Gluten Free Foods

LouJ_3

Hi
This is my first post on MSE, so I hope I've got the right place.

I've recently started a gluten and sugar free diet and am finding the price of gluten free products (and health food products in general) in supermarkets and health food shops extremely pricey. I can cut down costs by making a lot of recipes from scratch myself, but I still need to buy products like gluten free cereal, or soya milk. I'm just wondering if anyone out there knows of a cheaper source for these products. I'm hoping you can help as I imagine this must be a common problem amongst people with specific food allergies etc.

Many thanks

Nile

Hello LouJ


I'll move your thread over to the 'Old Style' board, where it should get more views and responses.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [email="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/email].

Regards

Nile

Lil_Dee_2

Hey LouJ, if you're going over to these products because of allergies, then I would suggest you have a word with your doctor. My ex found himself in a very similar position as yourself, in that he had an intolerance to cows milk (and associated products) as well as gluten. His doctor was very understanding at the time, and he managed to get perscriptions for things like bread and spaghetti (rice based, Glutano and Glutafin products on the whole) which worked out far cheaper than buying off the shelf.

Go to your local Boots Chemists, and if you can find a considerate pharmacy person like mine, they will give you a list of products that are available on perscription, so you know exactly what to ask the doctor for. Hope this helps.

Lazy_Ike

LouJ wrote:

Hi
I've recently started a gluten and sugar free diet I imagine this must be a common problem amongst people with specific food allergies etc.
Many thanks

Try here http://www.coeliac.co.uk/ for loads of information related to gluten free products/supplies and recipes. They have a guide to over 11000 gluten free products. You can buy the guide on line, or (if a coeliac sufferer) you can join them free, and get the guide as part of membership.

[Deleted User]

Hi,
my local health food shop makes up an excellent gluten free muesli mix that works out cheaper and tastier than supermarket offerings. I use Provamel rice milk (calcium fortified) at £1.44 a litre (Tesco) pricy but keeps ok and I only use it for cereal.

Favorite cookbook - Healthy Gluten Free eating by Darina Allen and Rosemary Kearney - its on sale in waitrose - non coeliac husband and friends love the cakes and the salmon fishcakes taste amazing (often get 2 for one deals on big cans of salmon, each can does about 5 mains, and they freeze really well - tho' not pretty when i make them!). Its good to see people grabbing for gluten free... some of the pre-packaged stuff tastes like sawdust.

Re ingredients - i use a lot of ground almonds for cakes (good calcium) but they are expensive so far £1.75 for 200g (Tesco) has been cheapest I can find - can save a bit by buying whole almonds and blancing / grinding myself but despite being as relaxing as popping bubble wrap, its time consuming. So any cost cutting / bulk buy ideas welcome.

Finally - have been findign very difficult to locate easy source of tapioca flour needed for bread receipes, anybody know where to get it?

thanks

nomoneytoday

Your doctor can prescribe stuff, and with a prescription "season" ticket it will work out a lot more affordable.

My wife is a coeliac.

ritaing

Hi, I am coeliac and i get flour and pasta from doctor on prescription i make all my own cakes and bread but i am not 100% sure but i think you have to be diagnosed with coeliac to get prescriptions for gluten free things unless you have a very understanding doctor. Rita.

never_enough

My FIL has coeliac disease. He gets flour, pasta etc on prescription. Apparently there is a huge list now, but he likes baking so doesn't get much of it. As someone has already said with a prescription season ticket you'll save on costs too.

Tesco do value unsweetened soya milk which I buy all the time, 63p a litre.

LouJ_3

Thank you all for your information and advice. It's really helped. I'm definitely going to look out for the Tesco value unsweetened soya milk. I prefer the unsweetened flavour anyhow, so I'm hoping this will be just what I'm looking for.

Thank you for all your coeliac advice too. I've found the coeliac website really useful with some great links. I'm not actually coeliac myself, so haven't signed up to the site as I don't want to take advantage with the free guide. Like you say, I probably won't qualify for the free prescriptions in that case. However, I'm going to make an appointment to see a nutritionist and approach this sensibly rather than self prescribing with my diet. Otherwise I might end up doing more halm than good.

Hopefully this more healthy diet should result in a more healthy me. It's actually quite shocking, now that I'm reading through ingredients lists, what I've been putting into my body for so long.

Thanks again.

Mrs_Bear

McDougals Thickening granules use rice flour instead of ordinary flour and are excellent for making sauces - they aren't really promoted as gluten free ( a tiny bit on the label says so now) but they are brilliant when I am cooking for my coeliac brother. Try them!