ANSWER: It can be, but it does not have to be. If it sounds like I am wobbling a little bit in answering a straightforward question, you are perfectly correct. The problem with giving a definitive answer is that it requires a “qualified” response (NO – I have never run for public office). The best answer is that it will depend on your “sourcing” skills and the resulting connections you are able to make. Let me explain.
If you begin your diet by getting fruit and vegetables from your local grocery store, then “by definition”, you will be paying retail. If you do your research and seek out a local farmers market that supplies fresh produce, you will predictably pay a discount for the items you buy. If you are even more resourceful and can rent a piece of ground (or own your land) to grow vegetables, obtain the knowledge to grow your own food (and if you are successful with your efforts), you can expect to pay wholesale for raw food. You can venture farther into the prospects of saving money by using tactics known as “freeganism” that will limit the costs to the labor you expend.
I will not attempt to further answer this question within the constraints of this short article. However, I can
refer the reader to an excellent blog that does a great job in addressing certain raw diet myths here. Also, I would like to pass along a recent article on the dietblog site that gathered comments dealing with the cost of their diet here. I would not attempt to submit this article for posting without including Tim VanOrden’s U-tube episode of his Running Raw Project that presents one way to shop for raw food here. Is it just me, or does Tim gather enough free samples to “make a meal”, thus subverting the incentive to purchase something from each vender? It’s OK Tim, I am just messing with you.
Now is the time for me to share the cost-saving tips that I have found helpful.
My Basic Guide to a 100% raw vegan diet on a budget…
1. You don’t need superfoods like: cacao, gogi, or maca, mana, mesquite, or acai for every or any meal. These foods can supplement your diet in a rich way when you have decided what foods work for you to be a perfectly functioning 100% raw vegan.
2. Try to get a blender if you don’t already have one. It will be a good investment to make cheap smoothies, salad dressings, desserts, etc. The dehydrators, food processors, spirulizers are all great tools as well, but you can make due without them.
3. Eat at the times of day that are most in-sync with your body’s natural physiology.
Try:
Breakfast: 8:00am-9am (or when you begin to feel hungry)
Lunch: 12:00pm-1pm
Dinner: 5:00pm-6pm
It is highly recommended to eat nothing after dinner to allow enough time for your body to digest the food before you sleep. Eating late into the evening can be detrimental to your digestive system.
4. Study the importance of “food combining”. General rule: always eat fruit alone or with greens, and especially not with fats…and wait at least 3 hours to eat fruit after your non-fruit meal. The following sites will help you prepare for that part of your diet:
a. http://www.rawfoodchat.com/forums/raw-food-interviews/interview-natalia-rose-69.html
b. http://www.detoxtheworld.com/knowledge-base-frequently-asked-questions.php#Combining%20Foods
c. http://www.giveittomeraw.com/forum/topics/1407416:Topic:409026?page=1&commentId=1407416%3AComment%3A409383&x=1#1407416Comment409383
d. http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/2007/09/reader-question.html
The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose also has a lot of great info about food combining.
5. Here is a basic 100% raw vegan meal plan for $7-10 a day.
Breakfast: Fruit $1-1.50
Oranges, Apples, Pears, Peaches, Nectarines, Berries…whatever you like.
Lunch: Green Smoothy $3.00
Greens=either spinach, kale, collard greens, romaine lettuce, a bunch or half a bag ~200g ($1)
Neutralizer=2-4 bananas or 1-2 plantain(s) ($1)
Sweet Fruit=Grapes, Pears, Peaches, Blueberry’s….whatever you like. Add to taste ($1)
Dinner: Salad or Nori Wrap. $3-6
Salad: $6
Spinach, tomatoes, avocado, celery, alfalfa sprouts, mushrooms
Dressing:
Lemon Miso: Lemon, unpasterized miso (expensive and not quite raw ), nut base (pecans, walnuts, or almonds)
Pesto: pine nuts, basil, lemons, olive oil
Or…
Nori Wrap: $3-4
Raw Nori sheet, tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, lemon, olive oil, sea salt
-Salads and Wraps are great, but don’t wear them out. Remember there are a limitless amount of raw food possibilities out there.
-Dessert? If you still have money, Medjool dates and nuts are a great inexpensive way to go. ($6-7/lb.)
Cheaper still !!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following methods do have a bit of a learning curve, but will become very easy once you have “tested the waters” for what works for you.
6. Try growing your own vegetables, they are cheaper, healthier and self-satisfying. Growing is a great learning experience. Use non-GM seeds.
-Sprouting is a great introduction to quick and easy meals. Wheatgrass will require a wheatgrass juicer. Broccoli and chickpeas are great tasting sprouts. Find help on these sites.
http://www.sproutpeople.com/
http://www.sprouting.com/
http://www.pathtofreedom.com/
7. Wild foraging is the cheapest and most healthy way to go if at all possible for you. Many times wild foods have much higher amounts of antioxidants and enzymes.
Take a local foraging workshop. The workshops might be pricey, but it they will pay for themselves many times over.
In the UK (E. London), Raw Rob offers some great foraging workshops: http://www.rawrob.com/coaching/
In the UK (Bristol) at: http://www.selfsufficientish.com/index.php/wild-foods/190-wild-food-foraging-courses-from-p35-forage-in-a-city
In the US (NW) you can contact: http://www.wildfoodadventures.com/
In the US (NE) at: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
http://www.rawfoodnetwork.com/books_wildfoodandforaging.html
8. “Freeganism” involves finding and salvaging discarded or unwanted produce from a variety of places, from supermarket dumpsters to “sharing co-operatives”, like: Food not Bombs at: http://www.foodnotbombs.net/ , or try S.H.A.R.E., at: http://www.wholesaledistributorsnet.com/SHARE_food.html. For more info on freeganism, you can check out: http://freegan.info/
I have made a diligent search over the past few years to find out why relatively few people have grabbed 
onto the obvious health benefits of the Vegan diet. It seems beyond my understanding why people, when faced with a choice of what to eat, would do anything else…like forming unhealthy eating habits. I eventually found that I must pull in the “horns of criticism” based upon my findings and its sobering reality. It turns out there are other, underlying and unseen, factors at work here that have affected the average person’s food choices. It appears that our Governments food policies have traditionally played a role in shifting from healthy family-farming techniques toward the larger crops of industrial farming. This was done with the well-intentioned idea of producing cheaper food that would be available to many more people. However, the net effect has been a widespread promotion of fast food products, made out of the cheapest food products in the market, and away from the garden-fresh whole foods that promote better health. We need to take a better look at our food policy and ask questions of those responsible for forming that policy. Granted, they can only do what is economically feasible to do.
But, “the times they are a-changin”, as Bob Dylan would have us understand. Yes indeed, the price of oil is fluctuating wildly and that has placed enormous pressure on industrial-farmed food prices. You can safely assume that your food prices are going up, even while food-borne health risks intensify and nutrition suffers, when agribusiness-as-usual continues. Are there any reasonable alternatives? Yes, I believe there are a few answers to these difficult questions. One answer lies with using less petroleum to produce food. 
My opinions are based on the great news delivered by Michael Pollan in a recent NPR radio interview. Mr. Pollan is the author of books including, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals”, and his “In Defense of Food: an Eaters Manifesto”. He brings his strong credentials to this latest interview and tackles these difficult questions.
Michael Pollan presented an “Open Letter” to both candidates for the 2008 presidency, which was published by The New York Times Magazine on October 12, 2008. NPR radio interviewed Mr. Pollan based on the superb and informative content of that letter on October 23, 2008. If you missed that interview, you can find it at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95896389. In the interview he makes a compelling argument for the reduction of petroleum used in farm operations. He also insists that more can be done by government by redirecting their crop subsidies to farmers that will use traditional farming techniques. This includes rotating crops, introducing farm animals back onto the farm (away from mega food-farming pens) and using cover crops (later tilled into the soil for fertilizer) between growing seasons. Each of these techniques have been wisely used before the advent of large industrial farming, which helped cut the farmers costs and required less petroleum to farm. Farmers faced with rising oil prices may find it becomes a matter of farm survival. Additionally, he suggests that buying food locally can save on transportation costs. He documents how these techniques can make crops safer, cheaper and more eco-friendly…all music to my ears. I highly recommend listening to the interview. I wonder what the winning candidate will think when he reads his “open letter” from Mr. Pollan?
I have recently received tons of emails this week asking some tough questions about the blog and why I haven’t posted some of the more interesting emails from the readers. OK, it would be more accurate to say that I received several emails with questions. Well, there were exactly three…but all three deserve some straight-talking answers. I thought I would break from my usual fare and let the readers sit in on a little Q&A from this weeks email. So here we go:
Q: “Ryan, I thought the blog was going to be about filmmaking, and include interesting news for other Vegans and those people who are concerned about diet/health? I don’t see much about your films. Why haven’t you posted some of the more interesting emails you get? You seem to be all over the place with that blog. What is going on?”
-My Mom
A: Mom, you need to give these things more time. Right now I am very busy making the short film I have named “Vegan Love”, it is going just fine, we are having a great time, and it should be finished next month. I will call you later and explain the other things.
Q: “Son, are you eating ok…you turned into an awful picky eater? Why isn’t your film out yet, is there a problem? How come your ‘donations received’ has been stuck at 22% of your goal for so long? No takers? What is going on?”
-My Dad
A: Dad, I have been Vegan for about 6 years now. The film will be out next month. You have no room to talk…you have never donated to anything in your life. I will call soon and tell you everything, I promise.
Q: “My dog “Lenny” disappeared 3 days ago in the Chicago bus station area of downtown. He is a very cute, short-haired terrier with one blue eye and one brown eye. I was wondering if you could ask your readers to help find him or email you with any clues about his disappearance. Then you could forward them to me.
-Slim Phillips (Chicago Slim)
A: Slim, I would be happy to pass that on to my readers. You always want to try the dog pound first, then post signs on the telephone poles asking for people’s help.
NOW, on to other news….
It really depends upon whom you ask. Ask most vegans, or any health-conscious advocate, and the answer will be a resounding “yes”. That is because they have learned to appreciate the increased nutritional values, better tasting food and other benefits of knowing where their food has come from. Some people are very passionate about saving their seeds. Seeds from past generations of farmers (heirloom seeds) have been passed down through family farms to preserve the preferences that they have in their own food. Those choices include benefits like fewer chemicals used in food production, food naturally ripened to suit their tastes and raising fresh/live vegetables that have been proven to maximize nutrition. We should also mention the important benefits of watching things grow, the self-satisfaction of accomplishing something with your two hands, the fruits of physical labor and arriving at a consistent/fully predictable crop (unlike hybrid varieties)…to name a few. Please look at Fedco’s website for a few other reasons to save se
eds.
On the other hand, six companies, DuPont, Mitsui, Monsanto, Syngent, Aventis, and Dow control 98 percent of the world’s seeds. They have gobbled up most of the small generational seed companies and have genetically modified numerous seeds for which they have received government patents. Those patents are registered with world governments to control the availability of the seeds, and thus, the production from those seeds. Some call it a conspiracy…they call it good business. To get an idea of the number of food varieties they control, look at the seeds from one recent Monsanto acquisition here.. Before it was acquired by Monsanto, Seminis eliminated 2,000 varieties of seeds from its inventory. These were the open-pollinated types that were not genetically modified, thus not as profitable. So what’s the problem with leaving the world’s food supply in the hands of a few large agribusinesses? Well, there IS that one little matter that I call; “the squeeze” — more commonly known as the “profit margin”. This would only be a problem if these companies prioritized their profits above consumer benefits…in this case, the consumer’s health. In fairness, Monsanto claims to have made more food available to more people through its’ heavy chemical sales to modern farmers. But, critics warn that problems from a food supply monopoly, chemically-induced health concerns and aggressive patent supervision (in the form of lawsuits that have ruined small farmers) does not speak well of these large companies.
Seeds are the ultimate source for all of our food. It would be impossible to describe how important they are to our survival in writing this short blog article. It is also difficult to sort through the various arguments made for and against the methods for growing. One thing seems certain about the supplies of seeds worldwide…the older varieties are being lost. I would encourage everyone to look further into this seed argument, and be the judge for you. That would include the radical act of trying to grow some of your own food. You can gather seeds from your own garden each year and reuse them to personalize your crop. One of the healthiest food supplies in the world could come from your own back yard. There are still a few generational seed banks if that is your preference. You can get a catalog from “heirloom” seed suppliers like Baker Creek Seed Company. Owner, Jere Gettle, tells us more here.
