Gluten-Free in the Grocery Store: How to Stay on Budget

Gluten-Free in the Grocery Store: How to Stay on Budget

By Kristin Grant, Delight Editorial Intern

I remember when I first went grocery shopping for gluten-free foods. Thankfully, the Whole Foods on my college campus was fully stocked with an abundance of gluten-free items. I have a tendency to shop for food without looking at the price tag and then later subtract the food I don’t really need at the register (yes, I am one of those annoying people at the check-out line who takes forever). 

However, when I went to the register on that first shopping trip, I left all but ten items at the register. Anyone who has Celiac Disease or is living gluten-free knows that I had a light load to carry home that day not because being gluten-free means you eat less; but because gluten-free products are so much more expensive than their gluten-filled counterparts.

It was that first shopping trip and the next five that convinced me I would need to make a strategic plan in order to stay on budget while grocery shopping. Through much experimentation and research, I found three simple rules to adhere to stay on budget while shopping gluten-free.

1. Eat naturally gluten-free foods. When most people first go gluten-free they feel that everything that they used to eat contained gluten. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Most food is naturally gluten-free. For instance, while you can no longer can eat whole-wheat pasta, you can replace it with quinoa or rice. Now, your grocery store may be different from mine, but if you shop in the produce, protein and grain aisles, you will get the bang for your buck. A bonus tip is that if you are a produce-lover like I am, you should shop at your local farmer’s markets. The farmer’s markets are relatively inexpensive compared to the supermarket, and you end up being more conscious while you are shopping. When your brain is turned on, you spend less.

2. Forget those special gluten-free aisles. The regular aisles have all you need! It's important that, regardless of your budget, you make sure that you are reading all the labels on the food you buy. While those little tabs tell you when an item is gluten-free, you should also make sure there are no other potential harmful ingredients. My general rule of thumb is to stay on the outer aisles of the grocery store, and I avoid all the processed food with all their pesky additives. While it's nice to have an aisle where all the food is just for you, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. No, you shouldn’t run away from the gluten-free aisle, but you should realize that the food in that aisle is going to be much more expensive than buying naturally gluten-free food.

3. If they don’t sell it, make it. Do you find yourself going to different grocery stores in search of one thing and still not finding it? This is something that’s not unique to being gluten-free, but it occurs often enough that you should consider making the item, like gluten-free bread, yourself. As the old saying goes, “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad comes to the mountain.” Not only will making some of your “must-have” gluten-free products save you money in the long run, it will also provide you with the satisfaction of knowing what you are eating. Not to mention, anything homemade always tastes better!