Your typical day/week

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Loulou on March 7, 2012 at 8:00am

Hi Marinaa,

I guess everyone's different but I'll give you an idea of what I do.....

Basically a typical day will consist of a green smoothie for breakfast which will include about 12 bananas, 6 dates, a handful of spinach and kale and a piece of ginger.  For lunch I'll have some fruit, such as 6 oranges, 4 persimmons (Sharon fruit), 2 mangoes and 2 kiwis etc, depending on what we have in and what is ripe.  Maybe a melon late afternoon and then for evening meal I'll either have a huge green salad or a stew or similar.

My partner and I go to the wholesale market about once a week and stock up on bananas, oranges, pineapple, melons etc which sadly aren't organic and buy our organic greens/veggies from the farmers market or supermarket.   We only keep the veg in the fridge and not the fruit and it can be frustrating when fruit isn't ripe.  But we stock up on bananas especially and if we have more than we can eat we freeze them for these times when nothing is ripe as they are easy to add frozen to smoothies so we'll live off bananas until the other fruit is ripe.

When I'm working I tend to have melon or oranges for breakfast and take a couple of litres of green smoothie to work as it's easier and not as messy.  Otherwise I'll chop up a tupperware of melons and another of oranges, pineapple or other fruit so they are easily eaten with a cocktail stick while out and about.

My partner and I travel a lot with work and we don't have a problem at all, all you need is a chopping board and knife! (and maybe a bowl) We also have a 'smoothie to go' maker which is great for travelling.   

I am away at the moment and brought some oranges and melons with me (he's got the smoothie maker with him this week!) I bought a couple of packs of mango pieces from the supermarket this morning, and then some bags of salad etc for my dinner tonight.

I really don't think it's a particularly complicated lifestyle (probably easier than being vegan as you can't always find vegan food when you're out but you're sure to find fruit or salad!), but like anything - a new routine will take time to adjust to.

Hope that helps,

Loulou

Permalink Reply by Marina Rina on March 8, 2012 at 1:00am

thanks for your tips, they are very helpful! :)

Permalink Reply by ApeGirl April on March 16, 2012 at 6:06pm

Hi Marina, I really like your name! (it reminds me of Marina and the Diamonds, my favourite musician)

 

I buy all of my food for a week at once, and my budget for the week is £20. I get around £15 worth (21kg or so) of bananas at £0.68/kg from sainsburys as my staple, (that price was even lower at 55p per kilo earlier this year, I think it even dipped to around 40 something pence per kilo at sometime). Then with the remaining £5 I'll buy salad vegetables, if I don't have any in the garden, and some other fruits like oranges, mangoes and dates (waitrose have nice dates, sometimes they even have really plump and fresh medjools in the fridge section!). I often do my food shopping in the evening because the supermarkets put crazy discounts on 'old' (ripe) fruit and you can get bags of fruit for 50p or even 20p in tesco sometimes! The co-op is also good for getting uber cheap fruit in the evenings. I'm a  student so at least 2 of my meals a day are bananas, but since I'm still living at home for now, my fab mum is nice enough to buy me a few other fruits to supplement the bananas and discounted fruit and veg I buy.

 

The bananas I eat for the week are the ones I bought the week beforehand, and I  eat the other fruits whenever they are ripe and ready.

 

I don't really keep much fruit in the fridge, but I will often keep my salad veg, apples and watermelon in there. I prefer the rest of my fruit at room temp, tomatoes especially taste so much better that way.

 

When I go to my saturday job I will often bring 'fun' fruits like watermelon, mangoes, cherries, dates to show people how yummy my food is, and the juicy colours are appealing for people to want to try it.

 

When I go away, or holiday or elsewhere, I will sometimes take some ripe bananas and dates in a flexible rucksack, but other than that I usually prefer to see what fruits they have wherever I'm off to. Although, if I'm going to stay with family I will try to take as much fruit as possible, I am good at travelling very light so I can easily use most of the room in my bag for food, then on the way back my back is near empty.

 

You have to buy fruit a week ahead, especially plums, pears, bananas, (golden) kiwis, peaches and other ripen at home fruits. However - oranges, apples, sometimes mangoes, dates, (always organic) grapes, watermelon and berries are almost alwys ripe and ready to eat when you buy them.

 

You don't have to be all that organised, just buy fruit a week ahead and work it on a time lag, eating it the next week, and eating last week's purchase this week. You can't tame fruits into ripening exactly when you want them, just eat whatever's ripe and leave the rest to ripen. I have tried before, with mixed success, to prematurely ripen mangoes by drawing them a warm (not hot) bath and soaking them for an hour or so to convert the starch to sugar faster, but other than that just buy a week ahead and you should be laughing.

 

Hope this helps you,

April Ember

 

 

Permalink Reply by Marina Rina on March 16, 2012 at 11:23pm

Hi April! My name is very common back home (im from Russia) and i was very surprised to find out that its rare in UK :)

Thanks for your response it is very helpful! I have stated transitioning and its been about a week now ive been eating only 1 cooked meal a day. Im extra stressed at the moment, have to move out from the flat i lived over 2 years and called my home because of a horrible flatmate and only having temporary job... My plan is in april when i find a new place to live and get to know what shops are around ill start ordering food in bulk and cut down cooked meals to 0. Actually can't wait for that! Its been so amazing to have a smoothie for dinner every day! Just need to find fresh dates, i've never seen them before, the ones I was buying were apparently dried ones. One of the organic bulk fruit delivery i checked had 18 kg of bananas for £23.50 and 5 kg of figs for £55! I'm really hoping to be able to spend no more then £30-40 a week, this way i can make sure I can stay on this lifestyle. Well at least until i get a permanent job with better money then i can spend more then that..

Permalink Reply by Nicola V Shine on March 18, 2012 at 12:19am

Do you have a wholesalers near you?  My local one sells me fairtrade bananas (18kg box) for £3.  Its worth sourcing one out and seeing what deals they can do for you. ;-)

Permalink Reply by cafeaulait on March 20, 2012 at 11:03pm

hi nicola, who is your supplier??

Permalink Reply by Marina Rina on March 20, 2012 at 11:04pm

£3 is so cheap! wish we had this prices in london!