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Celiac.com 09/09/2024 - The popularity of gluten-free living has grown significantly in recent years, whether due to health conditions like celiac disease or as a personal health choice. Unfortunately, many people associate the gluten-free lifestyle with higher food costs, believing that it’s impossible to maintain without stretching their budgets. However, with a little planning and smart shopping, anyone can enjoy a balanced, gluten-free diet without breaking the bank. This guide explores affordable meal options and offers practical tips for cost-conscious gluten-free grocery shopping. The Basics of Eating Gluten-Free To understand how to eat gluten-free on a budget, it’s important to first grasp the essentials of the gluten-free diet. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Therefore, people following a gluten-free lifestyle avoid foods like bread, pasta, cereals, and baked goods made from these grains. Key Ingredients to Avoid (see a full list of gluten ingredients) Wheat (including spelt, farina, semolina, and durum) Barley Rye Malt Brewer’s yeast Naturally Gluten-Free Foods (see a full list of gluten-free foods) The good news is that many staple foods are naturally gluten-free and often budget-friendly: Fruits and vegetables: Fresh, frozen, and canned options (without additives) are all gluten-free. Rice: White, brown, wild, and even specialty types like jasmine or basmati rice are naturally gluten-free. Legumes: Beans, lentils, and peas are excellent, affordable sources of protein. Potatoes: Whether baked, mashed, or roasted, potatoes are a versatile and cost-effective gluten-free choice. Corn: Cornmeal, popcorn, and corn tortillas can serve as excellent gluten-free alternatives to wheat products. Oats: Certified gluten-free oats offer another affordable and filling option, especially for breakfast. Affordable Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping Tips Shopping gluten-free doesn’t mean you have to splurge on specialty products. Here are practical strategies for navigating the grocery store on a budget: 1. Focus on Naturally Gluten-Free Staples Instead of filling your cart with gluten-free alternatives to bread and pasta, opt for naturally gluten-free foods like fresh produce, rice, beans, nuts, and lean meats. These staples are often more affordable and widely available, especially when compared to specialty gluten-free products. 2. Buy in Bulk Many gluten-free staples such as rice, quinoa, and beans can be purchased in bulk at warehouse stores or the bulk bins in your local grocery store. Buying in larger quantities often reduces the cost per unit, making your money go further. Additionally, storing these items for long periods is easy since they’re non-perishable. 3. Shop Generic or Store Brands More grocery stores are offering their own gluten-free product lines at lower prices than name-brand versions. These items, including pasta, bread, and snacks, are often just as good but come at a fraction of the cost. Look for “gluten-free” labels on store-brand products to save some cash. 4. Cook from Scratch One of the best ways to reduce the cost of eating gluten-free is to cook meals at home using basic ingredients. Instead of buying premade gluten-free items, which are often more expensive, try making your own bread, snacks, and meals. It’s easier than you think and can save you a lot of money in the long run. Budget-Friendly Gluten-Free Meal Ideas When planning gluten-free meals, focus on versatility, nutrition, and affordability. Here are some budget-friendly meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner: Breakfast Options: Oatmeal: Certified gluten-free oats are an affordable breakfast option. Add fruit, nuts, or a dollop of peanut butter for extra flavor and nutrition. Egg-based dishes: Eggs are naturally gluten-free and a great source of protein. Try scrambled eggs, omelets with leftover veggies, or boiled eggs for a quick, easy breakfast. Smoothies: Blending frozen fruits, a handful of spinach, and a spoonful of yogurt or nut butter makes for a nutrient-packed, gluten-free breakfast at a low cost. Lunch Ideas: Rice bowls: Combine cooked rice (or quinoa) with beans, roasted vegetables, and a simple dressing or salsa. This makes a filling, nutrient-dense lunch for minimal cost. Salads: Lettuce, spinach, or kale-based salads with veggies, beans, hard-boiled eggs, and a simple homemade dressing can be both delicious and inexpensive. Gluten-free wraps: Opt for gluten-free corn tortillas or homemade gluten-free wraps filled with hummus, leftover chicken, or veggies for a portable lunch option. Dinner Ideas: Stir-fry: Use rice as a base and toss in whatever vegetables you have on hand with gluten-free soy sauce or tamari for a simple and tasty gluten-free dinner. Chili: A hearty chili made with beans, tomatoes, and ground meat is naturally gluten-free and affordable to make in large batches. You can freeze the leftovers for future meals. Baked potatoes: Top baked potatoes with your choice of toppings like cheese, broccoli, beans, or leftover meats for a budget-friendly, customizable dinner. Affordable Gluten-Free Snacks Snacking gluten-free doesn’t have to mean buying pricey, packaged snacks. Here are some budget-friendly snack ideas that are naturally gluten-free: Popcorn: Buy popcorn kernels in bulk and pop them yourself for an inexpensive, gluten-free snack. Rice cakes: Look for plain, unsweetened rice cakes, which are a versatile snack you can top with peanut butter, avocado, or hummus. Fruit and nuts: Fresh fruit or a handful of almonds or sunflower seeds provide healthy, gluten-free snacking options. Homemade trail mix: Combine nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to make your own gluten-free trail mix, saving money by avoiding expensive prepackaged versions. Maximize Savings with Meal Planning Planning your meals in advance is one of the most effective ways to stay within your budget while eating gluten-free. By preparing a weekly meal plan and grocery list, you can avoid impulse purchases and make sure you're using ingredients that are already in your pantry. Tips for Effective Meal Planning: Use what you have: Before shopping, take an inventory of your pantry and fridge. Plan meals around items you already have to reduce waste and expenses. Batch cooking: Cook larger portions of meals like soups, casseroles, or stews so you can freeze leftovers or eat them throughout the week. Keep it simple: You don’t need fancy, complicated recipes to eat well on a gluten-free diet. Focus on simple, nutrient-dense meals that use fewer ingredients to keep costs down. Conclusion Eating gluten-free on a budget is entirely achievable with a bit of planning and creativity. By focusing on naturally gluten-free foods, shopping smartly, and cooking at home, you can enjoy a varied and healthy gluten-free diet without overspending. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, affordable gluten-free meal options are readily available, and with the right approach, you can nourish yourself without stretching your wallet.

Celiac.com 08/28/2020 - Have you checked your grocery bill lately? Chances are you are experiencing sticker shock. Food, like everything else, is costing more. Have you been inundated with articles and news snippets about eating healthier and the need to get more fiber in your diet? So now you are trying to save on your grocery bill… and eat healthier… AND adhere to a gluten-free diet. Like all problems in life, this one is not insurmountable. There are always viable, wise choices. With a little pre-planning, you can cut that grocery bill and eat healthier and stick to your diet. First, make a weekly menu plan. It will reduce trips to the grocery store (saving both time and petro) and help reduce impulse spending. As you make your menus, check out the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to see what foods you can use that you already have on hand (cutting food cost for the week). Planning menus ahead gives you time to incorporate healthier foods. Once you have a list of foods you already have on hand, scour the grocery store ads in your local newspaper and build your meals around the weekly specials. Then take a look at your calendar. Plan to make the longer-cooking items (roasts for example) on the days you will be home all afternoon and think of quicker meals on the days you walk in the door at 5:30 p.m. Figure out a novel way to use up leftovers for dinner one night a week. If you have 8 meatballs, 6 chicken wings, a partial bowl of leftover peas (or green beans, or asparagus, or most any vegetable), and some rice left over, you can serve this ‘as is’ like a picnic, or you can spread the rice in a casserole, sprinkle the peas over the rice, lay the chicken wings and meatballs on top, then stir together 1 tablespoon of Just Like Lipton Onion Soup Mix with a can of Progresso Creamy Mushroom Soup and spoon in over the top – bake, and voila! You have a ‘new’ dinner from leftovers. Planning leftovers once a week will save money, but it will also save you the hassle of cooking from scratch one night. Below are meal suggestions that are both lower in cost and higher in nutrition. Healthier Lower Cost Breakfasts Gluten-free breads are pricey, so ration their use. Save them for packing lunches and find other alternatives for breakfast. Make a breakfast burrito with a corn tortilla, scrambled egg, grated cheddar cheese and a little salsa (adding bacon, ham or sausage adds to the cost and to the fat content). Fold cut-up fresh or juice-packed fruit into plain yogurt (this is healthier and less expensive than pre-packaged fruit yogurt). Make a smoothie with frozen or fresh strawberries (which are less expensive than raspberries or blueberries), milk, yogurt, and a dash of vanilla. For kids, spread a banana with peanut butter and serve with a muffin. Chi Chi’s makes a Sweet Corn Cake Mix (cornbread or corn muffins) that is gluten-free, cost-effective and sold in regular grocery stores. (While Chi Chi’s Restaurants are out of business, their food line is still being produced.) When making homemade muffins, add the following to your batter: 2 tablespoons ground light flaxseed meal dissolved in 2 tablespoons water and shredded “something” for fiber and nutrition (shredded carrots, apples, pears or zucchini, chopped walnuts, unsweetened coconut, or chopped dried fruit). If you opt to make homemade pancakes, add something for nutrition (flaxseed meal, shredded fruits, mashed bananas) and top with fruit topping or all-fruit jelly instead of sugar-rich maple syrup. Healthier Lower Cost Lunches Low fat, low sodium turkey breast costs far more at the deli than it does to roast turkey tenderloin at home and slice it thin for sandwiches. It only takes an hour to bake or 25 minutes to grill – the time spent cooking it is worth it. You will be eating a healthier sandwich at about half the cost. Tuna salad sandwiches are popular; chop in plenty of green pepper, onion, celery, and carrots, use just enough mayonnaise to hold the mixture together, then top with lettuce and sliced tomatoes for a healthier version of an old stand-by. If you cook a beef roast, pork roast, or meatloaf the night before for dinner, reserve a few slices for tomorrow’s lunch. Kids love pizza – Make their pizza on a corn tortilla with chopped veggies on top instead of sausage or pepperoni, and use half the cheese to cut back on fat and cost. Season a small can of tomato sauce for the pizza instead of using pricier, higher sodium, prepared pizza and spaghetti sauces. Think salads… Put some lettuce in a plastic container and top with last night’s vegetables, sliced meat, and a few strips of cheese. Again, you will be recycling what you already have on hand. A little steamed quinoa goes a long way when making a healthy tabouleh salad. Boil a small amount of gluten-free elbow pasta then slice in lots of fresh veggies (carrots, green onions, broccoli, beans, celery, cauliflower, peas) and you have a healthy pasta salad. Tacos can be as healthy or unhealthy as you choose to make them. A half pound of lean ground meat can easily make 4 corn tacos so it stretches your grocery dollar and lowers your fat consumption. Top the meat with a little bit of grated cheese and a lot of shredded lettuce and chopped tomato or low sodium salsa. Skip the sour cream – it costs money to buy, adds fat calories, and a taco can still taste great without it. One cup of gluten-free flour mixture will go a long way when you add chopped green onion, minced green pepper and shredded cheddar cheese to make waffles to use as a base for sloppy joes instead of expensive gluten-free buns. Healthy Lower Cost Dinners Remember that beef roast you made for dinner last night and those leftover vegetables? Chop them up; thicken some gluten-free beef broth with a little cornstarch, then make a pie crust for a beef pot pie. Or shred the remains of the roast, add a little barbeque sauce and spoon over the cheese waffles mentioned above. If a typical serving of meat in your household is 6-8 ounces, reduce that to 5 ounces. Eating less meat is healthier and will save on the grocery bill. You can stretch meat by adding lots of fresh veggies to stews, soups, stir-fries and casseroles. The white meat of a chicken is healthier for you than the dark meat, so stock up on chicken breasts when they are on sale. Don’t pay extra for skinless breasts; remove the skin yourself and save a few cents. Other meals that are both cost-effective and healthy include shepherd’s stew, baked chicken with vegetables, meatloaf (filled with shredded veggies), soups and stews, veggie chow mein served over rice noodles, tuna quesadillas or tuna rice casserole, and canned salmon casserole (fresh salmon can be quite costly). Make a large pot of chili, and then freeze the leftovers to use over hot dogs or hamburgers, on top of spaghetti or rice, over corn pancakes, to stuff a baked potato, or to use in tacos or taco salad. Healthy Lower Cost Side Dishes Brown rice is far healthier for you than processed pasta and costs less per serving than gluten-free pasta, so use the pastas sparingly. One night, make red beans and rice; the next night add salsa to make Mexican rice. Potatoes and beans are two of the least expensive items at a grocery store and both are tasty and filling and healthy. Add an extra can of beans to a pot of chili to make it stretch further and add extra fiber. Add beans to salads, casseroles, and rice dishes. Instead of serving baked beans which are high in sugar, bake your own Creole beans. Potatoes are good for you – it’s what we add to the potatoes that can be the problem. Roasting potatoes that have been sprinkled with dill, salt, pepper and a little olive oil costs far less and is more nutritious than topping potato slices with heavy cream and cheddar cheese and baking. If you roasted too many potatoes and have some left over, recreate them into a potato salad for tomorrow’s side dish or mash them with a little milk, butter and parmesan cheese to make mashed potatoes. If you have mashed potatoes left over, stir in some shredded zucchini, carrots, green pepper and green onions to make latkes. Cabbage is usually a bargain, so stuff it, boil it, add it to salads, stews, soups, and shred it for cole slaw. In the fall, zucchini is a good buy, so that’s the time to make a zucchini tomato casserole, zucchini bread, ratatouille, and grilled zucchini slices. If your family loves French fries, serve them healthier fries -- Make them from sweet potatoes and bake them instead of deep frying. Healthy Lower Cost Desserts One box of tapioca can provide dessert for multiple evenings when you make homemade tapioca pudding. The homemade version is healthier and less expensive than pre-packaged mixes. Baked custard is another inexpensive and healthy dessert if you cut back on the sugar just a bit. Less expensive yet is homemade rice pudding; make it with brown rice and 2% milk for added health benefits. In the fall, round up the family to go apple picking (apples cost must less this way). Make baked apples for dessert one night. Slice a few to make Dutch apple pie – instead of using a fattening pie crust, opt for a deep dish pie with the healthier pure oats granola-type topping. If you picked too many apples and they are starting to go soft, chop them up and make a pot of homemade applesauce. Layer frozen yogurt, cut-up fruit, and crushed gluten-free cinnamon-flavored cereal in parfait glasses. Use up those slices of gluten-free bread that crumbled or dried out by making bread pudding; add diced peaches or apples to the pudding when they are in season. Puree juices or fruits you have left in the refrigerator and make homemade popsicles. Make a sweet potato pudding (it tastes very much like pumpkin pudding). The healthy choices are endless. The budget choices are out there but you have to shop for fresh products that are in season and watch the paper for sales. Online, there are many sites that offer money-off coupons. Eating can still be fun, safe, healthy and cost-effective with just a little bit of planning. Gluten-Free Baked Stuffed Zucchini This recipe is from the “Wheat-free Gluten-free Reduced Calorie Cookbook” by Connie Sarros. The stuffed zucchini may be assembled ahead of time and frozen without the cheese topping. Thaw before baking. Ingredients: 4 small zucchini 2 teaspoons olive oil 2 onions minced ½ pound lean ground beef 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley ¼ teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper ¼ teaspoon mint ¼ cup spaghetti sauce 1 egg, beaten ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon milk Paprika Directions: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Cut each zucchini in half lengthwise; scoop out the pulp, leaving the shell intact. Chop the pulp. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet. Add the onion and ground beef; sauté, breaking up the meat with a fork. When the meat is browned, drain off any fat. Stir in the zucchini pulp, parsley, salt and pepper, mint, and spaghetti sauce; simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon the filling into the shells and place the shells in a baking dish. Bake 35 minutes or until shells are soft but still hold their form. Preheat broiler. Mix the eggs, cheese, milk and a dash of salt and pepper; spread on top of the stuffed zucchini. Sprinkle each with paprika. Place under the broiler for 3 minutes to brown. Serves 8 as a side dish; serves 4 as a main entrée.

Celiac.com 04/19/2019 - Once you’re diagnosed with celiac disease, it takes just that first trip to the grocery store to get sticker shock from the prices of gluten-free products versus their wheat counterparts. Consuming food is a necessity but paying a lot of money for that food isn’t. Food is one of the few monthly expenses where you have 100% control over both selection and the amount of money to be spent. The good news is that there are all kinds of ways to save on your grocery bill. Planning is a vital step Take inventory of what you have on hand and think of ways to use up these foods, especially the perishable ones, in the meals you plan for the next week. Four percent of fresh produce bought by U.S. households is thrown out each year because it was hidden or forgotten in the refrigerator and started to spoil. Simply by looking through your refrigerator frequently and finding a way to use up the perishables, you can save an average of four percent of your grocery bill. While you’re in the planning stage, look online and through the newspaper to find out what the nearby grocery stores have on sale and build meals around those items. Don’t rely on memory—write out a grocery list and then stick to buying just those items. According to Personal Finance: “Shoppers making a ‘quick trip’ to the store to pick up a few specific items usually purchase 54 percent more than they planned.” “Forty-seven percent of shoppers go to the store three or four times each week.” “Consumers graze at the grocery store, with impulse buys making up between 50.8 and 67.7 percent of total purchase.” Imagine how much you’ll save if you do zero impulse buying The fewer trips you make to the store the fewer times you’ll be tempted to pick up nonessential items. Save time by creating an on-going shopping list. On a piece of paper, write down department headings (produce, meats, dairy, paper products, personal products, etc.); make copies of this then post one each week on the refrigerator so family members can add items under the different headings as needed. Cutting food waste can be done, but it takes vigilance on your part When you freeze foods, use a marker to write the date the package was frozen. Food kept in the freezer too long will develop freezer burn that ruins the taste and quality of the food so use the older items first. Freeze things in individual servings. This may sound like a useless step if you have a large family, but there will be times when only three people are home for dinner instead of four or if you’re all going out to dinner but your son has a terrible cold and can’t come along; then you can thaw and reheat just one frozen packet so he has a good dinner. Buying in bulk isn’t always better It’s a challenge deciding if buying in bulk will save you money if you don’t really need that quantity. If you end up throwing part of the product away, that’s the same as throwing your money away. If you’re buying paper products and you have room to store a large amount, then bulk buying makes sense. And don’t assume that bulk pricing is always less than buying smaller quantities. Sometimes it isn’t. Do the math before making the purchase. Check out what’s on sale but be cautious Just because a food is advertised in a weekly circular doesn’t mean the price has been reduced. Buy what’s in season You can pay $4.50 for an acorn squash in April, or you can wait until fall and buy it for fifty cents. Harvest time always offers fantastic savings on produce. Use coupons You can actually cut the cost of your grocery bill by fifty percent just by using coupons. Don’t fall in love with a specific brand of anything. If you need laundry soap and you can’t find a coupon for your favorite brand, but a different brand that offers a coupon. When you make your shopping list, put a star by anything that’s on sale or for which you have a coupon. Now look at the list and pick out the items without a star. Go online and type the item name into your browser adding the word coupon (Example: laundry soap coupon). With the exception of produce and meats, you can usually find coupons online for most of your purchases. If you can’t find a coupon, buy the store brand or generic brand. Check the Internet You can often save by buying your gluten-free items online. Again, comparison shop including any shipping costs. If only large quantities or whole cases are being sold, see if someone in your support group or another celiac will split the case with you. Forego store loyalty Many stores offer loss leaders, foods that are selling at a tremendous discount, to lure you into their store. Go in, buy those particular items, then leave and go somewhere else to do the rest of your shopping. No single store will have everything you need on special in any given week so shopping at two or three different stores will save you the most money. Check out the prices for paper products and cleaning supplies at dollar stores and big box discount stores; the savings can be significant. Don’t waste money on packaging Fresh deli meat will cost less than packaged lunch meat. Buying one larger container of yogurt costs less than buying several single-serving containers. Get a large jar of applesauce, a large can of peaches, and a large box of cereal instead of the individual-serving sizes. Stretch the expensive foods Meat is expensive so find ways to use less of it. If you’re making meatloaf, add an extra egg, oatmeal (uncontaminated), chopped tomatoes, and shredded carrots to get more servings out of a pound of ground beef. Do the same for hamburgers. Cook meals that use a lot of vegetables and beans and just a little meat, chicken or fish, such as stews, chili, tacos, and tuna noodle casserole. Mexican, Italian and Asian dishes are great for this because they’re made up of inexpensive items such as beans, noodles or pasta, and fresh or frozen veggies. Fill up on healthy, less expensive foods. Rice and potatoes are natural carbohydrates, low in price, and give you that satisfied full feeling at mealtime. Brown rice holds forever in a cupboard and a half cup of raw rice will feed two people once it’s cooked. Beans are one of nature’s healthiest (and least expensive) food options—fill up on them. Add them to everything to stretch food further. You can add beans to salads, soups, stews, rice dishes, casseroles, vegetable dishes, pasta sauce, tortillas and tacos… and the list goes on. Check out gluten-free bakeries If you’re lucky enough to have a gluten-free bakery near you, ask if you can get a significant discount on day-old bread. Gluten-free baked goods have a very short shelf life, but you can pick up several loaves to freeze for when you want to make French toast, bread pudding, stuffing, croutons, or breadcrumbs. Consider gardening carefully While it may seem cost-conscious to grow your own vegetables, it’s time to do the math again. Figure out what you’re going to spend in seeds, water, fertilizer, gardening gloves, perhaps a trellis or tomato cages, and any expenses incurred when you have your own garden, and then compare that cost to what you’ll pay when you buy those same vegetables on sale and in season at a grocery store or farmer’s market. Don’t rule out prepared foods While it usually costs less to bake your own cookies and prepare your own meals, gluten-free companies often offer irresistible savings coupons especially when they’re introducing a new product. Take advantage of these sales. Only cook what you need We tend to cook too much sometimes, especially when it comes to pasta. Gluten-free pasta is expensive so only cook small portions and toss it with a filling sauce that contains sautéed veggies and/or beans to make it stretch further. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions and one of the main causes is overeating. We eat ‘till we’re full when we should stop eating when we’re no longer hungry. There’s a big difference between the two amounts. If you serve smaller portions, it’s not only better for your health but you’ll be spending less in groceries. Eliminate sodas They’re unhealthy and they’re expensive. Ice water or iced tea can be every bit as refreshing and thirst-quenching and will cost you much less. Use more of the less expensive gluten-free products Gluten-free bread is more expensive per slice than corn tortillas, so make a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs and salsa instead of toast. Make sandwiches on a rice flour tortilla instead of bread. Instead of using costly pizza shells, make pizzas on rice tortillas and heat them in the microwave. Bought cookies are pricey; make brown rice pudding for dessert instead. Add your own raisins and cinnamon to plain oatmeal instead of buying the more costly flavored packets. Skip the convenient gluten-free frozen dinners and make your own from leftovers. Don’t buy (or make) gluten-free graham crackers for pie crusts; crush leftover dried-out cookies that you have on hand, add a little butter, and make your own crust. The old rules of shopping don’t apply in this new economy, but if you make a few changes, you’ll always walk away from the table full and happy. Impossible Gluten-Free Pie Recipe Ingredients: 2 cups leftover meat or chicken, diced 1-1/2 cups gluten-free gravy or condensed cream of mushroom soup 2 cups leftover mixed vegetables 1 cup gluten-free Bisquick 1/2 cup milk 1 egg Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the meat, gravy or soup, and vegetables in and ungreased 9-inch pie plate. Stir together the remaining ingredients with a fork until blended then spoon over the meat and veggie mixture. Bake about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.