Gluten free living is not inexpensive. The current economic situation is making the problem even more challenging. I know, I’m retired and living on what we lovingly refer to as a ‘fixed income’. Here are some ideas about how to control the situation.

Get a perspective. Gluten free food is too $#@&^ expensive. There is no way to dodge that truth. On the other hand, thanks to the gluten free diet most of us have fewer hospitalizations, doctor’s visits, or expenses for medication. We seldom lose time from work. Yes, gluten free food is too expensive, but….

Shop in mainstream stores. Click on my “Gluten Free Supermarket Shopping Page” for a list of sixteen supermarket chains and individual grocery stores that publish lists that assist their customers in finding gluten free food.

Emphasize naturally gluten free foods. We often think of ‘gluten food’ as the stuff that comes in packages marked ‘gluten free’. But there are many more — all unprocessed fruit and vegetables are naturally gluten free. Frozen fruits and vegetables are also gluten free unless ‘unsafe’ sauces have been added to them. Milk and eggs are fine. These products are relatively inexpensive and — according to the experts — they should make up half of our total food intake.

This week I published an article (an editorial actually) called “Battling Gluten Free Food Costs“.  Hopefully, it is food for thought (excuse the pun).

When shopping on-line, make the largest possible order. Join forces with another gluten free family to combine your order thus reducing (or even eliminating) your shipping cost per item. Remember that the merchants involved don’t know or care how many gluten free families share the order as long as everything is sent to the same address and paid for with the same credit card.

Reject the myth of gluten free entitlement. Gluten free entitlement is the fantasy that gluten free food is OK in any quantity. It’s good for both our budgets and our waist-lines when we eat in moderation. I experienced the consequences of ‘gluten free entitlement’ at a gluten free vendors’ fair. I stopped at least twice at each of the food stands. If I had actually been paying for the food, both my digestive tract and my wallet would have suffered severely. Click here to read more.

Cook Smart. This is the crux of the matter. Let’s face it, home cooked food tastes better than processed food that has simply been warmed up. But  cooking requires skills and even more skills are needed to make the finished product gluten free. Cooking takes time, and that seems to be in short supply these days. I’ll write much more about this topic soon. In the meantime, enjoy these videos prepared by a 94 year old lady who mastered cooking during the great depression in a house that was not yet equipped with electricity. Many people cooked gluten free during the depression, not for any health reasons but simply because most gluten free food is relatively cheap.