Gluten free living has never been inexpensive. The current economic situation is making the situation even more challenging. I need to meet that challenge myself — I’m retired and living on what we lovingly refer to a “fixed income”. Here is the background material I read as I was beginning my quest to live frugally without compromising either my taste for good food or my gluten free diet;

♦ I suggest that you begin by reading these collection of tips for living gluten free on a tight  budget. The articles are a bit redundant; the four articles repeat some to the same basic ideas. That’s OK. We need to plant these ideas firmly in our minds before we make specific decisions. Please click here for links to those articles.

♦ Here is another list of relevant articles.

♦  This article is is appropriately titled “Pinching Pennies: You Can Cut Your Gluten Free Grocery Bill. I’m not sure when it was published. The prices are not up-to-date but the basic ideas are certainly valid.

After reading all this material in attempt to win my own “budget battles”, I have come to these these conclusions. I’ll write more about them in the coming weeks and months:

→ I must focus on naturally gluten free food. This includes all fresh fruits and vegetables and almost all unprocessed food. Fortunately, these items are cheaper and healthier than most other foods.

→ I must do most of my shopping in mainstream stores rather than health food or specialty stores where prices are almost invariably higher. Shopping on-line is possible if you do it right, and I will write about the methods I used — I spent the first six years of my celiac career in a small town where the internet was virtually my only access to specialty foods. I will also publish lists detailing which supermarket chains are celiac friendly and what they have to offer.

→ I must learn to cook. Let’s face it, eating in restaurants is expensive. Home cooking from scratch tastes much better than warmed up highly-processed  food and is certainly much less expensive. I’m not much of a cook but I vow to learn and will share my experiences with you. Since time limitations are always a problem, I will concentrate on both “cooking well” and “cooking smart”. Wish me luck!