Gluten Free Meal Plan (with a focus on frugality)

[~Megan~]

dd was recently diagnosed as gluten intolerant (as well as allergic to citrus and cranberries).

I need help creating a frugal menu that is acceptable to kids and gluten-free friendly.

Please share your GF menus here!

[rstump]

Most of my plans are GF.....see my blog

[ShivayaMama]

We follow a few blogs that are super helpful
http://gluten-freegourmet.blogspot.com/
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/
http://www.glutenfree-journey.blogspot.com/
http://allergycookbook.blogspot.com/

I find it to be so hard to have a family of four who eats Gluten and dairy free on a budget. I keep making the joke that we could have sent our kids to college, but we had to all eat GF

I think that the best advice I can give you is to focus on three really healthy meals a day, with fruit or veggies or nuts as a snack. The GF snacks that you can buy are just a killer on the wallet! Also, try and make as much food as you can yourself, this will really help on saving money.

[Hopefulmama]

Another tip-order GF stuff (like Ogran flour) from amazon.com.

[~Megan~]

My menu this week (also I'm lactose intolerant):

Monday-
Coffee, Kefir smoothie- strawberry, banana, cantaloupe
Hotdog (Hebrew Nat'l are GF), Carrots, Applesauce
Snack night- cheddar, edam, crackers (cheesey rice), corn chips, mushrooms, banana, apple, pickles

Tuesday-
Eggs and yogurt, coffee
Corn quesadilla, Broccoli
Sausage risotto, sweet potato, Salad

Wednesday-
Cereal, yogurt, coffee
Rice mac’n’cheese, applesauce
Meatballs in tomato sauce, broccoli, rice

Thursday-
Eggs and cheese, coffee
Bean tacos, bananas
Curried chicken and cauliflower, carrots


Friday is grocery shopping so who knows what will be left in the fridge.

[lactivistmama]

Subbing!!

[~Megan~]

First we introduced Taco Salad Sundays then it was Snack and game night Monday. The kids asked for more things like this so I created a new schedule that works well for us.

Sunday- Taco Salad
Monday- Snacks
Tuesday- Breakfast (If I go out its usually on Tuesday and dh makes awesome breakfast foods)
Wednesday- Beans
Thursday- Soup
Friday- Rice
Saturday- Leftovers

So this is how it goes down...

Sunday was fritos, hamburger, refried beans, lettuce, cheddar, salsa, sour cream
Monday was edam and cheddar cheeses, rice crackers, apples, bananas, pickles, mushrooms, chips
Tuesday was eggs, sausage, and GF pancakes
Wednesday was honey baked lentils and rice with millet bread
Thursday was pork meatball and cabbage soup
Friday was broccoli and cheddar rice casserole
Saturday is whatever is left

[stacyg]

:

[MeniacleBrat]

There are a series of cook books called "The Gluten Free Gormet" that have helped us a lot. After a while you figure out how to turn any recipe gluten free, or find gluten free versions of the same recipe (such as for bread items).

Some gluten free items can be rather expensive, however more stores are begining to carry gluten free items, so you can shop around. D'Boles (or something like that) has some of the best GF pasta products that are relatively inexpensive... however the best we've tasted is the Bionatura... of course, its also the most expensive lol.

I've got two children with CD and two without, so when it comes to family meals, we've found its easier to make one GF meal for everyone rather than making two seperate kinda of pasta for spagetti, however its not always cheaper. So one suggestion is (still using the spagetti example) is to make the sauce GF but make GF pasta for your little one and regular pasta for everyone else. For us, having two toddlers (one w/ CD one without) we can't risk them sharing off each others plates, so they are both GF for now.

Good luck mama, and it REALLY does get easier after a while

[courtenay_e]

Yup. We eat wheat, gluten, dairy, egg, soy, pea and tree nut, and many other things--free.

In the end, we buy a lot of gluten free stuff in bulk (like the ingredients to make flours) from co-ops. We either make our own bread or don't use it, we buy tinkyada noodles by co-op. We buy hot cereal in bulk. We make muffins and cupcakes in large batches and freeze them for when we need them (for instance, we had a birthday this weekend to attend, so we made cupcakes, and froze most of them, as my dd's birthday is in a few weeks...and when we go to friends' houses, we pull pumpkin rice muffins out of the freezer to bring as a snack...they're actually GOOD).

Much of the way we eat is the way we have always eaten...it's just that the ingredients we use to GET there are a bit different. Though, if we don't tell people, for the most part they can't tell the difference.

Good luck, Megan! It's a journey, but you will find that at some point it just becomes a way of life, and you won't remember what it was like to eat or meal plan any other way.

Good books are (as mentioned above) the Gluten Free Gourmet series, as well as "The Food Allergy Field Guide" which is less a cook book (though it does have recipes in it that you'd be able to use), and more a "way of life" guide for people who are new to the world of cooking for and living with food allergies.

[kaaris]

I have just added filters to the free meal planner I'm putting together, and one of them is gluten-free. There are a lot of GF recipes there, and I'm adding more daily.

http://mealplanner.eatrealgood.com

Also, if you have other recipes you like, you can add them there, to have them in rotation. You plan meals based around what veggies you get in your CSA box, OR what's on sale. (In the off season, I look at my store's website to see what's on sale, and plan from it that way!) Hope this helps, and I hope your DH starts feeling better soon.