What Foods I Buy in a Typical Week

Here’s a typical week of food shopping for me.

Because I live in a city apartment, I must walk several flights of stairs to get home, so I try to shop every few days rather than buying everything at once.

- On Monday I go to my favorite fruit market, which is run by Italian people.

They get the best fruit from all over the world. It’s not organic, but the quality is outstanding. I always ask them a simple question: “What do you have that’s good this week?” They give me samples of the good fruit and then

I usually buy things by the case. Last week I bought two cases of mangoes, one case of grapes, and several melons. I still have a case of oranges not finished from the week prior. I buy other fruits by the pound if I don’t want a whole case.

- On Tuesday I sometimes stop by a raw food restaurant nearby to pick up a few pre-made salads and raw “wraps” for the week. This is a little luxury that allows me to have a few easy meals ready to go.

- Once every two weeks I stop by a health food store to pick up items I need from there: organic greens, nuts and seeds, some condiments, etc.

- Once every 10-14 days I stop at Costco. I buy different fruits there, although I tend to get most of my fruits from my Italian markets. I buy the bulk quantities of greens, like the giant pack of romaine lettuce hearts. Lately, I’ve been eating two heads a day! I buy other vegetables there.

- During the week, as I need other items, I stop by the small markets that are near my house. I pick up black beans, random vegetables, condiments, etc.

I don’t eat everything raw, but I eat a huge amount of fruit and salads. I eat cooked vegetables, beans, and some fish or animal proteins occasionally. I eat some rice or other cooked complex carbs, but I get most of my carb calories from fruit instead.

One thing that I don’t buy a lot of is organic food.

I may be an oddity in the raw food movement, but I just haven’t been convinced of the necessity to buy organic. But the main reason I don’t buy much organic is that the best produce I can find in my city is usually not organic. The best fruits I can find are almost never organic.

A high-raw diet can work if you have a little bit of planning.

This usually means going somewhere once a week where you can buy things in bulk. Sometimes you’ll buy too much, and over time you’ll realize the optimal quantity to buy! But it’s better to have a bit too much of the good stuff than not enough!