Living a gluten free diet is very expensive

Leonard333 · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 14

About GF foods being more expensive...

Remember time = money. I'm single and work (unfortunately) 60 or more hours per week. I don't have time to cook, nor do I have a reasonable cooking area, tools, or experience, not to mention lots of traveling for biz.

So GF present another challenge for me. Guess I'll have to switch to Corn Flakes for one meal per day.

I used to eat pizza at least once every three days, not to mention fast food.
All the cheap foods are out.

Thank goodness there is Wendy's. However, I'm getting tired of the chili and only have it now when traveling.

If raising kids, the cloud of GF has the silver lining of having them grow up healthier.

But for me, I really just want to eliminate the pain. If I could eat any food for 10 years without pain or feeling like a wierdo, but then I died all of a sudden - I would go for it. Truth is, I can't handle the discomfort. If I was symptom free but found out I was celiac, I would damn the torpedoes and say full speed ahead.

I was just at a fast food restaurant where all the workers were chinese immigrants. It is amazing that they can take your order, but have no idea what the word "ingredients" means. Nothing negative about them, they work really hard and are much better multi-lingual than I. Truth is they were much more polite and ironically "understanding" of my concern about something than I often get at regular restaurants. OK, time for some gluten free ice cream...

Kathie · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 1018 Location: Florida

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10602 Location: WI, USA

mrsppmrxky · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1612 Location: GF Kitchen

There are quick fixes for even a single bachelor. You just have to get past the 'mourning stage' to see that this is not a bleak tasteless way to have to live.

It doesn't take much in the way of equipment for you to microwave baked potato (or sweet potato.)

You can get a bag of veggies at the produce counter that are already washed and cut.........you can microwave or eat with dip or with butter or with cheese.

If you want to chance going out to eat, you can get bar b que meals just leave the meat off. (ask first of course) In our area, we have Full Moon bar b que...........it is great. I get the plate of brisket and sides. It is the same $9 meal that everyone else pays for. Unless of course you are the type that lives on fast foods.

Of course fast food is cheaper, but you are killing yourself anyway with all of the fats and cholesterol.

You can get those bowls of rice or even at Whole foods for $4 you can get a 90sec microwave warm up of a Indian meal. You can pick up some of the Asian rice ramien meals even at WalMart.

It gets easier once you learn the short cuts.
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cultureslayer · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 921 Location: NC

I eat gluten free for less than I used to spend on gluten food.

I buy meat on sale and freeze it, then put it in the crock pot. Get home and cook some rice to go with it. Meal is done.

I wait until progresso soup is on sale buy one get one free then I order coupons off of ebay and stock up. Quick anywhere meal for about a buck. If you want to save money you can. My biggest savings are because I stock up on things when they are on sale really cheap and I can order coupons to use on them.
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Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10602 Location: WI, USA

Lauren can you explain about ordering coupons on ebay? I've not heard of that.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

cultureslayer · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 921 Location: NC

Al, every week I check the grocery store forums at www.hotcouponworld.com for the stores near me. I check it the first day or two of the sale so I have time for the coupons to arrive. I decide what and how much I want to buy, then I order coupons. On ebay, I'll just search for the item's name and then add coupon on the end. For example "progresso coupon" I might pay $1.50 shipped for 10 50 cents off 2 progresso coupons (or $2 for 20 if you want lots of soup), but my grocery store will double them so it'll save me $10 off something that's already a good sale price. For example, it's on sale right now for $1.33 a can (3 for $4) so after the doubled coupon it's 82 cents a can. It doesn't really go on sale during the summer, so I've stocked up and have about 40 cans of soup right now.

If you want fewer than 10 of several different coupons, then a clipping service is a better option. The two I have used are www.thecouponclippers.com and www.thecouponmaster.com.
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Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

luvscowznh · Joined: 23 Dec 2004 Posts: 406 Location: Groton, MA

Kimmus · Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 225 Location: Iowa

Hi Manda,

Progresso is a General Mills company and will clearly label any gluten containing ingredients. We eat their little microwavable cup of soups... Chicken and Wild Rice and also the Homestyle Vegetable and Rice.

What is really awesome is that their Creamy Mushroom soup is GF so we use it for gravy over round steak -- or mix it with two cups cooked rice and a can of Hormel chicken for a really quick meal on busy nights.
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Kim --
Mom of a celiac teen (GF BD Oct-04)

cultureslayer · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 921 Location: NC

I like the split pea and ham, lentil, southwest chicken (but not the low calorie, it's low cal because it's almost all broth),chicken and wild rice

There are others, those are just the ones that come to mind at the moment. As a grad student I have to make do with what I can, so I eat almost exclusively mainstream foods because they are so much cheaper. I did try the muir glen soups but like the progresso better.
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Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.