Places and ways to save when shopping for the celiac/gluten free lifestyle.
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Just one note: If you can eat the gluten, by all means DO! Gluten free doesn’t automatically = healthy and gluten is not the devil unless you have Celiac disease or non-celiac gluten intolerance. So, if you are trying gluten free to be “healthy” or “hip”, turn around now, go buy the croissant, slather it with butter and enjoy every delicious crumb. I won’t hold it against you…much.
The list:
- Rice flour: Brown or White. I use it to coat fish for the perfect fish fry. Dunk in egg first and enjoy! It’s the cheapest coating you will find. *try your local store before ordering the white flour here. My local store has it for less than $4 per bag. Search for Bob’s Redmill coupons also.
- Schar bread: Sign up for subscribe & save with 4 other items and save 15% bringing it to $5.20/loaf with free delivery. The cheapest I can find it locally is at Walmart for $5.49/loaf. Wegmans’ is about a dollar more but Walmart is, well, it’s Walmart and it’s huge and overwhelming and I end up buying other stuff so I’d rather order it online. Schar offers coupons on their packages often and I can occasionally find them online. This is hands down the best sandwich bread I’ve tried. For toast and grilled cheese sandwiches, Udi’s and Canyon Bakehouse are fine but I find them too dry for a sandwich. Save the end’s and dried out pieces of your Udi’s bread to make “free” bread crumbs or stuffing. They freeze really well. If you bake, then by all means check out Gluten-Free on a Shoestring. She has baking blends you can make and gets great reviews. I own the book but I don’t bake and likely never will so I’ll stick with rationing my Schar bread 😉 (my husband made the cupcakes you see in the photo above. From a mix, probably Wegman’s or Aldi. Both are really good.).
- Anything gluten free from Aldi. As far as store brands go, Aldi is the cheapest and best in almost every gluten free category that I’ve tried. They even have french fried onions around the holidays for your green bean casserole that are amazing. We eat them straight up! Aldi labels almost all of it’s products if it is gluten free and I have never gotten sick eating any of it. There was some kind of granola bar item a while back that had malted barley in it though so I still read labels. On EVERYTHING.
- Real food: ingredients will always be cheaper than products and are almost always healthier. Learn to cook. Watch Julia Child DVD’s. Jeff Smith, the frugal gourmet (if you can find him) taught me to make omelet’s in high school. It’s the best investment you will ever make. Your wallet and your taste buds will thank you!
- More to come!