 2004. She is a member of several deals sites and has previously been a Deals moderator for Deals.Families.com. Relevantdealsblog tags User Comments firedancer9 (10) 10 Jan 2008 08:20 AMThis is awesome! I've been vegan for 7 years and trying to do more raw foods. I experienced the same $ issues when experimenting with the gourmet raw recipes - spending $40 on almonds is a little depressing. I'm having so much trouble finding interesting recipes for fruits and veggies with less nuts. I look forward to seeing what you come up with to save and how you find your way to a more balanced raw diet (meaning not 99% nuts!) :) Thanks!  Nikki Goodson (15905) 10 Jan 2008 09:26 AMThanks, firedancer9! I'm glad that there will be somebody else out there benefiting from me blogging about this unusual new lifestyle. ;) And you're familiar with the fact that most "raw" almonds are now pasteurized so to get really raw ones costs more, right? I assume you know that but I just want to make sure. I think I'm getting in on a co-op where we'll get organic unpasteurized almonds for about $10.50/lb. Way more expensive than the "raw" (but pasteurized) ones for $4.99 at my grocery store. But I've decided my health is worth extra expense. :) firedancer9 (10) 14 Jan 2008 01:18 PMNikki - I do know about the whole raw/pasteurizing ordeal. And I pay a FORTUNE for truly raw almonds at my co-op. We have been doing less raw these last couple weeks due to some scheduling and budgeting chaos. But what we've done to try to even things out financially is to buy the less heavily pesticide-soaked fruits and veggies from conventional produce, and for the worst pesticide-holding produce items (nuts and berries are the highest contaminated, just in case you weren't already aware), we get organic. We used to do all organic, but we are compromising to be able to afford eating more fresh produce. Sad, but what can ya do? Keep us all posted on how this goes for you. For some supplemental, more gourmet raw dishes, check out Ani Phyo's Raw Kitchen book. Yummy, yummy stuff, but heavy on nuts and therefore the wallet, so I only use one or two of these recipes a week. Nikki Goodson (15905) 02 Feb 2008 12:51 PMI just posted a blog about the almonds that I'm currently purchasing, here: http://dealsblog.families.com/blog/raw-unpasteurized-almonds I have done what you're talking about too, using the "dirty dozen" list to make sure that I buy organic for the items most pesticide-laden (like apples!) and saving money by buying conventional when it's not as important (like bananas). It IS sad that we need to compromise like that. When I become rich & famous, I'll be buying ALL organic produce!! :D Community Tags deals, organic, raw, vegan Discuss this article
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