<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Thanks for all the responses. For those of you interested in being
reimbursed for the extra cost of GF foods, you have two options. One is the
health care savings account, a type of flexible spending account. The other
option is deducting it on your tax return as a medical expense. To use the
first option, verify that deducting the expense is allowed. For the second,
your medical expenses must be greater than 7.5% of your income to be deducted.
Julie in PA
http://celiacnet.com
Responses included the following:
"It's actually cheaper because you have to cook with basic foods that aren't
so processed. Many or even most celiacs get into physiological/metabolic
trouble after a while if they try to go the "alternative for everything"
route, buying tons of bread-like foods, alternative pizza, etc. It turns
out that not being able to eat wheat is just one of our many differences
from the rest of the population."
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"I put $260 in last year for my son and spent that by September so I put it
up to $300 this year. I do buy him a lot of cookies, bagels, bread etc. though.
Start conservatively and then adjust it next year."
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"All I know is that it's really expensive. Everything costs twice as much,
bread even more."
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"GF bread costs about $2.50 / $3.00 more per loaf than regular.
GF breakfast cereal costs the same per box as regular, but the boxes are
much smaller. So say an extra $1.50/box.
GF rice mixes cost maybe $1.00 more per box.
We make our own ice cream which probably costs the same as "premium" ice
cream, but $1.00 more than if we bought off-the-shelf ice cream.
Snacks, if you're careful you can buy the same stuff.
We cook our own meals so that costs the same as if we were not eating GF."
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"I think we spend 1/2 again as much on groceries...probably more but that's
as much as I'd estimate. Does your health spending plan cover gf foods that
are just specifically gf? I haven't tried it yet, I'm going to give it a go
on my '04 taxes."
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"I don't pay ANYTHING for gf products...just carefully choose the right ones."
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"I kept all my receipts in 2003 -- the first year I was on the GF diet --
and calculated that I spent an additional $500 over the course of the year
on gluten free food and other items related to CD. I live in New York City
and am shopping GF for just myself."
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"It won't be worth your trouble, the reimbursement is only for the
"difference" which is maybe $1.00 for a loaf of bread."
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"I know personally it has doubled for me. Everything is twice as expensive."
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"I don't spend any more than anyone else. If you go out and buy Pizzas and
pasta every day that is a different story."
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"The things that you can legally claim as GF (pasta, bread mixes, cake
mixes, pretzels, crackers, cookies, soups and shipping) comes to about
$300.00 per year for me. I am one person. You can also claim equipment
that you use only for you (bread machine etc)."
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"The things that you can legally claim as GF (pasta, bread mixes, cake
mixes, pretzels, crackers, cookies, soups and shipping) comes to about
$300.00 per year for me. I am one person. You can also claim equipment
that you use only for you (bread machine etc)."
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"a small bag of gf flour is 5-6 dollars and a large bag of flour is 1-2. a
package of chips ahoy is 2-3 dollars and a package half that size of Gf is
5-6. GF food almost always comes in packages half the size of non gf things
and they are about double the price."
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"For my family personally we went from $300 a month to $450. This includes 2
adults and 3 small children."
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"I get most of my items at the regular grocery story except for brown rice
pasta & crackers, so the the amount I spend extra is not significant. We
are able to purchase g.f. bread through the support group w/ a cost
differential of $.70 cents a loaf so that's not a huge difference either."
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"it is expensive....doing it for 13yrs for 2 of us for 11 of those
years....consider an added ???
depends if you make your own foods or buy all processed/made. add 30% i
think....??"
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"I took a month's worth of grocery receipts and looked at the GF foods. I
looked at my internet purchases and figured out the monthly cost there. I
added these to say that this was my monthly cost for GF food. Some how I
decided that 2/3 of the cost of the GF food was the deductible amount. I
took 2/3rd's of the total cost and then used that as my monthly cost for GF
foods."
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"It depends on if you buy lots of specialty foods and junk food gf treats,
ready made bread (yuck!) or home-made (much better and cheaper), grind your
own flour from grain (and how you buy it), or just eat food that is gf
anyway (at which point the extra cost is: $0.00). Only you can determine
that - look at what you've bought in the last few months (and eaten by now)
and decide if you will keep buying them and what the extra cost is. And
remember, if you have to defend any purchase, make sure you keep records
that show what you bought and the comparison item. For example: if you buy
Alexia Fries, you can't use the whole cost if you could have bought Kroger's
store brand and it would have been just as safe - the extra cost was due to
taste preference, not medical necessity and is no more deductible than
anyone else making the same choice. If you make bread, tho, the extra cost
of gf flours and the extra stuff neeeded (like xanthan gum) would be
considered medical necessity. Of course, ice, potatoes and corn bread are
naturally gf and much cheaper - remember, you only save the taxes on the
money spent, not the entire amount, so if your budget is very tight, you are
better off with corn, rice and potatoes than gf breads."
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"I'd suggest you set up a spreadsheet and start filling it in. The rows
would be the foodstuffs, the columns the costs. That will allow you to
compare costs easily and quickly.
I'd bet once you start analyzing it that way, you'll see you haven't had
much, if any, increase. It is unfortunate that you can't include the cost of
your time. I'd say that's where you really see the increase--the amount of
time you spend finding out which of those ordinary brands is gf, going to
multiple stores, shopping online, etc."
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"I have just finished my cost differential for my Canadian Income taxes (we
can claim the additional cost of a GF item) and it was $337 CDN for the past
year (for one person)."
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"i am going to do the same, but haven't looked at my receipts yet; i would
venture to say it's 25% more, but not on all products"
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"It all depends - if you simply shift your lifestyle, you just stop buying
the bread and pasta and whatever; if you opt to imitate the gluten lifestyle
and especially if you opt for convenience foods like frozen pancakes and
dinners, well, then the cost will likely sky-rocket. I don't see how you
could come up with a number other than to keep track of the specialized food
items you buy - and I suppose you would have to subtract the cost of the
gluten equivalent to get the difference, the extra you are paying to be
gluten free."
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"I file for reimbursement for gluten-free food through the company that
manages our flexible spending accounts. As a part of their service, they do
the research on what the reimbursement is. For instance, they take an item
such as a loaf of bread and then average the price of 5 different loaves of
bread of equal ingredients (white bread) and then I am reimbursed the
difference between the two. Some items are a big difference - like the
pre-made frozen pizzas that I used to buy at the Gluten-Free Trading Co here
in MIlwaukee. Other items are comparable to the gluten version like the
gravy packets.
If the company managing your flexible spending account can do this for you,
I'd highly suggest it."
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