The Challenge of Shopping Celiac

One of the toughest parts about shopping celiac/coeliac and having multiple food sensitivities is that groceries are generally more expensive. Gluten-free food alone always seems to be up-charged, but combine that with sensitivities to corn, soy, dairy, shellfish, and chocolate, and it can make it really expensive just to buy some bread, pasta, or even snack bars.

While we still have to spend a little more money than average to accommodate for Isabelle’s food allergies, we’ve found some ways to make our monthly grocery bill less of a burden.

So, here are our top 10 tips for grocery shopping as a celiac.

Buy in bulk

This tip definitely has a cost upfront, but believe us: it’s worth it. We tend to buy whatever we can in bulk, whether online or at warehouse stores (like Sam’s Club, Costco, or BJs). For example, we buy a really good gluten-free flour blend on Amazon from Pamela’s Gluten Free. It costs around $40-50 upfront for a 25-lb. bag, but it can be anywhere from $7-10 for only 2-lbs. in the store (which means that 25-lbs. of it would cost around $90). We also buy rice and cheese (like sheep’s milk Manchego) this way and save tons of money.

Make it yourself

Buying the right appliances can really make that dollar stretch far. While it can cost you a fair amount upfront, we realized that gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free bread is one of the more expensive parts of our grocery budget. So, we bought a Zojirushi bread maker on sale. Over-time, the cost of that bread maker and bag of flour will be made up in the amount of bread you will actually get. Because celiac disease is kind of a life-time deal, it’s a good idea to think long-term with these kinds of purchases.

We also started making ice-cream from scratch, since coconut milk ice cream at the store is usually upwards of $6 for a small pint, when you can make a half gallon for under $5 easily (which is 4 times as much ice cream). Freezer fries are another expense that we’ve worked around. You can see how we make those here.

Cut back on prepackaged foods

While bread that meets Isabelle’s dietary restrictions can be pricey, many gluten-free snacks and foods that are pre-packaged or pre-made can be quite expensive. Not to mention, gluten-free baked goods are sometimes underwhelming when compared to some of the other things we can make (like this or this), and they often contain chocolate—which is a problem when you are allergic to it.

When we’re shopping celiac, we tend to avoid designated gluten free items if we can. This doesn’t mean that we don’t buy products listed as “gluten free,” because often we need to, but we avoid buying too many pre-made items.

Foods that are naturally gluten free

One of the easiest ways to bypass the costs of designated “gluten free” foods is to buy items that don’t contain gluten by nature. For example, potatoes, rice, meat, veggies, and fruits do not contain gluten. If you’re buying fresh ingredients or items that aren’t processed in any way and are naturally gluten-free, then you can save lots of money shopping celiac.

*A word of caution: Sometimes foods that are pre-packaged contain gluten, even if it doesn’t seem like they should. We’ve run into this issue with certain pasta sauces and teas.

Sub out pasta for Asian rice noodles

Another item that can be pricey is gluten-free pasta. If you have a corn allergy, then you likely have to buy rice-based pasta (or chickpea pasta if you manage to find it), but this is often expensive. If you’re planning on having a noodle—like linguine—then hop on over to the international aisle and buy yourself some rice noodles—like pad Thai noodles. There’s virtually no difference between these and other rice-based noodles, but they are much cheaper.

Coupons, apps, & sales

More and more, grocery stores have digital coupons and apps that allow you to save money on items. They also often have sale items that you can find in online fliers week-to-week. We also like to shop sales—like when it’s a holiday weekend (like Memorial Day weekend), or it’s game day. There are always sales at these times, so we usually stock up on food for our freezer. These savings can really help you out when you’re on a strict budget.

Compare prices

We tend to do a lot of research when we’re looking into gluten-free products. Sometimes certain stores have better prices on certain items, or just have a better gluten-free selection. In store, we’re constantly scoping out all of our options. You’d be surprised how often we find price disparities, even when we’re just buying cereal or snack bars.

You don’t have to be shopping celiac at Whole Foods

We can’t stress this enough. There are lots of stores that seemed geared towards gluten-free eating or healthy living, but that doesn’t mean that your local store doesn’t have any options. Most stores have a gluten-free section, or at least gluten-free products throughout the store. We often shop at Target, Sam’s Club, and Publix for our food. Sometimes we also check out Trader Joe’s if we’re in the area, since they actually have some pretty well-priced items.

Prioritize

We’re not saying that you can’t indulge at all as a celiac, but it’s definitely about balance if you’re going to make a budget work. For example, if we’re going to go through a lot of cheese, we make the decision to buy in bulk at a lower price. We also love dessert, so we make cookies, ice cream, and carob chips from scratch instead of buying something expensive. Every once in a while we might buy something that we usually wouldn’t—like a dessert, or some kind of baked good we haven’t tried—but we make sure to account for it in our budget.

Learn some new cuisines

Finally, you can look into other kinds of cuisines to find some gluten-free options that are also budget-friendly when you’re shopping celiac. We make a lot of burrito bowls, falafels, fried rice, and stir fries with rice noodles. You’d be amazed how cheap it is to buy canned beans or dried chickpeas and get many meals out of them! We spent $2 on a bag of chickpeas for falafels and got 6 meals out of it.