Is gluten free on a budget possible?

Lisaloppylulabell

Hey, newbie here

We are really trying to save money and one of our big expenses is our food shop. I have a form of dysautonomia which causes my body to attack certain foods as poisonous even though I am not technically allergic to them, it's to do with mast cells and my autonomic system. Anyway. I can't eat wheat, gluten, potatoes, high carb meals or anything too greasy or sugary. Any ideas of meals I can cook for my family and I (hubby, 2 kids - one is a veggie). I find all the gluten free foods to be massively overpriced and am struggling with meal ideas. We currently spend around £100 a week on food (my daughter the veggie has packed lunches at school). The hubby won't eat pasta either so that's a pain. The no potatoes thing for me is a huge pain too - I can eat sweet potatoes though.

I hope that waffling made some kind of sense :rotfl:

Thank you

Olliebeak1951

Hello Lisaloppylulabell :hello:. I'm Coeliac, but at least I can eat meat and potatoes ...................... you have my total sympathy and respect trying to get your head around your diet, and that's even without the 'budget restraints'.

Have you spoken to a Nutritionist/Dietician about a recommended diet that you could perhaps follow?

Most of the foods that I buy each week are fresh produce that has been 'whoopsied' (reduced in price) and then I build my meals around what I've managed to purchase ................... Gluten Free bread is sometimes available for around half-price. I know that's STILL expensive compared with 'ordinary bread', but it's still cheaper than paying full price - it gets taken home and frozen for future use.

Check out the Lidl range of 'Free from' products - easier to find than Aldi's and cheaper than Asda and Tesco etc.

I also search for 'Roll-backs' (special offers) and always buy fruit/veg that's in season.

I 'batch cook from scratch' (soups/casseroles/stews) using either Pressure Cooker, stove top or Slow Cooker methods - then freeze into useable portions.

Will your hubby eat rice, instead of pasta? My own OH is the total opposite - he'll eat pasta but not rice ......................... so I have to have TWO pans of pasta on the go at the same time - HIS and MINE ! If your hubby eats potatoes, could you boil some, mash them and then freeze in 'balls' to make future meals easier to prepare for him?

I think you probably need to sit down with a pen and paper and work out what YOU can safely eat and then build meals around what you can tolerate and what you 'actually like/enjoy'. If those meals are fine with your hubby, that's not too bad, but if he wants something different then you're going to really have your work cut out with extra cooking .

Is 'veggie daughter' old enough/capable of getting involved with the prepping/cooking of her own food?

Best of luck .

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Meat, fish, eggs and vegetables, plus rice and pulses you don't react to (beans? lentils?). If you can do dairy, you're a lot better off than some - there's certainly enough there to feed anybody, no matter whether he's being fussy or not. I'd add in vegetable noodles/strips as an alternative for pasta, too - use a peeler to get strips/ribbons, slice a few mm thick for lasagne sheets, slice thick pieces of cauliflower (I think it's been nickname cauliflower steak now) - sounds like you might be somebody who would benefit from a spiraliser, too.

Make what you can eat and then leave options for him to add, such as potatoes (or tell him to go to the chip shop), cheese, bread or extra fat.


And definitely ask for a referral to a dietician if you haven't seen one already. That's a lot of food groups that are being eliminated.

dangerbadger

I'm coeliac, eat mostly vegan and rarely touch potatoes. I'm on a tight budget, and it can be done, honestly. I base my meals around pulses and beans, and I buy them dried and cook them myself. I buy few special 'gluten free' products (GF pasta being the exception), rather I buy foods that are naturally GF. Veg seems like it's expensive sometimes, but I honestly don't believe it is, especially if you save money by not buying things like packs of GF biscuits.

My kids are awkward gits at times with food, so I tend to make a main that we'll all eat, such as bean chilli, but then I'll have mine with salad or veg, my son will normally choose rice and my daughter will have pasta. Flexibility is important - when the food feels a little restrictive to those who don't have to eat that way, allowing a choice in accompaniment is a way to keep people happier. Plus, if you batch cook the main parts of the meal, it means on a night all you have to do is heat that up, so it's not as much of a pain to have to make potatoes and pasta, rather than just one of them.

My budget is £40 a week for the three of us, and whist it's tight at times, it is doable. Good luck!

wort

I'm coeliac, and think there are good suggestions been made already. You certainly don't need to buy specific gluten free products as most are overpriced and not healthy.
A lot of products are naturally gluten free and I just check labels and buy "normal foods" .
I get bread on prescription, and use gf pasta but rarely buy other things.
Things like tinned tomatoes can be made into a variety of sauces, with the addition of onions, garlic or spices. Make big batches of things you like and freeze them individually so they can be used when short of time or when hubby is having something you can't have.

kboss2010

I think you can do it, you just have to change what you eat from loads of gluten-filled carbs to naturally gluten-free foods. When I was trying to figure out what triggered my IBS, I cut out gluten for a while but I had to re-think what I ate as I refused to pay for all the expensive gf substitutes.

I swapped cereal for Greek yoghurt & fruit for breakfast, sandwiches for salads & stir fries for lunches & pasta dishes for rice dishes for dinner. The things I struggled with were things like soy sauce & stock cubes but tamari is gf & I started to make my own stocks from chicken bones & gammon so there are ways you can get round it with buying only the essentials.

Lily-Lu

I'm not a coeliac, but I have bad, constant I.B.S and have avoided gluten for the last 6 years. G.F foods are expensive and the majority are highly processed as well, so you're better off avoiding most of them, anyway.
Use as much fresh food as you can. Meat, eggs, rice, pulses are all nutritious and versatile.
I also follow a diet for I.B.S, so I avoid lactose, certain vegetables and fruit are a no no. Love garlic, cauliflower, brown onions, peas but can't eat any of it. It's restrictive to some extent, but the things I can eat, with regards to veg, I make sure I eat plenty of.

If you like chilli, you could make a big pan of it (enough to freeze extra meals). Use some lentils as well as meat. They're nutritious and will lower the cost a bit. Your veggie daughter can have the same recipe, but all lentils and no meat. You could eat it with rice, or maybe some sweet potato wedges.


Veg or meat curry is another versatile meal. You can eat it with rice, pasta, chips, or even poured over veg, if you need to watch your carb intake.

Lisaloppylulabell

Olliebeak1951 wrote: »

Hello Lisaloppylulabell :hello:. I'm Coeliac, but at least I can eat meat and potatoes ...................... you have my total sympathy and respect trying to get your head around your diet, and that's even without the 'budget restraints'.

Have you spoken to a Nutritionist/Dietician about a recommended diet that you could perhaps follow?

Most of the foods that I buy each week are fresh produce that has been 'whoopsied' (reduced in price) and then I build my meals around what I've managed to purchase ................... Gluten Free bread is sometimes available for around half-price. I know that's STILL expensive compared with 'ordinary bread', but it's still cheaper than paying full price - it gets taken home and frozen for future use.

Check out the Lidl range of 'Free from' products - easier to find than Aldi's and cheaper than Asda and Tesco etc.

I also search for 'Roll-backs' (special offers) and always buy fruit/veg that's in season.

I 'batch cook from scratch' (soups/casseroles/stews) using either Pressure Cooker, stove top or Slow Cooker methods - then freeze into useable portions.

Will your hubby eat rice, instead of pasta? My own OH is the total opposite - he'll eat pasta but not rice ......................... so I have to have TWO pans of pasta on the go at the same time - HIS and MINE ! If your hubby eats potatoes, could you boil some, mash them and then freeze in 'balls' to make future meals easier to prepare for him?

I think you probably need to sit down with a pen and paper and work out what YOU can safely eat and then build meals around what you can tolerate and what you 'actually like/enjoy'. If those meals are fine with your hubby, that's not too bad, but if he wants something different then you're going to really have your work cut out with extra cooking .

Is 'veggie daughter' old enough/capable of getting involved with the prepping/cooking of her own food?

Best of luck .

Thanks for replying! Yes the potatoes thing is a nightmare as it's hidden in so many gluten free products too. The hubby will eat rice yeah but only if it's brown rice and doesn't have anything 'weird' in it like quinoa or something :rotfl:

I haven't seen a nutritionist. The Drs mention it but it's never materialised! It's hard to predict what I will react to, my body will just suddenly decide something is a threat and I have a reaction. I've cut out the main culprits - too much dairy sets me off too.

My daughter I think would help with food prep yes. We are looking into having a vegetable patch in our garden next year to try to get the kids eating more healthily - you know if they see it growing, look after it, harvest it - and I know where it's come from. Well that's the hope anyway lol!

Lisaloppylulabell

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Meat, fish, eggs and vegetables, plus rice and pulses you don't react to (beans? lentils?). If you can do dairy, you're a lot better off than some - there's certainly enough there to feed anybody, no matter whether he's being fussy or not. I'd add in vegetable noodles/strips as an alternative for pasta, too - use a peeler to get strips/ribbons, slice a few mm thick for lasagne sheets, slice thick pieces of cauliflower (I think it's been nickname cauliflower steak now) - sounds like you might be somebody who would benefit from a spiraliser, too.

Make what you can eat and then leave options for him to add, such as potatoes (or tell him to go to the chip shop), cheese, bread or extra fat.


And definitely ask for a referral to a dietician if you haven't seen one already. That's a lot of food groups that are being eliminated.

Hi and thanks for replying to me! I love spiralised veg and have tried caulifilower rice too but again the hubby resists. I like the thought of putting options out for him though! I can tolerate a bit of dairy - like I can have a yogurt but if I had something like a milkshake or a latte I will react. My reactions tend to be heart related, skipped beats, tachycardia, body tremors - that kind of thing. I've had Drs mention nutritionists to me but nothing has ever come to fruition. I think I'll mention it next time I see my specialist. Thank you! xxx

Fen1

Are you ok with the rest of the nightshade family: tomatoes, aubergines, peppers? Potatoes are nightshade, whilst sweet potatoes are from the morning glory family, so completely different plants.

Have you looked at keto/ paleo diets? They are grain and potato free.

I have to be careful with gluten, dairy, soya. I can also react to GF foods as they have so many "fillers" and odd ingredients.

You have a medical need for your diet. Your OH and DD are being fussy. Make food for yourself, then if they want something different/extra, get them to do it for themselves.

Wraithlady

Fen1 wrote: »

You have a medical need for your diet. Your OH and DD are being fussy. Make food for yourself, then if they want something different/extra, get them to do it for themselves.

What Fen1 said. If my OH was so picky, we'd be divorced!