Yes, in fact eating raw usually costs less and takes less time to prepare than cooked foods. Don't feel that you need to make all those fancy recipes to stay on a raw diet, they are usually for transitioning and special events. All you really need are plain fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. Heres what you can do. When you go out always keep a stash of fresh or dried fruits in your car along with nuts. For your transitioning period as a quick and tasty dessert mix some almond butter with carob and raisins and roll them into little bite sized balls, always keep these in the fridge and take them with you when you go out . For lunch or dinner just whip up a quick salad with the veggies of your choice by pouring a little olive oil on, squeezing in some lemon with a little salt and maybe some honey, throw on some nuts and you've got a filling meal in only a few minutes. If you have to eat out try looking up the menus of local resturaunts online and see if theres something that you might be able to eat. Of course your probably going to have to change the food a bit such as having no cheese or croutons on your salad and you should always bring your own oil and ask for a lemon as your dressing because most resturaunts use cooked oils as well as many other additives you don't want to be eating in their dressings. You should also bring some nuts to throw on so you don't end up hungry. Claim Jumpers is a good place to go for a salad. You could also look up raw resturaunts and see if there's any in your area. Although in the beginning of eating raw you may find that your spending more than usual, especially on organic foods, do not worry. After a few months of eating raw foods you will find that you really don't need much food anymore. And you won't be spening extra money on snacky foods like soda, chips, or candy. Also, buying your nuts off the internet and shopping at local farmers markets for produce is much cheaper than getting it at health food stores. Here's some good sites for inexpensive organic bulk nuts and seeks, http://www.sunorganic.com and http://www.rawfood.com Remember, in the beggining when your making big changes to your diet it may feel like its too hard and you want to quit, but it will get easier. Eventually, you probably won't believe how you ever got along without this diet because of how easy it is. Good luck and I hope you find what your looking for.

Hmm interesting question! If you're just transitioning from an unhealthy lifestyle to a raw vegan/vegetarian diet, you may find it easier to start off on a non-raw, vegan diet with cooked lentils and chickpeas and wild rice, as they will fill you up more. Everything else, try to do raw and work your way up as you feel more comfortable and have done more reading on raw living and are able to invest in appliances that will make raw-living easier, like a good juicer (highly recommended if you can juice everyday, carrot and Celery juice with an orange or apple for flavour, for instance). But you definitely can eat healthier if you're "lazy" heh, like buying the bagged salads, you can even buy pre-shredded carrots in some places, or just toss in some chopped baby carrots. Grape tomatoes require no cutting either, and cucumber, green beans and Celery only a few swift chopping motions to cut up and throw in a good salad. You can also buy RAW almond butter and RAW tahini (raw tahini is often cheaper than raw almond butter) and you can use those to dip raw veggies into, and it tastes awesome. Fruit is super easy and perfect for those who don't like preperation, just wash an apple or some berries, peal an orange.. it's a perfect snack or dessert. If you want to add some flavour to veggies or cooked lentils/wild rice/chickpeas should you choose to start with that route, invest in a cheap garlic press and toss in a clove (or half, depending on how much garlic you like) or raw garlic. Also add some cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil to your diet, and cold-pressed flax oil (the flax oil can be found in the refrigerated section of your health food store and MUST be kept in the fridge as it can't be subjected to heat). Avocados are also a good source of healthy fats and minerals and can be used cut up in salads, or blended with berries in a blender to make a sort of fruit paste that's quite yummy. As for grains, you can get raw grains at your healthfood store and soak them in water overnight to soften them. You can read more about how to do that, should you wish to.

It's a good idea to really do your reading before going raw, even just vegan. It's also a good idea to get a multivitamin/mineral, b-12 and iron in particular, expecially when you're just starting out. If you can afford it, see a wholistic nutritionist.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my message... your feedback was really helpful. Can you recommend good books for people who are new to raw foods (specifically, people who don't have a lot of appliances and are looking for easy and fast recipes)? Thanks!