How do I find the time for Raw?
Recently I posted a question on The Raw Food Kitchen’s Facebook Page:
“What are the biggest issues you come up against when wanting to go raw or trying to incorporate more raw into your diet?”
And the answer that came up the most was time.
So, How do I find the time for Raw?
First up – its a Mindset Thing.
Repeat after me:
“I consciously choose to make health my priority and therefore have promised myself I will do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary, including making the time to keep myself in good health.”
If you create this as a daily positive affirmation you will soon start living it in reality.
And this is what I’m doing, living the mantra! That doesn’t mean I am a martyr about it, but it does mean if I indulge or have a few too many red wines occasionally I make sure I eat clean the next day or juice and take a coffee enema. Or that I will find some room in my budget to buy organic wherever possible. Or that I might forego an afternoon out occasionally because I have a date with the kitchen to make cultured vegetables. Health is always front of mind.
When you change your mindset about how you value your health, you will find the time to ensure its always a No. 1 priority. That might mean setting aside some time on a Sunday afternoon to make fermented foods and or having designated raw food eating days. If you have your mind in the right place, everything else will fall into place. Having your health enables you to enjoy your friends, your family, your life.
Next one is – Planning!
Having a plan and structure to the weekly shop is important. Loosely work out what you want to make for the next fortnight. For the first week I choose mainly “make on the spot recipes” and for the 2nd week I choose a menu that has more dehydrator type recipes in it – so that I have time in the first week to be soaking, sprouting or fermenting to get ready them ready for the dehydrator.
I allow for a few nights spare so I can eat out because its nice to have a break occasionally and it keeps you fresh in the kitchen for when you do uncook!
When you’ve got your recipes organised, do your shopping list and order your groceries online if you can. Find your local organic food supplier and check to see if they do home deliveries, saves soooo much time!
Next up is – Routine!
Get yourself into a routine so you know that before bedtime you will pop some nuts or seeds in a jar to soak so you can start the next process with them in the morning when you get up.
I work out what needs soaking (nuts, seeds) and dehydrating based on the recipes I’ve chosen and write down the days I will be doing the soaking and when they need to be made into a recipe and transferred to the dehydrator.
A great habit to get into is bulk purchase all your nuts and as soon as you receive them, soak the nuts for their required times and then throw all into the dehydrator. Once done, keep sealed in an air-tight container in the fridge and they will keep for whatever use you need them for when the time calls. Ready to go nuts!
Same goes for any seeds you want to sprout with. Once you have them soaking, write down what day / time they need to be drained and rinsed, and what day they will be ready. You can then go on to make crackers or cereals made of the sprouts in the dehydrator or throw into a salad. They will also keep in the fridge for 3 days to use when needed.
You could start a batch of coconut yoghurt fermenting or nut cheese with this process also.
So you can see that by the end of the week I have a stack of sprouted crackers, cereals, pizza bases and activated nuts or fermented nut cheeses ready to go for the next week’s recipes. And I repeat this routine over and over.
All of these little steps might seem quite daunting but they only require 5 – 10 minutes each time of your attention in the kitchen. But it will only work if you have your mindset sorted, your routine in place and start making a habit of it.
The other thing I like to do so making a raw dish doesn’t seem like such a chore is to designate an hour on a Sunday (or any day that suits) to make a few different salad dressings, I like to have 3 on the go, a tahini lemon dressing, a pesto and a herb cashew dressing. These are relatively quick to make and will keep in the fridge for a week. This saves time during the week also as all I have to do is throw a dish together and serve and they make any salad taste delicious.
If you are pressed for time choose a dish that you have made before and you know is quick to make or choose a dessert that only needs a bit of fridge time for 20 minutes as opposed to a dessert that needs freezer time for 2 hours. Or if you need your cashews softened for a dessert or sun dried tomatoes soaked for a lunch to speed up the process soak in warm water (just off the boil) for 30 minutes as opposed to an hour or overnight. Learn the shortcuts and use them when you need to.
I hope this article has helped shed some light on ways to make time for raw in your life, as I find this routine helps me enormously.
Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below as to whether this article will help you find the time to add more raw into your day!
Remember to check out our raw food recipes for inspiring and fun recipe ideas.
