Living gluten free is not cheap, but we're learning that if done correctly it doesn't have to be done expensively.
So maybe you can't buy those $.33, 1lb bags of pasta anymore but you shouldn't have to pay $7 for a pound of GF pasta! We've kind of let this blog go, recipes every once in a while are great but I'm not often making new recipes anymore, instead its more about the day to day struggles of finding inexpensive food.
Since I brought it up, let's first talk pasta. It's ridiculous when you find yourself paying $3.50 for a package of pasta only to realize when you get home that its only 8oz.!! I feel like I'm being robbed. My favorite meal growing up was fettuccine alfredo, and as much as I mostly embrace the mindset of eating things that are naturally gluten free, I gotta have my pasta. How?
Trader Joe's Rice Pasta: spagetti, penne and rotini. $1.99 for 1 lb every day, regular price no sales or coupons available. But at $1.99 per pound you can't turn that down! It's brown rice pasta, so if you don't like rice pasta then you're out of luck. I'm fairly certain that Mom and Briana also find great pasta deals at Big Lots, but they aren't as consistent as Trader Joe's (stop me if I'm wrong!)
Rice as you know is naturally gluten free and so its a wonderfully inexpensive food to eat. Try to stick with whole grains, like brown rice or wild rice, but also don't forget that there's more than just long grain rice. Experiment with basmati, jasmine, make some risotto or even play around with sushi. Basmati and Jasmine especially have a wonderful different flavor that makes a meal more interesting while keeping cooking simple. Most rice can be found in their brown variety.
Remember that potatoes are gluten free, so scrub up a potato poke it with a knife and put it in the microwave for a few minutes. Finish it off in the oven if you like crispy skin, and you have a baked potato. Remember sour cream CAN have gluten. Use only sour cream with 1 ingredient: cream (or 2 if you want low fat: cream and skim milk).
Chicken CAN have gluten because it is quite common for the manufacturer to inject it with broth that may contain gluten. My local grocery store has a list of which store brand chicken is gluten free, I know for a fact that one isn't so be very careful. If you find a gluten free store brand then you can watch the circulars. Mine all come out Wednesday morning, find out when yours come out. This way I can look out for under $1 a pound.
Our morning routine includes CHEX! Chex can range in price regularly from 2.99 - 3.50. Today I paid $1.50 a box because my store have them on sale for $2 and there is almost always a chex manufacturers coupon available on Coupons.com or Smartsource.com or you can check your Sunday paper. We love the honey chex, but they are more expensive. This time we're trying the cinnamon chex, but we love both the corn and rice chex. YUM YUM YUM!
Pretzels. Wait what? Pretzels? Ok, yes they're good but not necessary. Until I discovered Snyder of Hanover's Gluten free pretzels. Incredible! They don't taste any different to me! They're also reasonably price. I've seen them in the regular pretzel section and in the natural foods section if you're looking for them.
Quinoa is my favorite grain, but it can be expensive. Bobs Red Mill (BRM) is at least $10 per pound. RIDICULOUS. In fact a general rule is that you can find most BRM foods for half the price somewhere else. Trader Joe's has QUINOA for $3.99 per lb, same with almond flour (more like meal).
Hormel is god. Ok wait, that's a bit extreme, but Hormel is amazing. For the most part if a product is gluten free it says so near the nutrition information. Their pepperoni is gluten free and since its non-perishable I buy it in bulk when its on sale. Regularly its around 3.99 but right now my grocery store has it on sale for $2 and Hormel has a $.55 coupon on their website. WHAT A DEAL. Also the Hormel Pork tenderloins will often go on sale. The sale I see most often is B1G1, even most of the marinated varieties are gluten free and it says so on the package. DELICIOUS! Hormel Chili is gluten free also, but not all varieties. I believe it is the bean variety that is GF either way if the chili doesn't say gluten free under the ingredient list, it isn't. You can make our favorite taco dip with a can of this, some cream cheese and cheese. Just remember that pre-shredded cheese, cream cheese and tortilla chips may have GLUTEN so be careful.
