GFCF Diet - Where to buy products for less $

[Logan's Mom]

We are about to venture into the GFCF diet. We don't know what products are good to buy nor where would be the best bet to purchase them. I have heard they are very expensive.

Any food suggestions and where to buy would be great. Thanks!

[ewp11100]

I have been dairy free for 5 years or so and that was totally easy compaired to Gf! I've been gf for about a month and it is amazing how many things have gluten! There is a lot to think about cross contamination as well. For instance we have 2 sets of condiments. One with and X on it and one with GF on it. Once you butter toast and go back for some more butter you've just contaminated it. As for GF products, well I have just gone mostly cold turkey because they are so expensive. I want to know where to find some less expensive sources too. But generally I just don't rely on gf alternative but use things that are naturallt GF such as corn tortillas, corn chips, rice, rice cakes, chex (rice and corn are gf). The cheapest flour I found has been bob's red mill gf flour mix but there is a reason its always on sale it has a yucky aftertaste I eat plain chocolate instead of cookies, popcorn instead of crackers, lettuce as buns, ect. the best way to keep gf inexpensive is to use as little gf "specialized" products as possible. OH and look a product up before you buy it and read the reveiws. A lot of GF products are nasty, I hate when I spend all the money to buy one and it's nasty,
oh and this has been so helpful:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1...nts/Page1.html

Good Luck!

[crunchy_mommy]

I would suggest as much as possible to focus on foods that are naturally GFCF already -- fruits, veggies, GF grains such as brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, corn flour (or tortillas or polenta), chickpea flour, etc. That will be not only your cheapest option but also your healthiest & tastiest! I find that many (OK most) of the GF products like breads, cookies, crackers, etc. are kind of... um...gross. Making our own has worked much better. I do love most of the Bob's Red Mill stuff & there's a store around here (Job Lot, I'm in New England) that sells the nearly-expired ones really cheap. Their GF pancakes (which are also CF, almost all their stuff is CF) are so yummy, that's my favorite, and their GF Homemade Wonderful Bread is super yummy too as is the GF chocolate cake. I like most GF pastas as well, and they're not too pricey (I get them at Job Lot as well or sometimes Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods if they're on sale).

If you want to post some of your family's favorite meals, maybe myself & others can suggest similar GFCF alternatives!

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I would suggest as much as possible to focus on foods that are naturally GFCF already -- fruits, veggies, GF grains such as brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, corn flour (or tortillas or polenta), chickpea flour, etc. That will be not only your cheapest option but also your healthiest & tastiest!

If you want to post some of your family's favorite meals, maybe myself & others can suggest similar GFCF alternatives!

Yep. DS2's cf and the only cf things we buy are tofutti and rice milk. Everything else is just normally dairy free. And really alot of the subs are gross anyways, plus many of the cheese subs have casein anyways.

[karika]

We eat fresh fruits and veggies. I make our pancakes, muffins and cookies, freezing half of them. I use Bob's Red Mill GF flour mix, but I also have tapioca flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, and sweet rice flour. I use half Bob's and mix up the rest depending on what I am making. We went without bread for a long time, then I found Udi's white bread in the freezer section. It is expensive at 5.69 a loaf and a small loaf at that, but a lady in a webgroup I belong to said when she milled her own grain and made bread from scratch it came out to 4.79 a loaf. I don't have a grain mill, so we buy two loaves a month, keeping it in freezer. For ice cream, I was making it in the freezer with mimiccreme, but then I discovered Coconut Bliss. For yogurt we get SoDelicious brand. I haven't slept so I am not at my best, going to put a lot of links here now. dairy, soy and gluten free has been the best decision of my life. I no longer have debilitating stomach pains and horrible bathroom experiences.
This stuff is great! I only use the regular version because of some ingredient I didnt like in the sweetened one...
http://www.mimiccreme.com/
This site has a plethora of info about this way of eating, this is the GFCF diet on a budget page, but look around...
http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/index.htm
This is a blog with some recipes (I think this is from another MDC mom)
http://www.kathysrecipebox.com/?p=32
This is a webgroup devoted to GFCF recipes
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFCFrecipes/
alot of recipes come through this group, but it is really high volume
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFCFKids/
This site has a lot of info about various products
http://gfcfdiet.com/NewpageDirectory6.htm

I agree that most of the products labeled GFCF that are ready made are not tasty. We get DeBoles rice and flax pasta for spaghetti. Daiya cheese is the only cheese replacement worth buying IMO... all I can think of for now will come back later.

The best cookies (recipe given, then how I do it listed too)
1 egg (I use 2)
1 cup brown sugar (I use 1 cup of unrefined organic sugar and 1 TBSP
of Brown Rice Syrup (make sure it is gluten free, some are not)
1 cup of natural peanut butter (I use fresh ground peanuts and 4 TBSP of
sunflower oil)
1 tsp baking powder (I omit, but put in a dash of cream of tartar)
1/2 tsp baking soda (I use 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips (the chocolate from this company became
my best friend)

bake on ungreased sheet in dropped teaspoonfuls in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes (I bake at 330 degrees for 9 minutes I think it is due to the natural peanuts, if you can afford to use natural organic peanut butter instead, it is best taste)

I am so addicted to these, I eat 20 in a day at times... I will check in later

[mum4boys]

I use sorghum flour to make 90% of all food items in our home. It is not complicated to use at all and is very cheap to buy especially compared to Bob's products. I buy it directly from the mill. We buy rice pasta from the Asian market for less then $1.00 a bag.

The other thing that makes our life a lot easier is our home is gluten free. There is no worries about gross contamination.

[floss&ferd]

I order tinkyada pasta from Amazon by the case. To me, it's the only pasta that is edible.

I'm looking for sorghum flour, but usually use coconut flour. (Which I ordered from amazon.)

I rarely buy crackers/cookies, etc. I eat a LOT of corn chips and corn tortillas. I use celery for chicken salad/egg salad.

For my junk food fix, I've been eating a lot of ghiradelli chocolate chips with a almonds and raisins mixed in.