Have you ever wondered if it was possible to eat gluten free cheap? To eat gluten free if you are on a tight budget?
Last week I shared why we went wheat free for 6 weeks and next week I have a round up of the recipes and meal ideas we used during that time.
Today, I want to share some tips for those of you who are contemplating doing the same thing. I had people wonder what you can eat if you are avoiding gluten. My friend’s immediate thought was that basically everything has gluten it and she’d have no clue what to feed her family.
When you are eating gluten free you not only need to eliminate all forms of wheat but also rye, barley, and bulgur. (Did you know that malt was made from barley? I didn’t.) Be sure to read all labels. Chicken broth, chips, soy sauce – everything!
Change also holds the possibility of having to increase your grocery budget. We didn’t set extra money aside to use during this experiment so we had to work within the constraints of our usual budget.
I have nine tips for going gluten free cheap!
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How to Eat Gluten Free Cheap
Don’t Buy Packaged Foods
Buying Larabars, boxes of gluten free macaroni and cheese, crackers, and snacks will quickly eat away at your budget. Make a batch of homemade larabars, granola bars, and oat flour muffins to use as snacks and breakfast. Make double or triple batches and keep the extras in the freezer and you’ll have your own convenience food for later in the month.
Don’t Buy Specialty Flours
There are tons of flours out there you can use in gluten free cooking and baking. This was a temporary diet change for us so it wasn’t worth it to spend a lot of money stocking my kitchen for gluten free baking. Just avoid recipes for your meals and snacks that would require purchasing these things. I already had coconut flour in my pantry so I used it and oat flour that I ground in my blender. If the change becomes permanent then slowly began adding different products to your kitchen.
Use Produce
Add extra in season produce to your diets. Instead of having bread as a side, roast some asparagus. Bring out a bowl of fruit salad for dessert instead of cookies. Fruit and vegetables make a super easy snack as well. If you buy the produce that’s on sale each week you can do this without blowing your budget. The majority of my grocery shopping trips consist of produce so I just added some more to the pile and we were good to go.
Keep it Simple
Don’t burn yourself out! Make the process enjoyable. I made a few recipes that took a little more work but that didn’t happen every day. When I cooked, I tried to make large quantities so that there would be enough for a second meal.
Read Labels
If you buy processed foods (or eat out) read labels! You will most likely find wheat a few places you weren’t expecting it. If you aren’t used to checking, this might take a little while to get in the habit of.
Make What You Like
Every meal doesn’t have to be unique and a new recipe for your family. Take some ideas you know your kids will like and find ways to adapt them. Use lettuce for a wrap instead of a flour tortilla or bread. Make quesadillas on corn tortillas. Does your family love shredded beef sandwiches? Try serving it over a potato. Turn recipes into salads (like how this recipe can be either a wrap of salad). There are a lot of possibilities that are simple and easy on the budget.
Grill, Stir-Fry, Mexican, and Soups
These are four meal types that are easily wheat free! Tacos (and taco salad), tostadas, and enchiladas were favorites in our house. Stir fries also made many appearances. Simply cut up a lot of vegetables add some meat cook it up with a sauce. Grilling meat and serving with fruits and veggies and maybe rice or quinoa makes a quick and easy supper. Soups are another simple way to go gluten free cheap. Great way to use up all the leftover veggies you have in the fridge.
Beans
We also ate a fair amount of beans the past 6 weeks. Even if you don’t like eating a pot of beans for supper (which my husband doesn’t) there are ways to incorporate them into your meals. Have your tacos with refried beans some of the time. Add black beans to the enchiladas. Top your salad with garbanzo beans. They were a great way to stretch our budget and make recipes more filling and go further.
Oats and Oat Flour
Rolled oats are super affordable and you can turn it into flour by putting it in your blender. Easy! I tried not to go overboard on the amount of oats in our diets but this made it possible for us to have some traditional wheat type foods – pancakes, waffles, and muffins. Granola and baked oatmeal (or baked oatmeal muffins) also made great and filling breakfasts. If you are allergic to gluten, you are going to want to be sure to buy gluten free oats to avoid cross contamination.
What suggestions do you have for going gluten free cheap or for making the transition easy for your family?
Don’t forget to stop back by next week for meal ideas while being wheat free (that would also be great to add to your menu anytime).
Linking up to these fun parties!
Deanna, this is a wonderful list that is very useful and practical; thank you. How is your son doing with the diet change? Hopefully much better. Your site is awesome! Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
Thanks, Carrie! You are always so sweet! Such an encourage-er. 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!
Really good tips. I am slowly going wheat free (and trying to get my family to make some changes) and have found I do so much better with slow small changes than trying to revamp my whole pantry at once. And it saves money too.
You are right, gradual change can be much easier. Probably also helps the family not be in complete shock and I hate wasting food that already in the house so that allows it to be used up. Thanks for your comment!
Yes, yes, and triple yes to everything you said here! We actually had to cut oats out of my husband’s diet recently, but even at that, I have found that you can actually be gluten free pretty cheaply.
We recently went through the numbers and came up with a plan that would feed us each for $20 a week. Not too shabby! 🙂
That’s awesome that you’ve found ways to be gluten free affordably! What are your favorite flours, products etc to have on hand? Coconut flour is the only other flour I have. I just bought a julienne peeler and want to try making squash noodles. My dad has been wheat free for a couple of years now and was also oat free but then he needed to add them back in about 6 months ago. It’s always interesting how bodies respond so differently to things.
Oh, fun! I live the idea of squash pasta, and *really* want to try hat one of these days too! 🙂
I mostly use rice flour because its cheap, and I love the taste of millet flour in breads. I also really like corn flour for the texture it gives baked goods, bu it’s a little more difficult to find.
I should try rice flour. Another reason to get a nicer blender so I can grind it myself. I’ve never used millet before either. I think I want to make a trip to a store with bulk bins and get a bunch of different things to try!
BE CAREFUL WITH ROLLED OATS. THEY SHOULD BE LABELED GLUTEN FREE. NOT ALL OATS ARE BECAUSE OF PROCESSING IN FACILITIES THAT ALSO PROCESS WHEAT PRODUCTS. IF YOU HAVE A WHEAT ALLERGY THIS COULD BE DANGEROUS. MOST BULK STORES HAVE GLUTEN FREE ROLLED OATS AND YES THEY ARE MORE EXPENSIVE BUT IT COULD SAVE YOU FROM GETTING HORRIBLY SICK.
Thanks for the excellent reminder! Yes, gluten free is a must if you have allergies or even just intolerance. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for this post! I really want to try this out, but I had the same excuses you mentioned: it will take more time and more money. Thanks for the encouragement!
Awww. Thanks for your sweet comment! You can do it. I think it helps to have a set period of time to do it – makes it easier to see the end. 🙂 It really was easier than I thought. My husband might have thought otherwise though.
These are great tips! I have tried to go gluten free for several short periods and I always see my grocery budget skyrocket. These tips will really help for the next time that I take the challenge on 🙂
Visiting from Thrifty Thursday.
Ashley
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Ashley! I figured that since this was a 6 week thing it was okay to be repetitive and eat the same things a lot. That helped a lot with the budget.
Awesome tips! I have actually been gluten-free for 4 weeks and have noticed a huge increase in my energy level. It was pretty overwhelming at first and I had a horrible headache for a few days. But it’s totally worth it! I love your tips–especially about not buying specialty flours. There are so many out there and they are so pricey! Stopping by from Link ‘n Blogs- hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks, Emily! Way to go!!! That’s neat that you’ve noticed such a big difference. We’ll see what we end up deciding to do long turn. Even if we add wheat back in, I want to greatly reduce the amount we consume. Thanks or stopping by!
Thanks for these tips! I sometimes cut out wheat for a week or so to reset my system. After that I can handle it better, in moderation. Some specialty flours aren’t that expensive. I can get buckwheat flour for a very reasonable price. It costs much less than almond flour, for example.
Great idea to eliminate wheat every once in a while. Even if it becomes part of our diet again, I want to decrease the amount we eat greatly. I almost got buckwheat flour the last time I ordered from the co-op. Do you use it in everything? Any tips for using it?
I love using it, but buckwheat works best in recipes that call for more than one egg. Otherwise your final product might not hold together. I have a few recipes on my blog that include it–Pineapple Almond Muffins and Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles. Another recipe is in the works too. Did you get light buckwheat or dark buckwheat flour?
This is the buckwheat I was looking at, it doesn’t say light or dark. Which do you prefer? https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/679/ Thanks for the tips. I’ll have to check out those recipes!
It seems to be dark buckwheat, which is heartier. I prefer light buckwheat, but I’ve used both. Dark buckwheat will still work in many recipes, including the muffin and waffle recipes I mentioned.
Okay! Thanks. I might see if I can get some from bulk bins too and try both.
When I went wheat-free, because I already ate a mostly whole foods diet, it was pretty easy. My dh struggles with making wheat-free meals for me however, because he’s used to using pasta in a lot of dishes. I like to bake a few sweet potatoes and keep them for nights when we’re having pasta.
Thanks for linking at Fabulously Frugal Thursday!
Agreed! Eating mostly whole/real foods makes for a much easier transition. I LOVE sweet potatoes! One of my favorite lunches. That’s a great idea to have them there for pasta nights. Have you done much with spaghetti squash or squash “noodles”? They are on my list to try but it hasn’t happened yet. Thanks for hosting.
Hi Deanna. I’ve made many tasty “pasta” dishes out of spaghetti squash. It’s definitely a worthy substitute. Although my non-gf husband wouldn’t even consider trying it… 😉 Nonetheless, I really like it.
I also recently started using some gluten-free pasta. Very recently. I have been avoiding it for years because I had a taste a few times when I first went GF and it was a slimey mess. My diet is mostly whole foods based anyhow, so I didn’t miss pasta much. I recently tried out 2 new brands though and to my surprise really liked them both (Lotus Foods’ ramen noodles & GoGo Quinoa penne). They both use a mix of rice flour and either millet, quinoa, or amaranth. I recommend giving something with those combinations a try. The noodles had a very good texture and flavor (even my husband said he’d eat it). It’s definitely pricier than regular pasta, but at the same time I budgeted that it’s actually not that much per meal all things considered.
Ha ha! That’s funny. My husband is pretty skeptical of things like that so now I’m really curious to see what he things of it. I’ll have to keep those brands in mind for when I decide to try gluten free pasta. I agree, we don’t eat a lot pasta either but it’s one of those things that’s nice to have in the pantry for a quick back up meal.
I love spaghetti squash though I’m the only one in the family who does. I think I did zucchini noodles once last summer. I have one of those hand shredding tools. I need to try again now that summer is coming.
Ha ha. I’m really curious to try it now and see what my husband and daughter think of it!
Thank you for these tips.
Thanks or stopping by, Starla!
Great article. So many GF foods are shockingly expensive!
Thanks for sharing,
Kelly
Thanks, Kelly! I know it. All those specialty products can get really expensive. They might be fun to try sometime, but right now our budget doesn’t allow it.
Great post of tips 🙂 Thanks for sharing… I’ve pinned it!
Thanks, Betsy! Appreciate you pinning it too.
Thank you for the tips. Gluten-free seems to be a direction many folks are going. One friend said it cured her sleeplessness. I am going to try it for that reason. Thank goodness rolled oats are gluten free.
Kathi
How interesting about the sleeplessness! I’m curious to see if you notice any difference. I’m very thankful too. Oats seem to make it much for affordable.
Hi there, I’m stopping by from the Pin It Monday Hop. I love your suggestions. I am trying to make a major change in my diet and cut out meat and dairy. I’ve also been slowly but surely removing wheat from my diet for the past couple months. I made an awesome grapefruit sorbet for dessert the other day that I’d rather have than cake or cookies any day! Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Jen
Those are some big changes!!! Hope that you notice some big changes. Mmmmm. I love grapefruit. Turning it into a sorbet sounds amazing. It was 100 degrees yesterday, so I’m thinking that a lot of cold healthy desserts are going to be in order this summer.
I’m stopping by from Babies and Beyond. We’re considering a gluten-free trial as we have a lot of allergies and inflammation-related issues. So, this will be a great help to me in preparing for it! Thankfully, my family loves mexican food, anything with rice, and homemade soups. The only thing I’m worried about replacing is pasta, since that is a staple for us (4 kids and 3 of those are hungry boys!). Did you find an easy replacement for this, or did you just avoid using pasta altogether? Our grocery budget is extremely tight, so that’s my biggest concern. Thanks for these tips!
Jen 🙂
With liking those three categories you guys will be able to come up with a good group of recipes. Doing it for set amount of time wasn’t bad. You knew it was an experiment and then you’d be re-evaluating to see if it would be long term or not. Honestly, we didn’t eat any pasta during those 6 weeks. I saw that Aldi had gluten free pasta in their ad this week so hopefully more places will be coming out with it and making it more affordable. Also, we used baked potatoes as a base several times (put the broccoli from broccoli pasta over them instead of noodles). I’m also glad it’s grilling time again! Good for cooking up veggies and meat without heating up the house. I hear you on the tight grocery budget thing. . . My husband is dreaming of the day we increase it and buy more meat. 🙂
We’ve been gluten-free (therefore wheat-free) for a while now, and I’m starting to run out of meal ideas. I like the oat flour idea, though — I haven’t had pancakes in a LONG time!
Ha ha! The menu planning and hunting for recipes is always the worst (and most time consuming) for me. My latest post is all wheat free menu ideas. There are some oat flour breakfast foods in the list.
I understand that they use wheat flour on the blades to cut regular oatmeal, so it is with the extra money to buy gluten free oatmeal.
Yeah, regular oats are contaminated. Thanks for the reminder. To really be gluten free you have to get the gluten free oats. Hopefully more stores will start to carry them.
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I know this post is from last year but I just found it now and at the perfect time. I ended up in the ER last night for a combo allergy attack consisting of seasonal allergies and wheat! Not just a gluten sensitivity like a true wheat allergy.
I have been online feeling overwhelmed about what to feed by family (I have two toddlers which makes salads tough) but this post brought my anxiety down a touch and showed me it does not have to be too hard.
Budget is an issue so for now I will eat bland and use up what we have in the house for my family and then Replace ingredients as we run out! Thank you!!!
Oh no! What a miserable night for you. Allergies are no fun. Yes, I say keep it simple and the toddlers won’t care. I bet they surprise you and eat salad before you except it. My 20 month old shocked me a couple weeks ago by stealing all the celery off the salad I was having more lunch. A lot of times with simple changes you can adapt your favorite meals too with a little creative thinking.
That’s a smart way to go for the budget too – use those other ingredients on the family and slowly replace them one by one. Restocking an entire pantry can get pricey fast.
Hope the first week went smoothly for you and you are already feeling better.
These ideas work for me too. One thing that has helped me to feel less stressed by being GF is that I set aside time on the weekend to remake my foods like refried beans, granola cereal, soups and roasted meats or veggies. Cooked meat is good for a week, so I can work with them until the following cooking marathon.
This means I am not always in the kitchen cooking to survive.