Shopping for a gluten free diet

cakeyj

Hi, I've been shopping for my son who now requires a gluten free diet and I am amazed that my normal weekly shopping bill of £80-£85 has risen to over £100!! I am getting the hang of everyday foods which do not contain gluten but cannot avoid buying specialist bread, pasta etc and the cost of these items is astronomical.
It is hard enough starting out - looking at all the labels of the foods and in some cases finding the gluten free ranges in the shops let alone comparing the best prices from shop to shop. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can cut costs or of any shops that do any good deals? I am currently shopping at Tesco as I love the points:D . I have avoided online suppliers due to the expense of specialist foods and the postage and packing costs. Any advice would be gratefully recieved.
Thanks,
Kate

ravi1626

How old is your son? I have a 8 year old we get most of stuff on prescription like bread,flour,pasta,pizza bases and basic biccies. If you son is over 16 it will be well worth you to get a prepaid certificate. Any problems with doctor ask your dietician to sort the doctor!!!

MadMac_2

Years on and I still haven't cracked my higher food bill, so will be interested to read suggestions! But I have found the Coeliac Society to be a great source of freebies! If you haven't joined (it is free once diagnosed) at least sign up for their free email newsletter - it regularly contains offers to try products for free.

I mainly request new versions of bread (but I'm afraid I still prefer to make my own though) and pasta when offered. I found buckwheat pasta by trying it for free and my family don't notice the difference from ordinary pasta!

Also Sainsbury's do a cracking range of free from stuff (including lovely frozen yorkshire puddings and chicken nuggets!) and seem to have special offers more often than the others, so worth checking every now and again. I just picked up the muffins for half price, so my freezer is looking full again!

Hope that helps. Good luck!

no1simmo

I did my GF shop in Tesco this week where it seems as though they are having a change and there are loads of lines Reduced To Clear at less than half price.

It’s got official tickets which display the reduced to clear price on the relevant lines so I presume it will be across all stores.

I know this is only a short term help but Iv found Tesco to be the cheapest every day so this is a bonus

shug119

Aldi are pretty good for gluton free, ice cream, choc, biscuits ext.

DenBo_4

My greatest saving has been buying a breadmaker with a gluten free cycle, and making my own bread. At Tesco this week they had Doves Farm Bread Mix for £1.79(makes 2 loaves), I make a loaf and slice it and freeze it, and eat it as I want it. Tastes much better than bought GF bread. I buy pasta from Tesco or Asda, corn spaghetti is good. Tesco also have a gf plain flour mix, which I think u can use for cakes, pancakes and yorkshire puddings etc.

modgit

I have my bread on prescription, it's much nicer than the shop bought ones too.
When I was first diagnosed I used to buy a prepay prescription, but now I don't have as many items (through choice) my GP does me a prescription for 12 loaves at a time which only incurs one charge, so works out about 50p per loaf.

Sainsburys do the best variety in GF food though it does vary greatly from store to store.

PM if you'd like any more information.

audiobore

Hi, my daughter is on a Gluten and Casein free diet and I agree the cost of loaves etc is very high. We just give her more of the foods she can have. Rice cakes are a winner as they are filling. Morrisons do raspberry and coconut cookies which are the business btw. You get used to shopping for the right foods and will probably find you all eat more healthily in the long run. Apologies as its not a solution but it gets easier (and cheaper) as time goes on.

ANNEGEDDES

DenBo wrote: »

My greatest saving has been buying a breadmaker with a gluten free cycle, and making my own bread. At Tesco this week they had Doves Farm Bread Mix for £1.79(makes 2 loaves), I make a loaf and slice it and freeze it, and eat it as I want it. Tastes much better than bought GF bread. I buy pasta from Tesco or Asda, corn spaghetti is good. Tesco also have a gf plain flour mix, which I think u can use for cakes, pancakes and yorkshire puddings etc.

where is your breadmaker from i wouyld be interested in this loving the gf post!!

i live in wales so get my scripts free and have glutafin fresh bread the best in my opinion juvela pizza bases and pasta, i just try not to eat other stuff as best as i can but the best thing you can do is join coeliac uk as mentioned before and write/ emila the companys asking for samples they will be keen to send loads to you as they want to be on your regular script from the dr, i did this and had loads!!!!

hth

iamlovejunkie

The Quick and only real answer to this is to change your diets as a familly thus saving you alot of time on cooking different things too. Im alergic to wheat as appossed to coeliac as are my whole family... the outcome is the same no wheat produce!
allot of people are removing wheat from there diets now days anyhow as it blows most people up and lets face it grains were a late introduction to the dietary system anyhow,
so replace your pasta for rice, american long grain can be cooked with stock cubes vegatables tomato sauces etc and in general is more versatile than pasta anyhow. making your own bread is the cheaper and better tasting option but i find just replacing with rye crackers suits me fine. or asda do the loaves for around 1.92. walkers crisps are all suitable for your son along with tortillas as there corn. try quinoa instead of cous cous available from most supermarkets now or holland and barrett, get an online recipie as just like cous cous its quite bland on its own, for treats and take out stick with chinese, 99% of the time they use potato flour or corn starch to thicken not wheat, for battered items use gram flour, this comes out fantastic and is really tasty for all the family. All in all being wheat free as a family will ultimately mean a better fresher diet with no drawbacks provided you dont try and replace what your currently eating with costly alternatives apart from treats!.. if your still struggling and want recipies or a weeks worth of meals let me know and il be glad to assist. hope this helps. Andy

Middlers

Be very careful with Chinese food as alot of it has Soy sauce in and this is made from wheat and is to be avoided at all costs if coeliac.