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Dear List,
I received a bonanza of good ideas for saving money on food and preparing
healthy meals. Thank you so much to everyone! I hope every reader will find
tips to try.

To recap: I have been trying to feed my family of 3 with good-tasting,
wholesome, organic, gluten-free, dairy-free meals. We've been spending about
$200 per week on groceries for a family of 3 (including a growing teenager),
and would like to lower our food bill. Please send tips.

Some writers don't want to compromise. One person wrote: "We also eat about
the same as you, and my kids have not missed a day of school in 2 years. When
we do get sick, it's not intense, and it's short-lived. To me, keeping us,
and particularly my celiac (she's 9), healthy is worth it."

Some wrote to say they spend as much as we do. Celiacs report fresh
vegetables, fruits and some dry goods are especially expensive in Canada.

One person eats gf with a total monthly income of $521! Some tips from her
are below.

Several persons shop at food warehouse type markets. I haven't seen a market
like that around here (eastern MA) in many years, but I'd go if I found one
up to half an hour away.

CHANGES: I've started with two: We're buying meats advertised on sale in the
supermarket and health food store circulars. We bought a few kinds of dried
beans, and I'm keeping a jar with some soaking in the refridgerator so
they'll be ready to use in a meal. I've also started reading about how to use
beans.

   I'm not up to totally overhauling our habits all at once (family wouldn't
like that anyway), so I plan to keep the suggestions handy and make
improvements one or two at a time. In a month or two, I believe I will be
able to lower our weekly food bill by $20 - $50 (from $200).

   I've edited the following entries, but I'm allowing them to run long
because of the importance of the information. Eating healthy means more than
eating gluten-free, and financial stress affects our health, too.

Best wishes and good eating to all,
Mara in MA, USA
+++++++++++++
TIPS:

Buy the Sunday Globe (Boston paper) for great coupons. Buy meat on sale and
stock up when there's a good sale.
*************
Eat less meat, more beans. Dried beans are cheap.
*************
Don't buy specialty foods. Cook from scratch. Try alternative carbohydrates:
beans, bean flours, yams, potatoes, carrots -- buy or get at the library a
series of fairly exotic cooking books, and list a lot of the recipes you find
there that look ok to you. Make extra and keep leftovers for your teen to
warm up in the microwave oven. Take list of gf foods to regular market
(rather than specialty store); most Heinz and Hormel are gf.
*************
Shop food cooperatives that specialize in natural foods. The only really
weird thing I buy is flax seeds. Everything else is just selected by the
warehouse as a natural or organic or wholesome food, so I don't have to sort
through aisles of junk food to do my shopping. I paid $1.78 per box of 20
Stash Tea bags, for instance -- a huge savings over grocery store prices.
Some things I have to order in large quantities, but it works out. I had to
get a case of 6 tofu packages, but they are good for 6 months, so I know I
can use them up in time. I have an extra refrigerator for storage.
*************
Many shoppers buy in large quantity when they find sales; some have extra
cold storage for it.
*************
...buy more whole veggies and foods, and fewer processed items and celiac
goodies. If you have a decent stand-alone freezer (I don't), you could then
prepare or bake mass quantities on the weekend, then freeze your cookies,
breads, entrees, etc. for the future.
*************
Dried beans are very economical.  There is even a book on beans--called, I
think _Full of Beans_.  They go so well in cassaroles, also.
*************
I make a lot of food basic and plain. For example, I buy pork roasts, cut up
some mushrooms, onions and carrots, put it in a pan, put some water in, cover
with foil and bake until done. I will use the left overs for lunches (thinly
slice the meat, make gf bread and make sandwiches). I don chickens roasters
(huge ones), season with salt and pepper, cover and bake, same uses.
*************
Great cookbooks for less expensive meals: Country Beans and Natural Meals in
Minutes. The concept is using whole foods, bean flours, sprouts, etc. They
are wonderful and packed with recipes that are wholesome and cheap. They are
not entirely gluten free cookbooks but are loaded with great GF recipes.

Another good book is Beyond the Staff of Life, by Keif Adler, a wheatless,
dairyless cookbook. Also full of natural, cheap meals. They are not expensive
books and might be worth a trial. You can find these books at the Gluten Free
Mall under Gifts of Nature. Unfortunately, since we haven't had much response
on our books, we may be taking them off the Mall, so take a look soon, in
case they are no longer available in the near future.
************
I probably spend less on a gluten-free diet than before diagnosis ... make
more things from scratch ... definitely cheaper. I buy most food in the
regular supermarket including fruits and vegetables, rice cakes, canned
tomatoes (I use a lot of this), rice, potatoes and normal staples.

I buy rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch in the asian food market
(If you are in Boston, there's a korean market on Fresh Pond Parkway near the
fish market just before Concord Ave which also carries rice tea which I like
and some rice flour cookies plus rice paper. Or there are markets in
Chinatown that carry all this.

The only things I buy in Bread and Circus are rice crackers (although Trader
Joe's carries these much cheaper, I like the Edwards brand as a special
treat. I also buy Tinkyada pasta and g-f soy sauce (San-j). You can also buy
frozen pizza dough and Gillian's French Rolls in the freezer too.
*************
Organic produce is much more expensive and has nothing to do with
gluten-free, so if you want to cut expenses, try buying most of your
groceries at the Star Market. Get you teenager a cookbook and let him/her
start baking for all of you. I triple all recipes and then freeze the extras.

There are chains of very cheap, bag them yourself supermarkets out there. I
knew a man who sells food to organic markets, He sprayed his fruit and
vegetables just like I did. Buy fresh food some place cheaper and wash well.

If your teenager is not a celiac, allow him/her to eat regular food.
**************
A bowl of rice, 4 ounces (per person)  of meat or fish, vegetables of your
choice, fruit jello, topped with a Trader Joe meringue, and a glass of wine
.... not expensive, and I will come to dinner any time. Keep a bowl of washed
apples, bananas, pears for munchtime/anytime.
**************
We can a lot of food in the summer, the kids and I go to pick-it-yourself
farms and we have a garden every year. Another way to go cheap in buy flour
thru the Asian stores, 4 cups of rice flour for .69. Tapioca flour, too. The
Indian stores have bean flour- it has a strong flavor. I use it in place of
soy and add cinnamon or other strong spices. You can get tax benefits, too.
Get a prescription for life for the celiac and keep receipts. There are two
ways to use these on your taxes. There is a tax package available from the
list serve.
************
I hail from Auckland in New Zealand, and even down under where we grow and
clone everything, my grocery bill is still in excess of NZ$2oo per week. I
live on lots of popcorn bars and similar for Nibbles, lots of fruit, homemade
bickies [?] and usually lunch is a small pot of whatever I had for tea the
night before. Celiac stuff seems to cost at least twice as much as "normal"
food, plus all the vitamins I take just to keep myself balanced.  We eat lots
of stirfrys, stews, casseroles, etc, stuff that microwaves well for my lunch
at work the next day, I also have 1 teenager so about all I can give you is
some sympathy...
************
Every once in awhile when we are in an area with Asian markets, I stock up on
rice, potato, tapioca, and bean flours - the first 3 are usually $.50 per
pound or less.

I have figured out the cheapest place around to get Pastarizo (might not be
spelled exactly correctly) pasta - still much more expensive than wheat
pasta, but I look for sales and can usually stock up with it is around
$2.10-$2.20 per box.  It's not my usual health food store, but they carry
this pasta cheaper.

I stock up on "regular" food on sales - the Safeway here will have canned
corn at 25 cent a can periodically, for example.  I buy 20 pound sacks  of
rice when it is on sale for $5.  There's also a Grocery outlet store  where,
if I'm very careful, I can find cases of canned fruit, etc. I got 5 lb sacks
of cornmeal for $1.39 yesterday. I also look for meat sales and freeze it.

If you live near a Trader Joe's their prices on many things are much less
expensive than other places.  Most of their stuff is either "cheaper staples"
like dried fruit and nuts, specialty foods like GF waffles at reasonable
prices, and high-priced "Yuppie Food" - good, but expensive deli foods.  They
have a GF list and are tuned into celiacs.
************
...make as much as you can at home using rice flour, potato starch and
tapioca flour. Get some good gluten free cookbooks. Check your library before
buying.  Mine carries the Bette Hagman cookbooks. Make sure you are using it
before buying the book. I buy the rice flour in our supermarket. Goya brand.
It is very cheap that way.
************
Have you tried getting together with other celiacs in the area  and maybe
buying in bulk with everyone pitching in money? For the organic foods, I've
been trying to go to the Farmer's Markets out here. Many of them are organic
farmers and the prices are much cheaper than the specialty stores. The one
draw back to farmer's markets is that you have to get used to "in season"
fruits and veggies. The price difference between market in store makes it
worth it. One other thing I've found is that some of the "nutrition center"
stores in my area carry GF dry goods by such brands as Ener-G. The prices
are, again, cheaper than the specialty stores.
************
I usually only buy the fresh vegetables and fruits that are in season and on
sale at the local supermarket. Just splurge every once in a while. Maybe you
can find someone in your area that gardens and would be willing to sell you
the excess produce. We have farmers' markets. Pick your own places are
cheaper too, and can be a lot of fun for the kids. (Even teens.) Your teen
may even be interested in picking extra for others who are willing to pay.

When the health food store runs a special on cereal, crackers, etc, I stock
up as much as possible. My almost 14 year old daughter likes to experiment in
the kitchen, so that helps us eat more things from 'scratch' which is less
expensive too. I keep apples on hand and they eat a lot of peanut butter and
crackers. Also peanut butter with their apple slices or bananas, though I
only get those when they are on sale or I go to Sam's where they are always a
pretty good price.
***********
I think that a diet of meat, vegetables, fruit, rice, and potatoes should not
cost more than the average Joe's.  Where it does start to get expensive is
when you purchase GF pasta, muffins, cookies and bread.  For this reason, I
serve GF pasta about twice a month and bake all of the other products myself
- in large batches and stock them in the freezer for future use.... Also,
every meal doesn't have to include large portions of meat. There are some
wonderful bean dishes, egg dishes, stuffed eggplant or squash - but you do
have to get more creative when you veer from the meat and potatoes regimen.
**********
...it is possible to take a tax deduction for a special diet. I looked into
when doing my taxes this year, and you have to save all your receipts and
then figure out how much more expensive each item is than the non GF similiar
item and that's the amount you claim. Sounds like too much for me at this
point, though if you tend to buy the same stuff over and over, it would just
be a matter of figuring it out once and then stashing your receipts somewhere
safe. I guess you almost always get audited when you claim this, so that
another consideration!
***********
-Get some things at the farmer's market near me.
-Got a bread machine that makes bread, rice, and jelly.
-Cook a lot of soup...making my own stocks.
-Don't go out to eat as much.
-Like you, pick up selected items at the health food and organic food stores;
the others I get at a nearby supermarket.
-Try to buy in a more economical manner -- large sizes/quantities of food and
freeze the rest.
-Have a freezer that I haven't ever used much.  Now I will use it more.
-Don't order too much from the on-line stores. I do break down and pick up my
pen all too frequently.
-Check and recheck prices of everything I buy.
-Found with some items (e.g., soup fillers and other stuff) that I can use
off brands that are cheaper.
***********
Buy on sale!  Make bread and baked goods from scratch. Cook simple GF meals.
Eat lots of fruit. No junk food, chips and such.
************
I buy organic fresh veggies only.  Everything else I get at the local
supermarkets.
***********
*Use a carbohydrate as a base.

I always keep a couple of cans of sweet corn kernels (packed in water) in the
cupboard cos it bulks out a meal and is a good source of fibre. Ditto for
canned beans (not the ones in sauce) - lima, kidney, pinto, whatever. Canned
mackeral is great for putting on top of rice and pasta.

I'm a big fan of stirfry: olive oil, vegetables in season (lettuce, carrots,
snow peas, celery) herbs, toss in corn/meat/tofu/ or whatever. If in the mood
add sweet chili or coconut milk. Toss onto a carbohydrate (rice is good).

Keep leftovers for work lunch.

I eat a lot of vegetables and it does help that I LOVE rice and tofu and
tuna/mackeral. Great value for money: rice, rice noodles, potatoes, salad
vegetable (doesn't have to just be lettuce etc. use winter vegetables in
winter), tinned corn and beans.
***********
We live close to Santa Barbara, Ca where there is a fabulous health food
store and you can buy organic produce and meat quite reasonable.  But I would
say that you have a lot of company, in that those of us who try to eat
healthy, have to really pay for it. But if you don't, you may can eat for a
lot less in a regular grocery store, but the preservatives, pesticides, and
hormones that come in meat will kill you.
************
Beans and rice make a complete protein.  If the rice is purchased in LARGE
bags - the kind you can get in Oriental markets - and stored in insect/mouse
proof containers, it will last a very LONG time. Dried beans the same. Just
make sure the beans are soaked overnight, remembering the change the water
once before you go to bed, and then again when you get up, and then a third
time before you start cooking. Invest in a crock pot if you are not there
during the day to cook them slowly in yet another pot of FRESH water.

This is gardening season - just getting started.  A lot of great veggies can
grow in a small space.  Swiss chard just keeps coming up, for instance. It
may take a year or so to get the hang of what will grow in your back yard.

Meat is expensive and not a good investment, really, we have just become used
to it in the American diet.

Expensive cooking can be quick and easy, but not necessarily healthy. Do you
have a place to go fishing, and safe, clean water to fish in?  Might be worth
the price of a fishing license. Or find a friend who fishes and ask if he/she
would sell you some. How about a deer? Great stuff, once you learn to
marinate it in gluten-free vinegar. There ARE ways around the American diet.

Cut out the  breakfast flakes and make cooked cereal.
************
...look at the cost of your protein sources and try to substitute lower cost
alternatives when possible--such as more vegetarian rather than meat,
poultry, or seafood meals;  cheaper meats such as ground turkey; and recipes
that rely on small amounts of protein sources padded with plenty of starches
and veggies to feed the teenager (the adults can go light on the starches).
*************
Try buying your gluten-free pastas from a natural foods store that has a bulk
foods department.  I have found that the pastas are up to 25% cheaper this
way.  Some stores also offer a case purchase discount: Buy an entire case of a
product and get an additional discount. Also from the bulk department:
Lundberg Rice (and their wonderful blends), brown rice, rice flour, polenta,
dried herbs and spices (including Fronteir broth powders-some GF), dried
fruits, nuts, beans, etc..

Where I shop frequently has packaged GF foods on sale. Not organic, or
"healthy", but convinient and a special treat. Vans Waffles: last week they
were 2/4.00
Frookies GF Cookies: this week 2/3.00 (plus a coupon in a book at the store
for .50 off per box) Health Valley Rice Crunch'ems: 2/5.00 (also coupon for
.50 off/box). (These can also be toasted with GF seasoning and mixed with
nuts for a party-style snack)

Ask the store where you shop if they offer a case discount. Many stores will
give you an additional % off if you buy the whole case/bag.  Great for things
like soy milk, dried pastas, or anything you use on a regular basis, but needs
no refridgeration.

I guess my best trick for keeping food costs down is to try stay away from
bottles, cans, jars, and boxes.  We always try to make extra rice, sauces,
soups, etc...That way, when we need a quick meal, we aren't dependant on
expensive GF
convinience foods. (The microwave gets quick a workout, though!)
*************
Wild Harvest has good prices on  gf foods. Their EnerG Foods breads are a
full dollar less than my health food store prices.
***********
I'm finding that getting the basic ingredients for bread (rice, tapioca, &
potato starch flour) at an oriental market is saving me alot of money.  Of
course, that means the hassle of shopping at a thrid store.
***********
My best tips from feeding my family of 3 for less are:

(1) Get organized. Make a framework to plan family dinners. Try adapting this
one: Monday is stir-fry night, Tuesday is casserole night, Wednesday is soup
or salad night, Thursday is cook's choice, Friday is fun meals, Saturday is
pasta night, Sunday is family favorites. Once a week write out a week's worth
of menus based on this framework -- pick an entree and then just do easy side
dishes to fill out the meal. Post each week's menus on the frig and use it to
shop from.
(2) Stock your kitchen with your frequently used basic foodstuffs.
(3) Buy what you can from non-specialty stores. For example, Regular canned
beans, tuna and tomatoes are GF already and great to keep on hand.
(4) Shop the oriental food stores for cheap GF flours and noodles, if one is
near you.
(5) Join a membership warehouse store such as Costco or Sam's, if one is near
you, and go there once a month for basics. You save 25%. It's worth a bit of
a trip, if necessary.
(6) Double up on your cooking when you make an entree and put another meal in
the freezer for later.
(7) If you are spending a lot on GF baked goods, try a once-a-week bakeathon
of your own. Or try using low-cost GF breads such as tortillas. Or order rice
bread a case at a time through your store and freeze it.
(8) If you are spending a lot on milk substitutes, try analyzing the food
benefits from them -- maybe drink water or V-8 and eat some beans instead.
(9) Get a pressure cooker for quick cooking of low-cost and tasty bean, rice,
corn and potato dishes.
************
And for saving on expensive snacks --
Popcorn! Set up your teenager with a pan, microwave popper or electric popper
and a bag of popcorn for the cheapest, healthiest, most filling GF snacks.
************
...we eat gluten free, dairy free and meat free. I want to go organic but it
is so exspensive.

We are going to save and build our own greenhouse so that I can grow a lot of
veggies instead of buying from the supermarket.

I buy lots of grains like brown rice, beans and flours from the bulk food
section in our health food store. That really helps me save money.
***********
...make as much from scratch as possible - it is a little cheaper but alot
more time consuming. Also, if you keep track of the money spent on medically
required foods, the difference between their cost and the normal person's
cost of regular food, you can deduct them on your taxes.
***********
I try to buy less expensive cuts or hamburger, chicken...and make it stretch
to leftovers for lunches. My kids eat a lot of fruit, too.
**********
...a garden...is the first 'solution' that comes to mind. In a city, you can
even grow tomatoes, peppers, and other veggies in large flower pots. I
dehydrate those we can't eat - they are wonderful in stews in the cold
weather. In our area, most large gorcery chains (Price Chopper, Hannaford,
Grand Union) have organic produce - and they are less expensive.

I have a vegetarian teenager who is allergic to all artificial additives, an
8 year old celiac, a 3 year old non celiac who is allergic to milk, and a one
year old omnivore who prefers spicy foods (and a husband with an ulcer who is
a very picky eater). Quite a mix - and I understand your difficulties. The
'solutions':

We eat a lot of potatoes. Baked, in casseroles, oven 'fried', etc. Combined
with veggies, they are wonderful. An easy meal is chicken, baked potatoes,
and veggies 'steamed' in the oven. I make extra, and stuff the leftover baked
potatoes with diced leftovers - another meal (add a little salsa . . .).

We also eat a lot of rice - lots of different types. We shop in an Asian
supermarket that caters to the large Indian, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese,
Japanese and Chinese population in our area.  It is my preferred source for
rice, gf pasta, fish and many veggies that I don't have on hand. I have
invested in a number of cookbooks - they help!!!

I very rarely buy 'celiac' specialty items. We either make it ourselves or
find a substitute (rice cake 'pizzas - with chopped up meat and veggies but
no cheese) are always a hit.