Struggling With Costs...tips?

[inskababy]

I have three people with celiac in the house...I'm the only non celiac person, so it made sense to take the whole house gluten free to cut CC and since I don't care about bread and things anyway, no worries on my behalf.

I feed my family lots of lean protein, fresh veggies and fruit, what I call "real food" which is actually pretty pricey as it is. We also eat organic where possible. The place where I used to save was on baking stuff and of course some convenience foods like bread and graham crackers. I figured out long ago it's cheap to eat like crap in this country. I was an avid baker before this dx...it was standard for friends to be able to raid my freezer for emergency party cookies at a moment's notice or have me drop off a tea ring for the airmen working long shifts. But wow...gluten free flours are wicked expensive. It's compounded by the fact that we live in Alaska; there's ONE store in the local area (and by local area, I mean within 6 hr drive) that really stocks the flours I need for many of the recipes I like, and I just paid $15.99 for a small bag of xanthan, $6.99 for a small bag of tapioca, $6.59 for garfava. At this rate, a flour mix of the same weight as a standard bag of flour will cost me about $23! My 3 yr old has taken to the gluten-free way like a duck to water with the exception of graham crackers. He likes my homemade gluten-free ones all right, but likes the very precise square shapes of the Josef ones, and admittedly they do taste more graham like than mommy "gam cackers". Those retail for $6.49 up here. For 12 crackers. OWWWW.

Any tips to get the cost down? Handy internet shopping sites? It won't hurt any for us to cut down on bread and baked goods anyway, but anyone with kids knows the wrench it is for them to give up pbjs, toast with their morning egg or their favorite pumpkin waffles so going entirely flourless is impractical. My husband would sell an organ on the black market for a crack at pasta -- Tinkyada costs $7.19 here. I'd just like to not feel like I need to sell one of my children to the gypsies so the other one can eat a gluten-free graham cracker. Let me in on the secrets of going gluten-free inexpensively and I'll think kind thoughts about you for the rest of my natural life! :-)

[OptimisticMom42]

Hello Inskababy,

Have you tried (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned) for a quick brand search? Then google the brands to find other websites that carry the same products to compare prices and shipping charges. Also, us celiacs are not that rare anymore. Maybe you could find another family in your area that would be willing to share the cost of shipping so you could purchase in larger quantity.

Good luck,

OptimisticMom42

[missy'smom]

Around here we buy many flours, starches at the asian market-tapioca, potato and white rice and sweet rice. Often cents per bag.

When I first went gluten-free, I just switched to potatoes and rice. My husband is asian so we own an automatic rice cooker and buy our rice(short grain asian) in 20 lb. bags at the asian market. Saves alot. I posted a lasagne recipe in the baking/cooking forum using rice instead of pasta.

In a bind, you can try doing sandwiches and burgers the lowcarb way, wrapping the fillings in a lettuce leaf. It's actually quite tasty.

Rice Chex cereal can be processed and used for breadcrumbs in meatloaves and meatballs. It is great in rice crispy type treats too. There's a thread here on treats/snacks that can be made with it.

[lpellegr]

You're right that it's cheaper to eat unhealthy. Why does a salad cost more than a burger and fries? Why does a pound of cherries cost more than a pound of - well, most things? I did the same thing and went to meat, eggs, and plants for most of my food, but it costs more than processed foods. Could you possibly save by switching to canned and frozen veggies and fruits in place of fresh? As for flours, you should calculate whether it might actually be cheaper to order a pre-made flour mix off the internet. To me they seem expensive compared to mixing individual flours, but then these things don't cost as much in New Jersey as in Alaska. See if Bob's Red Mill or Pamela's flours in bulk might be cheaper in the long run. Even with the shipping some things might be less to buy over the internet, like cookies and pasta, especially if you can buy a case at a time and you have storage space. I applaud you for feeding your family right and I know what you mean about not being able to entirely avoid bready stuff. Fried eggs just aren't as much fun without a piece of toast to wipe up that runny yolk.

[MamaJo]

I'll try to come back with a few more ideas when I have more time, but we are going gluten-free on a budget as well.

We are blessed to have chickens that we raise for eggs and meat, we raise our own beef, and have a large organic garden so that does help immensely, however, we still need to keep costs low. We are a part of a couple great food co-ops where you can get things in bulk for much cheaper than having to buy from a HFS. One is United Natural Foods, another is Frontier Natural Products. I would start by contacting them to see if they have groups currently receiving deliveries in your area. Another source I have found is vitacost.com, and we just ordered a 30# pail of sorghum grains from Twin Valley Mills for $30 shipped.

I try to stick to simple recipes that don't require a lot of 'extra' ingredients. I bought the 'staples' that I saw could be used for a variety of recipes, and have been working from there.

Graham crackers! We just found this great recipe that everyone loves! In fact, we had two families over last night for a BBQ, campfire, and smores. We had two kinds of regular grahams out, in addition to these gluten-free ones. *Everyone* tasted, and chose to use the gluten-free crackers! LOL!

Here's the recipe:

2

[MaryJones2]

Buying in bulk on the internet is the best way. Chebe, Domata Living and Better Batter sell flours in bulk packaging and it's substantially less than buying the 1-2lb packages in the grocery store. A..zon has decent prices on cases of Tinkyada. I also have one bread machine mix that I like that I order by the case from there. I buy flour mixes direct from Chebe and Better Batter.

[purple]

Can you buy rice, etc. and grind your own flours?

[brigala]

Can you buy rice, etc. and grind your own flours?

Yes, but be sure to research the grinder you want to buy. Some handle "alternative" grains better than others. I don't grind anything, so no suggestions yet.

Masa is widely available and is cheap. I use it extensively for frying fish. It's also good for thickening things like homemade chili. I'm going to try making fried chicken using crushed Corn Chex (specially marked Gluten-Free boxes only!!).

I've discovered that a white corn tortilla, smeared with peanut butter and then microwaved for 20 seconds (so it will roll up nicely) makes for a great peanut butter sandwich. If one wanted jelly on it, I think it would be important to wait until it comes out of the microwave to add the jelly. No sugar-burns on tongue, thanks! :-)

Search the Major Online Retailers for Gluten-Free products, and watch for SALES, as well as the Gluten-Free Mall. I don't know whether there are Trader Joe's in Alaska, but if you've got one within reasonable day-trip distance, USE IT. :-)

-Elizabeth

[Juliebove]

I pretty much gave up on baking. When daughter was first diagnosed, i ran out and bought every kind of gluten-free flour I could find and eventually wound up throwing most of them away. Now I keep a basic four flour blend, sweet rice flour (I can get it on the Asian food aisle for cheap) and a white or brown rice flour. I use pretty much just what I have onhand or what the recipe I am currently using calls for.

I am lucky in that there is a health food store just around the corner from where I live. The owner is a celiac and they will order pretty much anything I might need. For being such a small store, their prices are better than anywhere else and they will give me a 10% discount for buying by the case.

Another place I shop is Costco. I don't know if you have one there or not. I buy ground beef, chicken, cold cuts, hot dogs, bacon, cheese, potatoes, oranges, sliced apples, carrots, celery, sometimes lettuce, some canned vegetables, canned meat and fish, chicken broth, pasta sauce, rice, and probably a few other things that don't come to mind right now. Occasionally potato chips, but they have such large bags, I don't do that often!

One way I save money is by buying in bulk and not having a lot of variety. Each week, I try to make at least one meal with rice. Usually chicken and rice or Spanish rice with beans and ground beef.

Potatoes are cheap so I serve them often. It could be as simple as whole baby or small chunks of potatoes cooked in the crockpot with a bit of broth and olive oil, served with hot dogs, bacon, or hamburger patties. Daughter LOVES canned green beans and will happily eat them every day.

Pasta is another favorite. Husband is Italian. He and my daughter would eat pasta several times a week!

I also make enchilada casserole quite often. No real recipe and it never comes out the same way twice. I simply layer some kind of red sauce...either salsa, enchilada sauce or tomato sauce that has been mixed with a little chili powder with corn tortillas, cooked ground beef, sliced onions and sweet peppers and some creamed corn. I am allergic to dairy, otherwise I'd use cheese instead of the corn. Sometimes I'll add beans to it, either pinto, black or kidney. I might bake this in the oven, or if we are going out, I'll put it in the crockpot. It needs to only cook for a couple of hours on low in the crock though. Otherwise the tortillas disappear. Tastes fine, but mushy texture.

Beans are a cheap source of protein! You can do bean, corn chili with three cans of beans (different kinds) one can of corn and a large jar of gluten-free salsa. Just heat through. Serve on a bed of rice if you want and top with chopped onions, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips or whatever you like!

I also like making vegetable soup with added beans for protein.

I do order some of my foods online, especially some of the shapes of pasta I can't find locally, and 2 packs of Enjoy Life cookies. I should ask my health food store to get the cookies. They will. But I place at least 3 or 4 orders each year from this very site. There are others. But I am getting more and more leery of ordering online. I recently lost almost $200 when I placed an order using Paypal. The money was transferred but the company then went under. Bankrupt. Can't refund my money and Paypal can't help me. More recently still, I placed an order of about $40 elsewhere and I never got my stuff. They said they would re-ship, but still nothing. So I prefer to get local when I can.

You might see if your local grocery store can get some things for you like rice pasta, if you order a case at a time.

[brendygirl]

At work, I signed up for the 125 Flex Spending Account where I don't get taxed on the money I spend on gluten free products above the price of regular products. I needed a note from my doctor saying I require gluten free products.

[PattyBoots]

Do you have anyone in the lower 48 who can order things from Amazon for you with the free shipping sent to them and then pack the items into the Flat Rate Priority Mail boxes and ship it up to you that way? I know a lot of places either won't ship to AK or HI or won't free ship. I know you can fit a LOT of stuff in the Large Flat Rate boxes if you're good at puzzles . Or even if they can buy things at their local *insert grocery name here* and send them to you? I would think it could be a cost-effective solution.