April 10, 2025 • 23 mins
Let’s be real—gluten-free living can be expensive. From $7 loaves of bread to overpriced specialty snacks, the cost can really add up. But here’s the good news: gluten-free doesn’t have to mean budget-busting.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing my best tips for eating gluten-free without breaking the bank. You’ll learn how to shop smarter, cook creatively, and still eat well—all while keeping your wallet happy.
Save money, and no more guessing for dinner! Use code GFE to get 20% off annual membership at thedinnerdaily.com. Plan meals for less than $4/month and save money at the grocery store!
Come join us in our free Facebook Community, The Gluten Free Engineer.
It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.
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Episode Transcript
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Carrie Saunders (00:00):
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode this podcast is based onmy personal experiences and
isn't medical advice.
Let's be real gluten-freeliving can be expensive.
From $7 loaves of bread tooverpriced specialty snacks such
as cookies and crackers thatcost about $5 a box.
The cost can really add up, buthere's the good news
(00:22):
gluten-free doesn't have to meanbudget busting.
In today's episode, I'm sharingmy best tips for eating
gluten-free without breaking thebank.
You'll learn how to shopsmarter, cook creatively and eat
well, all while keeping yourwallet much happier.
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
(00:46):
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between, to
rebuild a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
(01:07):
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
So let's start off, though, withwhy are gluten-free items more
costly?
For one, they're specialtyproducts.
They're made in smaller batches, they have more costly
ingredients because the commonthings like wheat flour is not
(01:31):
in them, obviously, which isvery cheap and inexpensive.
We've made it so that it's muchcheaper to make things like
that, and gluten-free items canalso be sometimes marked as a
premium item a choice, eventhough it's not a choice for
many of us.
So there can be hidden costs ifyou go and buy processed foods
that are gluten-free, such assnacks, breads, mixes,
(01:54):
convenience items, pasta.
So feeling like you have to buyevery new gluten-free thing
that launches is also somethingelse that can make your budget
not so friendly.
So we want to resist thetemptation to buy every new
gluten-free product that comesout there, don't you know?
Don't worry about buying thatif it's not something you
actually need.
(02:14):
So don't fall into the trap ofrelying on too much on boxed
foods or frozen meals.
Two, those can be veryexpensive now, especially
nowadays, I feel like frozenmeals are.
It's almost as expensive to goout to eat for lunch than it is
to get a frozen meal.
It costs like $5.
So make sure that you'relooking first for naturally
(02:37):
gluten-free whole foods.
That's one of my first budgetsaving tips If you want to shop
the perimeter of the store.
This is what we do.
We go down only a couple aislesin our store and when you shop
the perimeter, you're shoppingfor things that are naturally
gluten-free in almost everysingle store Meats, vegetables,
(02:58):
fruits, eggs, beans, rice,potatoes, et cetera.
Those are all naturallygluten-free unless they've been,
you know, modified in some wayto make them not gluten-free.
So that's a really good way tosave money is by buying those
naturally gluten-free foodsrather than the processed
gluten-free foods.
These foods are also nutrient,nutrient dense, and so much more
(03:22):
cheaper per serving and,honestly, much better for you,
as I'm sure you can imagine,since they're not processed,
when we eat more whole foods,and then it's better on our
bodies too.
So skip that $5.99 gluten-freefrozen pizza that's really tiny
and make your own with some realingredients, and I'm going to
(03:43):
have some recipes on our website, theglutenfreeengineercom,
because we love to makegluten-free crusts honestly,
ahead of time, and this issomething we did when our kids
were heavily in marching bandand it saved us a lot of time
and money.
So I would batch, makegluten-free pizzas, par-bake
(04:04):
them, which means just, you know, bake them till they're done
without the toppings on them,and then I'd let them cool, put
them in a Ziploc baggie andfreeze them, and they would last
for months.
So anytime we wanted a pizza,you can just pull out that
frozen gluten-free pizza crustand by the time you put all the
toppings on it it's basicallythawed and you can bake it and
(04:25):
there you have a meal one reallyquick as well as a lot cheaper,
and the gluten-free pizzarecipe that I have for the pizza
crust is actually very minimalingredients.
You can also buy Bob's Red Millpizza crust.
There's also other popularbrands that are gluten-free
pizza crust that are also verygood, but you know they're going
(04:48):
to be, per meal, a bit moreexpensive because they're
pre-packaged and pre-processedand things like that for you.
So making things from scratchwhile for some it might seem
daunting, once you get the hangof it it's actually much easier
and many times faster thanbuying something that's
pre-packaged.
So when you can, you want tomake your own convenience foods.
(05:09):
You can also make your owngluten-free breadcrumbs using
the saved ends or heels of yourbread.
This is something we've donepretty much the whole time that
we've known that we needed to begluten-free.
I've just felt like I waswasting so much money throwing
those heels away.
Nobody wanted to eat the heelsOne.
None of us liked heels ofregular bread when we didn't
know we couldn't eat regularbread.
(05:30):
But I feel like the gluten-freeheels are even drier and a
little bit less appetizing.
So just what we do is we evenleave them in the bag, the bread
bag that we, you know, get ourgluten-free bread from.
We just twist, tie them back inthat bread bag and toss them in
the freezer.
And when it's time to makebreadbs or croutons, you can
(05:53):
just pull all those heels out.
You know we'll we'll gather awhole bunch up.
Sometimes we'll consolidatethem into one bread bag and, you
know, put like 20 or so heelsin one bed bag when we're tired
of all the little baggiessitting around in our freezer.
But you just, you know, propthose out, let them thaw, dry
them out in your oven We'll havea rest.
We have a recipe for this,actually, on our website.
(06:15):
Dry them out in your oven for acouple hours.
If you do it on a lowtemperature, it's a little bit
safer.
You don't risk burning it ifyou do it at like about 200, 225
.
And then, there you have it.
You have your own homemadecroutons or breadcrumbs.
You can add whatever seasoningsyou like.
You don't have to worry aboutweird preservatives in them.
If you get them completely dry,they last for a very, very long
(06:39):
time.
You can even freeze thecroutons or breadcrumbs as well,
if that makes you a bit morecomfortable.
But I've left them in mycounter, in my cabinets, for a
couple months at a time and theywere completely fine.
They won't mold as long asthere's no moisture in them or
something else that mightattract mold.
So making your own breadcrumbsand croutons is another great
(07:03):
time-saving in the long run andmoney-saving hack.
And honestly, it's so deliciousLike when we make, you know,
croutons.
We're eating them about as fastas we're making them because
they're just so delicious.
Fresh, I mean.
Once you make fresh croutonsyou will never have you won't
miss the box stuff, trust me.
(07:24):
You can also DIY your ownpancake mix, granola bars and
muffin mixes.
This isn't something wecommonly do, because what I do
is I buy pancake mix in bulk sowe will, you know, find it on
sale and then I'll stock up thatway, but I have when in a pinch
(07:44):
and out of pancake mix.
It's actually not that hard tomake your own pancake mix with
some gluten free flour and a fewother little ingredients.
And I know a lot of people loveto make granola bars.
It's something I've not doveinto yet myself.
I just tend to go find thegranola bars I love at the store
when they're on sale andthey're like half price.
(08:04):
So I'm always looking for saleswhen I'm shopping too.
So always look for sales.
Stock up when you can.
That's another great way,especially on things like
granola bars that don't go stalevery quickly.
It can really save you a lot ofmoney.
And then you can batch cook andfreeze portions.
This is really a key here.
(08:25):
Making easy, quick mealsaccessible in your home will
make it so you're not tempted tobuy expensive ready-made meals.
So something else we do when wetalk about batch cooking here.
One thing we love to do is makehomemade meatballs, and we will
make.
It ends up making four batchesof homemade meatballs.
(08:45):
We do two pounds of hamburger,two pounds of ground pork and
then I season it to smellbasically ground pork and then I
season it to smell basically.
I'll work on trying to documentmy recipe for that and put it
on the website, but you can handmake your own gluten-free
meatballs.
We use potato flakes instead oflike breadcrumbs, and then we
(09:08):
put egg in it too for the binder.
And what we do is we freezethose other three.
We usually will cook one of thefour, as we're making that
batch of four, and then wefreeze the other three in
individual Ziploc baggies andyou can just put them in a layer
in your freezer and they'llcome apart nice and easy when
you're ready to cook them.
And you can honestly cook frozenmeatballs I don't know if you
(09:30):
know this from frozen, from deepfrozen, from my deep freezer, I
can get those cooked and readyin about 10 to 15 minutes.
So talk about a quick meal.
So by the time the meatballsare cooked, then you can have
your spaghetti ready.
So then you have spaghetti andmeatballs really fast at home
and it's one of our convenienceitems of oh, we don't have
(09:50):
anything fresh to cook, what dowe do?
And then we go get the frozenmeatballs out of our freezer
which, talking about that, rightnow we need to make some more
because we're out.
So when you batch cook and thenyou freeze portions of it, that
can really help.
One time I actually this pastholiday season we made a lovely
turkey and my husband reallywanted turkey pot pie.
(10:13):
So we made turkey pot pie forthe first time ever and we use
those little tiny ceramic Ithink it's Corningware is
technically the brand littleround things and put extra
chicken pot pie in there andfroze those with lid on it.
And that has been a great lunchfor my husband when he could go
(10:34):
to work.
He can take it frozen, let itthaw throughout the day, or
leave let it thaw in the fridgethe night before and then pop it
in the microwave and finishcooking it, cause everything's
pre-cooked in it, so you don'treally have to worry about it
too much, other than you want toget it hot enough for eating.
So batch cooking can reallyreally help and, like I said,
this pizza crust, that's a greatway to batch cook and have
(11:01):
things ready ahead of time.
And then I've already alluded tothis some but buying in bulk,
and what I do is I like I knowwhen it's worth buying in bulk.
I try to keep a track of thisand this might sound a little
arduous at first but once you'regood at it it's not hard at all
.
But you can buy in bulk fromlike Costco or Thrive Market or
any of your local shops that youmight have a bulk place.
So I have also been known tobuy on bulk on Amazon as well.
(11:25):
You can get 25 pound bags ofBob's Red Mill one-to-one flour
on Amazon, and so I keep an eyeon it whenever the price drops
and I'll buy a 25 pound bag ofBob's Red Mill.
Now let me tell you, if you'venever bought a 25 pound bag of
flour, it's large, it's reallyreally large.
So how I got around that is, Ikept the little baggies, or you
(11:47):
can even just use Ziploc baggiesand I would put you know a
reasonable amount in a Ziplocbag and keep that in my kitchen
and then keep the 25 pound bagthe rest of it in the pantry.
So buying things like that inbulk can really help save you
money in the long run.
One year I went through several25 pound bags of Bob's Red Mill
(12:09):
flour because I was preparing tocater my best friend's wedding
at my house and she she wantedme to make all of her food,
including 128.
I made 128 cupcakes and herwedding cake and her saving cake
for their anniversary.
But yeah, I went throughseveral bags of 25-pound bags of
gluten-free flour, onepreparing.
(12:30):
I used the birthdays that werepreceding it to prepare, you
know, and trial cake making,which is where my best chocolate
gluten-free cake ever in thevanilla cake that's on our
website came from, and I havedemonstration videos on that too
on YouTube.
But I utilize my resources, savemoney by buying in bulk.
(12:52):
So when you can keep an eye onthings like that, that makes
your life easier.
So me not blending my own flourit's not something I really
have time for unless I'm reallyserious into my sourdough baking
, which I do have phases of that.
So you know it's okay to havethose convenience items when you
need to, but be smart about itlike that.
You know.
Buy in bulk when you can keepan eye on the price and you'll
(13:15):
know when that price drops.
Look at the price per ounce.
It's going to really help you.
You can also get staples likegluten-free oats, rice, quinoa,
almond flour.
You know any of the bakingstaples you might use.
You can, you know, buy those inlarger quantities to save you
money.
You can kind of figure out youknow how often do I use this,
when do I run out, and thenfigure out from there how large
(13:39):
of a bulk item you want to getfor it.
And you can also shop, storebrands and watch for sales.
This is something I do all thetime and I alluded to this
earlier with these specificgluten-free bars that I
absolutely love.
They're Annie's Chewy ChocolateChip Gluten-Free Granola Bars.
I absolutely love them.
But they go on sale, and whenthey go on sale in our local
(13:59):
store, I mean they go on sale.
And when they go on sale in ourlocal store, I mean they go on
sale, they're like about halfprice and so I will stock up on
those because they're shelfstable for a long time.
So we'll stock up on those andI'll buy them maybe once every
three months or something.
So things like that that youknow that you're going to use
over time.
You know stock up on them whenthey go really good on sale.
(14:20):
And sometimes I find in ourlocal store too, some of the
gluten-free items are on theirbargain bin or their bargain
shelf because they may not be aspopular because they're, you
know, specialty products.
So look for that as well.
And then when you plan yourmeals ahead of time.
So when you plan your week'smeals, when you plan your meals
(14:42):
ahead of time, so when you planyour week's meals, you can
really help utilize leftoverswisely this way.
So what I like to do is I liketo make more than we need for
dinner so that we have thoseleftovers for lunch, so that not
only saves us time but it alsosaves us money, because we're
not going out to eat, because wedo have some places here
locally that we can eat outsafely, but it's obviously not
(15:03):
as budget friendly as makingyour own food at home.
So we will make extra wheneverwe cook at home for dinner,
which is about six out of sevennights a week, and meal planning
can really cut down on impulsebuys and wasted food.
So when you plan ahead, you'regoing to spend a lot less money
(15:24):
on your groceries.
You can also repurpose some ofyour leftovers, like that turkey
, for example.
We made turkey pot pie.
From it.
You can make turkey noodles,chicken and noodles.
You know, you could, you know,use these proteins that are
already cooked, put them insoups, things like that.
So you can, you know, use theseproteins that are already
cooked, put them in soups,things like that.
So you can, you know, buy evenmeat in a bit more of a bulk
(15:45):
size and a larger size and goahead and cook it and then reuse
it in something else, likesoups or pot pies or tacos or
things like that.
So use what you already havebefore buying more, and that can
help save you time as well asmoney.
Now there are somebudget-friendly products out
there that I encourage you to dosome research on, because it's
(16:09):
going to vary based upon yourlocation and where you are, but
I have found that there arecertain pastas that are very
good, but they're only a coupledollars a box versus some of the
pastas are more like four orfive dollars a box.
So experiment with the pastas,for example, in your area, on
which ones you think taste greatand you love, barilla, and then
(16:31):
Ronzoni is here locally, andboth of those are made out of I
believe it's brown rice, quinoaand corn, and they're a nice,
inexpensive, gluten-free pastaif you can tolerate those things
.
I don't tolerate corn myselfvery well, so I don't eat those
very much anymore.
But you can really, you know,find pastas that aren't super
(16:52):
expensive.
Jovial is another brand ofpasta.
I absolutely love that.
One's made with brown rice, orthey also have a cassava pasta
from it, and you can find thoseon sale.
So I always look for the sales,stock up on those you know dry
goods like that and find youryou know your favorite
affordable brands Any more.
Store brands, too, are doing amuch better job of being celiac
(17:15):
safe.
If you're a celiac, that islistening in.
So look for those symbols on it.
Whether it's certifiedgluten-free, make sure it's not
processed with wheat or anyother gluten-containing items,
and you may be able to do thestore brand gluten-free
alternative as well, which isgoing to be cheaper.
(17:35):
I like to around Christmas timehere.
Our vanilla, for example.
I love to get a much higherquality vanilla One.
I find it tastes better and itjust makes your dishes so much
better your desserts and it hasno gluten in it.
Some vanillas can sneak glutenin there, so do be careful there
(17:55):
.
But what I find is duringChristmas times those go so much
on sale here in the UnitedStates, where I am, so I stock
up on those.
They're shelf stable.
They're going to last a longtime.
They're in a dark jar, that's,you know, in the back of my
cabinet.
I will buy extra of thosewhenever they go on sale.
You can also make homemadefreezer friendly meals.
You can make chilies, soups,casseroles, muffins Actually,
(18:21):
muffins is a good one.
Whenever we go on vacation,many times I will pre-make.
I call them pancake bites orI'll make muffins.
So when we go on vacation, Ilike to have, you know, easy,
ready to eat breakfast items soyou can actually take I don't
know if you know this you cantake your pancake batter and mix
that you like, you know, putlike chocolate chips in it, or
(18:43):
you can put like bacon and maplesyrup in it to give it a little
interesting texture, so that'snot just a pancake batter, and
those are really good on theroad.
So you can put that in a muffintin.
Or if you're a Pampered Cheffan and have the brownie pans
with the little brownie squaresin it, you can put those in
there and bake your own littlepancake bites.
That's a great breakfast, evenat home.
(19:07):
If you're into pancakes and youwant something quick and easy so
that you're not buyingstore-bought gluten-free
pancakes or waffles, make yourown at home, do it on a Sunday
and then have it in your fridgeor put it in your freezer and
you can pop those and warm thoseup for just a few seconds if
(19:27):
it's refrigerated, and they'regoing to taste like they came
out of the oven.
You can do this for waffles too.
So don't don't waste your moneyon the gluten-free waffles that
you find at the store.
If you can avoid it, make yourown waffles at home, toast those
back up in your toaster oven oryour toaster.
When you're ready to eat them,you can pop them out of the
(19:48):
freezer or the fridge andthey're going to taste from
fresh, just like you would ifyou got the frozen ones out of
the.
They actually probably willtaste better, honestly, than the
frozen ones that's been in thefreezer, because they've
probably been in the freezer ofyour store for a while and in
transit.
So you can do several thingslike that to really make things
a lot more budget friendly andfast and convenient.
My whole goal with helpingeverybody listening for you know
(20:09):
, being gluten-free is one let'smake it fun, let's make it easy
and let's make it convenient.
So these are some tips that Ithink will help you do those
three things and also giveyourself some grace.
You know, if you're new to this, you may be figuring out how to
make these shortcuts that Ifigured out over the last like
12 or so years.
(20:30):
You don't have to have a pantryfull of gluten-friendly items
to be successful.
You know.
Look at what you normally eatand figure out.
How can I make this easier?
How can I make this moreconvenient?
How can I make this cheaper?
By being smart with how I buy.
Some weeks you might be a bitmore creative than others, and
that's okay.
(20:50):
There's some weeks where like,oh, what do we make this week,
even though I've been doing thisfor a very long time?
But your health is worthinvesting in, and having
something budget friendly isalso great on our wallets too.
So we want to make sure itdoesn't drain our bank account
when we're using gluten-freeitems because it's necessary for
(21:11):
us.
As a recap, stick to naturallygluten-free foods.
Naturally gluten-free wholefoods You're going to found
around the perimeter of yourstore.
That's going to save you a lotof money.
I also recommend cooking inbatches and doing DIYing what
you can from scratch, likepancake mixes, soups, bread.
(21:32):
You can also do it for pizzacrust Make those in batches and
freeze them.
You can use also store brandsand sales and buying in bulk
when it's to your advantage, andjust be creative, flexible and
keep it simple.
That makes gluten-free a lotmore fun and a lot more
convenient and a lot morebudget-friendly.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
(21:53):
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
(22:14):
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not provide amedical advice.
(22:34):
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode this podcast is based onmy personal experiences and
isn't medical advice.
Let's be real gluten-freeliving can be expensive.
From $7 loaves of bread tooverpriced specialty snacks such
as cookies and crackers thatcost about $5 a box.
The cost can really add up, buthere's the good news
(00:22):
gluten-free doesn't have to meanbudget busting.
In today's episode, I'm sharingmy best tips for eating
gluten-free without breaking thebank.
You'll learn how to shopsmarter, cook creatively and eat
well, all while keeping yourwallet much happier.
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
(00:46):
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between, to
rebuild a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
(01:07):
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
So let's start off, though, withwhy are gluten-free items more
costly?
For one, they're specialtyproducts.
They're made in smaller batches, they have more costly
ingredients because the commonthings like wheat flour is not
(01:31):
in them, obviously, which isvery cheap and inexpensive.
We've made it so that it's muchcheaper to make things like
that, and gluten-free items canalso be sometimes marked as a
premium item a choice, eventhough it's not a choice for
many of us.
So there can be hidden costs ifyou go and buy processed foods
that are gluten-free, such assnacks, breads, mixes,
(01:54):
convenience items, pasta.
So feeling like you have to buyevery new gluten-free thing
that launches is also somethingelse that can make your budget
not so friendly.
So we want to resist thetemptation to buy every new
gluten-free product that comesout there, don't you know?
Don't worry about buying thatif it's not something you
actually need.
(02:14):
So don't fall into the trap ofrelying on too much on boxed
foods or frozen meals.
Two, those can be veryexpensive now, especially
nowadays, I feel like frozenmeals are.
It's almost as expensive to goout to eat for lunch than it is
to get a frozen meal.
It costs like $5.
So make sure that you'relooking first for naturally
(02:37):
gluten-free whole foods.
That's one of my first budgetsaving tips If you want to shop
the perimeter of the store.
This is what we do.
We go down only a couple aislesin our store and when you shop
the perimeter, you're shoppingfor things that are naturally
gluten-free in almost everysingle store Meats, vegetables,
(02:58):
fruits, eggs, beans, rice,potatoes, et cetera.
Those are all naturallygluten-free unless they've been,
you know, modified in some wayto make them not gluten-free.
So that's a really good way tosave money is by buying those
naturally gluten-free foodsrather than the processed
gluten-free foods.
These foods are also nutrient,nutrient dense, and so much more
(03:22):
cheaper per serving and,honestly, much better for you,
as I'm sure you can imagine,since they're not processed,
when we eat more whole foods,and then it's better on our
bodies too.
So skip that $5.99 gluten-freefrozen pizza that's really tiny
and make your own with some realingredients, and I'm going to
(03:43):
have some recipes on our website, theglutenfreeengineercom,
because we love to makegluten-free crusts honestly,
ahead of time, and this issomething we did when our kids
were heavily in marching bandand it saved us a lot of time
and money.
So I would batch, makegluten-free pizzas, par-bake
(04:04):
them, which means just, you know, bake them till they're done
without the toppings on them,and then I'd let them cool, put
them in a Ziploc baggie andfreeze them, and they would last
for months.
So anytime we wanted a pizza,you can just pull out that
frozen gluten-free pizza crustand by the time you put all the
toppings on it it's basicallythawed and you can bake it and
(04:25):
there you have a meal one reallyquick as well as a lot cheaper,
and the gluten-free pizzarecipe that I have for the pizza
crust is actually very minimalingredients.
You can also buy Bob's Red Millpizza crust.
There's also other popularbrands that are gluten-free
pizza crust that are also verygood, but you know they're going
(04:48):
to be, per meal, a bit moreexpensive because they're
pre-packaged and pre-processedand things like that for you.
So making things from scratchwhile for some it might seem
daunting, once you get the hangof it it's actually much easier
and many times faster thanbuying something that's
pre-packaged.
So when you can, you want tomake your own convenience foods.
(05:09):
You can also make your owngluten-free breadcrumbs using
the saved ends or heels of yourbread.
This is something we've donepretty much the whole time that
we've known that we needed to begluten-free.
I've just felt like I waswasting so much money throwing
those heels away.
Nobody wanted to eat the heelsOne.
None of us liked heels ofregular bread when we didn't
know we couldn't eat regularbread.
(05:30):
But I feel like the gluten-freeheels are even drier and a
little bit less appetizing.
So just what we do is we evenleave them in the bag, the bread
bag that we, you know, get ourgluten-free bread from.
We just twist, tie them back inthat bread bag and toss them in
the freezer.
And when it's time to makebreadbs or croutons, you can
(05:53):
just pull all those heels out.
You know we'll we'll gather awhole bunch up.
Sometimes we'll consolidatethem into one bread bag and, you
know, put like 20 or so heelsin one bed bag when we're tired
of all the little baggiessitting around in our freezer.
But you just, you know, propthose out, let them thaw, dry
them out in your oven We'll havea rest.
We have a recipe for this,actually, on our website.
(06:15):
Dry them out in your oven for acouple hours.
If you do it on a lowtemperature, it's a little bit
safer.
You don't risk burning it ifyou do it at like about 200, 225
.
And then, there you have it.
You have your own homemadecroutons or breadcrumbs.
You can add whatever seasoningsyou like.
You don't have to worry aboutweird preservatives in them.
If you get them completely dry,they last for a very, very long
(06:39):
time.
You can even freeze thecroutons or breadcrumbs as well,
if that makes you a bit morecomfortable.
But I've left them in mycounter, in my cabinets, for a
couple months at a time and theywere completely fine.
They won't mold as long asthere's no moisture in them or
something else that mightattract mold.
So making your own breadcrumbsand croutons is another great
(07:03):
time-saving in the long run andmoney-saving hack.
And honestly, it's so deliciousLike when we make, you know,
croutons.
We're eating them about as fastas we're making them because
they're just so delicious.
Fresh, I mean.
Once you make fresh croutonsyou will never have you won't
miss the box stuff, trust me.
(07:24):
You can also DIY your ownpancake mix, granola bars and
muffin mixes.
This isn't something wecommonly do, because what I do
is I buy pancake mix in bulk sowe will, you know, find it on
sale and then I'll stock up thatway, but I have when in a pinch
(07:44):
and out of pancake mix.
It's actually not that hard tomake your own pancake mix with
some gluten free flour and a fewother little ingredients.
And I know a lot of people loveto make granola bars.
It's something I've not doveinto yet myself.
I just tend to go find thegranola bars I love at the store
when they're on sale andthey're like half price.
(08:04):
So I'm always looking for saleswhen I'm shopping too.
So always look for sales.
Stock up when you can.
That's another great way,especially on things like
granola bars that don't go stalevery quickly.
It can really save you a lot ofmoney.
And then you can batch cook andfreeze portions.
This is really a key here.
(08:25):
Making easy, quick mealsaccessible in your home will
make it so you're not tempted tobuy expensive ready-made meals.
So something else we do when wetalk about batch cooking here.
One thing we love to do is makehomemade meatballs, and we will
make.
It ends up making four batchesof homemade meatballs.
(08:45):
We do two pounds of hamburger,two pounds of ground pork and
then I season it to smellbasically ground pork and then I
season it to smell basically.
I'll work on trying to documentmy recipe for that and put it
on the website, but you can handmake your own gluten-free
meatballs.
We use potato flakes instead oflike breadcrumbs, and then we
(09:08):
put egg in it too for the binder.
And what we do is we freezethose other three.
We usually will cook one of thefour, as we're making that
batch of four, and then wefreeze the other three in
individual Ziploc baggies andyou can just put them in a layer
in your freezer and they'llcome apart nice and easy when
you're ready to cook them.
And you can honestly cook frozenmeatballs I don't know if you
(09:30):
know this from frozen, from deepfrozen, from my deep freezer, I
can get those cooked and readyin about 10 to 15 minutes.
So talk about a quick meal.
So by the time the meatballsare cooked, then you can have
your spaghetti ready.
So then you have spaghetti andmeatballs really fast at home
and it's one of our convenienceitems of oh, we don't have
(09:50):
anything fresh to cook, what dowe do?
And then we go get the frozenmeatballs out of our freezer
which, talking about that, rightnow we need to make some more
because we're out.
So when you batch cook and thenyou freeze portions of it, that
can really help.
One time I actually this pastholiday season we made a lovely
turkey and my husband reallywanted turkey pot pie.
(10:13):
So we made turkey pot pie forthe first time ever and we use
those little tiny ceramic Ithink it's Corningware is
technically the brand littleround things and put extra
chicken pot pie in there andfroze those with lid on it.
And that has been a great lunchfor my husband when he could go
(10:34):
to work.
He can take it frozen, let itthaw throughout the day, or
leave let it thaw in the fridgethe night before and then pop it
in the microwave and finishcooking it, cause everything's
pre-cooked in it, so you don'treally have to worry about it
too much, other than you want toget it hot enough for eating.
So batch cooking can reallyreally help and, like I said,
this pizza crust, that's a greatway to batch cook and have
(11:01):
things ready ahead of time.
And then I've already alluded tothis some but buying in bulk,
and what I do is I like I knowwhen it's worth buying in bulk.
I try to keep a track of thisand this might sound a little
arduous at first but once you'regood at it it's not hard at all
.
But you can buy in bulk fromlike Costco or Thrive Market or
any of your local shops that youmight have a bulk place.
So I have also been known tobuy on bulk on Amazon as well.
(11:25):
You can get 25 pound bags ofBob's Red Mill one-to-one flour
on Amazon, and so I keep an eyeon it whenever the price drops
and I'll buy a 25 pound bag ofBob's Red Mill.
Now let me tell you, if you'venever bought a 25 pound bag of
flour, it's large, it's reallyreally large.
So how I got around that is, Ikept the little baggies, or you
(11:47):
can even just use Ziploc baggiesand I would put you know a
reasonable amount in a Ziplocbag and keep that in my kitchen
and then keep the 25 pound bagthe rest of it in the pantry.
So buying things like that inbulk can really help save you
money in the long run.
One year I went through several25 pound bags of Bob's Red Mill
(12:09):
flour because I was preparing tocater my best friend's wedding
at my house and she she wantedme to make all of her food,
including 128.
I made 128 cupcakes and herwedding cake and her saving cake
for their anniversary.
But yeah, I went throughseveral bags of 25-pound bags of
gluten-free flour, onepreparing.
(12:30):
I used the birthdays that werepreceding it to prepare, you
know, and trial cake making,which is where my best chocolate
gluten-free cake ever in thevanilla cake that's on our
website came from, and I havedemonstration videos on that too
on YouTube.
But I utilize my resources, savemoney by buying in bulk.
(12:52):
So when you can keep an eye onthings like that, that makes
your life easier.
So me not blending my own flourit's not something I really
have time for unless I'm reallyserious into my sourdough baking
, which I do have phases of that.
So you know it's okay to havethose convenience items when you
need to, but be smart about itlike that.
You know.
Buy in bulk when you can keepan eye on the price and you'll
(13:15):
know when that price drops.
Look at the price per ounce.
It's going to really help you.
You can also get staples likegluten-free oats, rice, quinoa,
almond flour.
You know any of the bakingstaples you might use.
You can, you know, buy those inlarger quantities to save you
money.
You can kind of figure out youknow how often do I use this,
when do I run out, and thenfigure out from there how large
(13:39):
of a bulk item you want to getfor it.
And you can also shop, storebrands and watch for sales.
This is something I do all thetime and I alluded to this
earlier with these specificgluten-free bars that I
absolutely love.
They're Annie's Chewy ChocolateChip Gluten-Free Granola Bars.
I absolutely love them.
But they go on sale, and whenthey go on sale in our local
(13:59):
store, I mean they go on sale.
And when they go on sale in ourlocal store, I mean they go on
sale, they're like about halfprice and so I will stock up on
those because they're shelfstable for a long time.
So we'll stock up on those andI'll buy them maybe once every
three months or something.
So things like that that youknow that you're going to use
over time.
You know stock up on them whenthey go really good on sale.
(14:20):
And sometimes I find in ourlocal store too, some of the
gluten-free items are on theirbargain bin or their bargain
shelf because they may not be aspopular because they're, you
know, specialty products.
So look for that as well.
And then when you plan yourmeals ahead of time.
So when you plan your week'smeals, when you plan your meals
(14:42):
ahead of time, so when you planyour week's meals, you can
really help utilize leftoverswisely this way.
So what I like to do is I liketo make more than we need for
dinner so that we have thoseleftovers for lunch, so that not
only saves us time but it alsosaves us money, because we're
not going out to eat, because wedo have some places here
locally that we can eat outsafely, but it's obviously not
(15:03):
as budget friendly as makingyour own food at home.
So we will make extra wheneverwe cook at home for dinner,
which is about six out of sevennights a week, and meal planning
can really cut down on impulsebuys and wasted food.
So when you plan ahead, you'regoing to spend a lot less money
(15:24):
on your groceries.
You can also repurpose some ofyour leftovers, like that turkey
, for example.
We made turkey pot pie.
From it.
You can make turkey noodles,chicken and noodles.
You know, you could, you know,use these proteins that are
already cooked, put them insoups, things like that.
So you can, you know, use theseproteins that are already
cooked, put them in soups,things like that.
So you can, you know, buy evenmeat in a bit more of a bulk
(15:45):
size and a larger size and goahead and cook it and then reuse
it in something else, likesoups or pot pies or tacos or
things like that.
So use what you already havebefore buying more, and that can
help save you time as well asmoney.
Now there are somebudget-friendly products out
there that I encourage you to dosome research on, because it's
(16:09):
going to vary based upon yourlocation and where you are, but
I have found that there arecertain pastas that are very
good, but they're only a coupledollars a box versus some of the
pastas are more like four orfive dollars a box.
So experiment with the pastas,for example, in your area, on
which ones you think taste greatand you love, barilla, and then
(16:31):
Ronzoni is here locally, andboth of those are made out of I
believe it's brown rice, quinoaand corn, and they're a nice,
inexpensive, gluten-free pastaif you can tolerate those things
.
I don't tolerate corn myselfvery well, so I don't eat those
very much anymore.
But you can really, you know,find pastas that aren't super
(16:52):
expensive.
Jovial is another brand ofpasta.
I absolutely love that.
One's made with brown rice, orthey also have a cassava pasta
from it, and you can find thoseon sale.
So I always look for the sales,stock up on those you know dry
goods like that and find youryou know your favorite
affordable brands Any more.
Store brands, too, are doing amuch better job of being celiac
(17:15):
safe.
If you're a celiac, that islistening in.
So look for those symbols on it.
Whether it's certifiedgluten-free, make sure it's not
processed with wheat or anyother gluten-containing items,
and you may be able to do thestore brand gluten-free
alternative as well, which isgoing to be cheaper.
(17:35):
I like to around Christmas timehere.
Our vanilla, for example.
I love to get a much higherquality vanilla One.
I find it tastes better and itjust makes your dishes so much
better your desserts and it hasno gluten in it.
Some vanillas can sneak glutenin there, so do be careful there
(17:55):
.
But what I find is duringChristmas times those go so much
on sale here in the UnitedStates, where I am, so I stock
up on those.
They're shelf stable.
They're going to last a longtime.
They're in a dark jar, that's,you know, in the back of my
cabinet.
I will buy extra of thosewhenever they go on sale.
You can also make homemadefreezer friendly meals.
You can make chilies, soups,casseroles, muffins Actually,
(18:21):
muffins is a good one.
Whenever we go on vacation,many times I will pre-make.
I call them pancake bites orI'll make muffins.
So when we go on vacation, Ilike to have, you know, easy,
ready to eat breakfast items soyou can actually take I don't
know if you know this you cantake your pancake batter and mix
that you like, you know, putlike chocolate chips in it, or
(18:43):
you can put like bacon and maplesyrup in it to give it a little
interesting texture, so that'snot just a pancake batter, and
those are really good on theroad.
So you can put that in a muffintin.
Or if you're a Pampered Cheffan and have the brownie pans
with the little brownie squaresin it, you can put those in
there and bake your own littlepancake bites.
That's a great breakfast, evenat home.
(19:07):
If you're into pancakes and youwant something quick and easy so
that you're not buyingstore-bought gluten-free
pancakes or waffles, make yourown at home, do it on a Sunday
and then have it in your fridgeor put it in your freezer and
you can pop those and warm thoseup for just a few seconds if
(19:27):
it's refrigerated, and they'regoing to taste like they came
out of the oven.
You can do this for waffles too.
So don't don't waste your moneyon the gluten-free waffles that
you find at the store.
If you can avoid it, make yourown waffles at home, toast those
back up in your toaster oven oryour toaster.
When you're ready to eat them,you can pop them out of the
(19:48):
freezer or the fridge andthey're going to taste from
fresh, just like you would ifyou got the frozen ones out of
the.
They actually probably willtaste better, honestly, than the
frozen ones that's been in thefreezer, because they've
probably been in the freezer ofyour store for a while and in
transit.
So you can do several thingslike that to really make things
a lot more budget friendly andfast and convenient.
My whole goal with helpingeverybody listening for you know
(20:09):
, being gluten-free is one let'smake it fun, let's make it easy
and let's make it convenient.
So these are some tips that Ithink will help you do those
three things and also giveyourself some grace.
You know, if you're new to this, you may be figuring out how to
make these shortcuts that Ifigured out over the last like
12 or so years.
(20:30):
You don't have to have a pantryfull of gluten-friendly items
to be successful.
You know.
Look at what you normally eatand figure out.
How can I make this easier?
How can I make this moreconvenient?
How can I make this cheaper?
By being smart with how I buy.
Some weeks you might be a bitmore creative than others, and
that's okay.
(20:50):
There's some weeks where like,oh, what do we make this week,
even though I've been doing thisfor a very long time?
But your health is worthinvesting in, and having
something budget friendly isalso great on our wallets too.
So we want to make sure itdoesn't drain our bank account
when we're using gluten-freeitems because it's necessary for
(21:11):
us.
As a recap, stick to naturallygluten-free foods.
Naturally gluten-free wholefoods You're going to found
around the perimeter of yourstore.
That's going to save you a lotof money.
I also recommend cooking inbatches and doing DIYing what
you can from scratch, likepancake mixes, soups, bread.
(21:32):
You can also do it for pizzacrust Make those in batches and
freeze them.
You can use also store brandsand sales and buying in bulk
when it's to your advantage, andjust be creative, flexible and
keep it simple.
That makes gluten-free a lotmore fun and a lot more
convenient and a lot morebudget-friendly.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
(21:53):
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
(22:14):
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not provide amedical advice.
(22:34):
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
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