Gluten Free Engineer - Making Gluten Free Easy

Eating Gluten-Free on a Budget: Tips to Save Without Sacrificing Quality

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 14

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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.


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Carrie Saunders:

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode this podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. Let's be real gluten-free living can be expensive. From $7 loaves of bread to overpriced specialty snacks such as cookies and crackers that cost about $5 a box. 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 eat well, all while keeping your wallet much happier.

Carrie Saunders:

Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, k Saunders. In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything, but I was determined 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 and everything in between, to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything.

Carrie Saunders:

So let's start off, though, with why are gluten-free items more costly? For one, they're specialty products. They're made in smaller batches, they have more costly ingredients because the common things like wheat flour is not in them, obviously, which is very cheap and inexpensive. We've made it so that it's much cheaper to make things like that, and gluten-free items can also be sometimes marked as a premium item a choice, even though it's not a choice for many of us. So there can be hidden costs if you go and buy processed foods that are gluten-free, such as snacks, breads, mixes, convenience items, pasta. So feeling like you have to buy every new gluten-free thing that launches is also something else that can make your budget not so friendly. So we want to resist the temptation to buy every new gluten-free product that comes out there, don't you know? Don't worry about buying that if it's not something you actually need.

Carrie Saunders:

So don't fall into the trap of relying on too much on boxed foods or frozen meals. Two, those can be very expensive now, especially nowadays, I feel like frozen meals are. It's almost as expensive to go out to eat for lunch than it is to get a frozen meal. It costs like $5. So make sure that you're looking first for naturally gluten-free whole foods. That's one of my first budget saving tips If you want to shop the perimeter of the store. This is what we do. We go down only a couple aisles in our store and when you shop the perimeter, you're shopping for things that are naturally gluten-free in almost every single store Meats, vegetables, fruits, eggs, beans, rice, potatoes, et cetera. Those are all naturally gluten-free unless they've been, you know, modified in some way to make them not gluten-free. So that's a really good way to save money is by buying those naturally gluten-free foods rather than the processed gluten-free foods. These foods are also nutrient, nutrient dense, and so much more 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.

Carrie Saunders:

So skip that $5.99 gluten-free frozen pizza that's really tiny and make your own with some real ingredients, and I'm going to have some recipes on our website, theglutenfreeengineercom, because we love to make gluten-free crusts honestly, ahead of time, and this is something we did when our kids were heavily in marching band and it saved us a lot of time and money. So I would batch, make gluten-free pizzas, par-bake 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 and freeze them, and they would last for months. So anytime we wanted a pizza, you can just pull out that frozen gluten-free pizza crust and by the time you put all the toppings on it it's basically thawed and you can bake it and there you have a meal one really quick as well as a lot cheaper, and the gluten-free pizza recipe that I have for the pizza crust is actually very minimal ingredients. You can also buy Bob's Red Mill pizza crust. There's also other popular brands that are gluten-free pizza crust that are also very good, but you know they're going to be, per meal, a bit more expensive because they're pre-packaged and pre-processed and things like that for you. So making things from scratch while for some it might seem daunting, once you get the hang of it it's actually much easier and many times faster than buying something that's pre-packaged. So when you can, you want to make your own convenience foods.

Carrie Saunders:

You can also make your own gluten-free breadcrumbs using the saved ends or heels of your bread. This is something we've done pretty much the whole time that we've known that we needed to be gluten-free. I've just felt like I was wasting so much money throwing those heels away. Nobody wanted to eat the heels One. None of us liked heels of regular bread when we didn't know we couldn't eat regular bread. But I feel like the gluten-free heels are even drier and a little bit less appetizing. So just what we do is we even leave them in the bag, the bread bag that we, you know, get our gluten-free bread from. We just twist, tie them back in that bread bag and toss them in the freezer.

Carrie Saunders:

And when it's time to make breadbs or croutons, you can just pull all those heels out. You know we'll we'll gather a whole bunch up. Sometimes we'll consolidate them into one bread bag and, you know, put like 20 or so heels in one bed bag when we're tired of all the little baggies sitting around in our freezer. But you just, you know, prop those out, let them thaw, dry them out in your oven We'll have a rest. We have a recipe for this, actually, on our website. Dry them out in your oven for a couple hours. If you do it on a low temperature, it's a little bit safer. You don't risk burning it if you do it at like about 200, 225. And then, there you have it.

Carrie Saunders:

You have your own homemade croutons or breadcrumbs. You can add whatever seasonings you like. You don't have to worry about weird preservatives in them. If you get them completely dry, they last for a very, very long time. You can even freeze the croutons or breadcrumbs as well, if that makes you a bit more comfortable. But I've left them in my counter, in my cabinets, for a couple months at a time and they were completely fine. They won't mold as long as there's no moisture in them or something else that might attract mold. So making your own breadcrumbs and croutons is another great time-saving in the long run and money-saving hack. And honestly, it's so delicious Like when we make, you know, croutons. We're eating them about as fast as we're making them because they're just so delicious. Fresh, I mean. Once you make fresh croutons you will never have you won't miss the box stuff, trust me.

Carrie Saunders:

You can also DIY your own pancake mix, granola bars and muffin mixes. This isn't something we commonly do, because what I do is I buy pancake mix in bulk so we will, you know, find it on sale and then I'll stock up that way, but I have when in a pinch and out of pancake mix. It's actually not that hard to make your own pancake mix with some gluten free flour and a few other little ingredients. And I know a lot of people love to make granola bars. It's something I've not dove into yet myself. I just tend to go find the granola bars I love at the store when they're on sale and they're like half price. So I'm always looking for sales when I'm shopping too. So always look for sales.

Carrie Saunders:

Stock up when you can. That's another great way, especially on things like granola bars that don't go stale very quickly. It can really save you a lot of money. And then you can batch cook and freeze portions. This is really a key here. Making easy, quick meals accessible in your home will make it so you're not tempted to buy expensive ready-made meals. So something else we do when we talk about batch cooking here.

Carrie Saunders:

One thing we love to do is make homemade meatballs, and we will make. It ends up making four batches of homemade meatballs. We do two pounds of hamburger, two pounds of ground pork and then I season it to smell basically ground pork and then I season it to smell basically. I'll work on trying to document my recipe for that and put it on the website, but you can hand make your own gluten-free meatballs. We use potato flakes instead of like breadcrumbs, and then we put egg in it too for the binder. And what we do is we freeze those other three. We usually will cook one of the four, as we're making that batch of four, and then we freeze the other three in individual Ziploc baggies and you can just put them in a layer in your freezer and they'll come apart nice and easy when you're ready to cook them.

Carrie Saunders:

And you can honestly cook frozen meatballs I don't know if you know this from frozen, from deep frozen, from my deep freezer, I can get those cooked and ready in about 10 to 15 minutes. So talk about a quick meal. So by the time the meatballs are cooked, then you can have your spaghetti ready. So then you have spaghetti and meatballs really fast at home and it's one of our convenience items of oh, we don't have anything fresh to cook, what do we do? And then we go get the frozen meatballs out of our freezer which, talking about that, right now we need to make some more because we're out. So when you batch cook and then you freeze portions of it, that can really help.

Carrie Saunders:

One time I actually this past holiday season we made a lovely turkey and my husband really wanted turkey pot pie. So we made turkey pot pie for the first time ever and we use those little tiny ceramic I think it's Corningware is technically the brand little round things and put extra chicken pot pie in there and froze those with lid on it. And that has been a great lunch for my husband when he could go to work. He can take it frozen, let it thaw throughout the day, or leave let it thaw in the fridge the night before and then pop it in the microwave and finish cooking it, cause everything's pre-cooked in it, so you don't really have to worry about it too much, other than you want to get it hot enough for eating. So batch cooking can really really help and, like I said, this pizza crust, that's a great way to batch cook and have things ready ahead of time.

Carrie Saunders:

And then I've already alluded to this some but buying in bulk, and what I do is I like I know when it's worth buying in bulk. I try to keep a track of this and this might sound a little arduous at first but once you're good at it it's not hard at all. But you can buy in bulk from like Costco or Thrive Market or any of your local shops that you might have a bulk place. So I have also been known to buy on bulk on Amazon as well. You can get 25 pound bags of Bob's Red Mill one-to-one flour on Amazon, and so I keep an eye on it whenever the price drops and I'll buy a 25 pound bag of Bob's Red Mill. Now let me tell you, if you've never bought a 25 pound bag of flour, it's large, it's really really large. So how I got around that is, I kept the little baggies, or you can even just use Ziploc baggies and I would put you know a reasonable amount in a Ziploc bag and keep that in my kitchen and then keep the 25 pound bag the rest of it in the pantry. So buying things like that in bulk can really help save you money in the long run.

Carrie Saunders:

One year I went through several 25 pound bags of Bob's Red Mill flour because I was preparing to cater my best friend's wedding at my house and she she wanted me to make all of her food, including 128. I made 128 cupcakes and her wedding cake and her saving cake for their anniversary. But yeah, I went through several bags of 25-pound bags of gluten-free flour, one preparing. I used the birthdays that were preceding it to prepare, you know, and trial cake making, which is where my best chocolate gluten-free cake ever in the vanilla cake that's on our website came from, and I have demonstration videos on that too on YouTube.

Carrie Saunders:

But I utilize my resources, save money by buying in bulk. So when you can keep an eye on things like that, that makes your life easier. So me not blending my own flour it's not something I really have time for unless I'm really serious into my sourdough baking, which I do have phases of that. So you know it's okay to have those convenience items when you need to, but be smart about it like that. You know. Buy in bulk when you can keep an eye on the price and you'll know when that price drops. Look at the price per ounce. It's going to really help you.

Carrie Saunders:

You can also get staples like gluten-free oats, rice, quinoa, almond flour. You know any of the baking staples you might use. You can, you know, buy those in larger quantities to save you money. You can kind of figure out you know how often do I use this, when do I run out, and then figure out from there how large of a bulk item you want to get for it. And you can also shop, store brands and watch for sales. This is something I do all the time and I alluded to this earlier with these specific gluten-free bars that I absolutely love. They're Annie's Chewy Chocolate Chip Gluten-Free Granola Bars. I absolutely love them. But they go on sale, and when they go on sale in our local store, I mean they go on sale. And when they go on sale in our local store, I mean they go on sale, they're like about half price and so I will stock up on those because they're shelf stable for a long time. So we'll stock up on those and I'll buy them maybe once every three months or something. So things like that that you know that you're going to use over time. You know stock up on them when they go really good on sale. And sometimes I find in our local store too, some of the gluten-free items are on their bargain bin or their bargain shelf because they may not be as popular because they're, you know, specialty products. So look for that as well.

Carrie Saunders:

And then when you plan your meals ahead of time. So when you plan your week's meals, when you plan your meals ahead of time, so when you plan your week's meals, you can really help utilize leftovers wisely this way. So what I like to do is I like to make more than we need for dinner so that we have those leftovers for lunch, so that not only saves us time but it also saves us money, because we're not going out to eat, because we do have some places here locally that we can eat out safely, but it's obviously not as budget friendly as making your own food at home. So we will make extra whenever we cook at home for dinner, which is about six out of seven nights a week, and meal planning can really cut down on impulse buys and wasted food. So when you plan ahead, you're going to spend a lot less money on your groceries.

Carrie Saunders:

You can also repurpose some of your 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 in soups, things like that. So you can, you know, use these proteins that are already cooked, put them in soups, things like that. So you can, you know, buy even meat in a bit more of a bulk size and a larger size and go ahead and cook it and then reuse it in something else, like soups or pot pies or tacos or things like that. So use what you already have before buying more, and that can help save you time as well as money.

Carrie Saunders:

Now there are some budget-friendly products out there that I encourage you to do some research on, because it's going to vary based upon your location and where you are, but I have found that there are certain pastas that are very good, but they're only a couple dollars a box versus some of the pastas are more like four or five dollars a box. So experiment with the pastas, for example, in your area, on which ones you think taste great and you love, barilla, and then Ronzoni is here locally, and both of those are made out of I believe it's brown rice, quinoa and corn, and they're a nice, inexpensive, gluten-free pasta if you can tolerate those things. I don't tolerate corn myself very well, so I don't eat those very much anymore. But you can really, you know, find pastas that aren't super expensive. Jovial is another brand of pasta. I absolutely love that. One's made with brown rice, or they also have a cassava pasta from it, and you can find those on sale. So I always look for the sales, stock up on those you know dry goods like that and find your you know your favorite affordable brands Any more.

Carrie Saunders:

Store brands, too, are doing a much better job of being celiac safe. If you're a celiac, that is listening in. So look for those symbols on it. Whether it's certified gluten-free, make sure it's not processed with wheat or any other gluten-containing items, and you may be able to do the store brand gluten-free alternative as well, which is going to be cheaper.

Carrie Saunders:

I like to around Christmas time here. Our vanilla, for example. I love to get a much higher quality vanilla One. I find it tastes better and it just makes your dishes so much better your desserts and it has no gluten in it. Some vanillas can sneak gluten in there, so do be careful there. But what I find is during Christmas times those go so much on sale here in the United States, where I am, so I stock up on those. They're shelf stable. They're going to last a long time. They're in a dark jar, that's, you know, in the back of my cabinet. I will buy extra of those whenever they go on sale.

Carrie Saunders:

You can also make homemade freezer friendly meals. You can make chilies, soups, casseroles, muffins Actually, muffins is a good one. Whenever we go on vacation, many times I will pre-make. I call them pancake bites or I'll make muffins. So when we go on vacation, I like to have, you know, easy, ready to eat breakfast items so you can actually take I don't know if you know this you can take your pancake batter and mix that you like, you know, put like chocolate chips in it, or you can put like bacon and maple syrup in it to give it a little interesting texture, so that's not just a pancake batter, and those are really good on the road. So you can put that in a muffin tin. Or if you're a Pampered Chef fan and have the brownie pans with the little brownie squares in it, you can put those in there and bake your own little pancake bites. That's a great breakfast, even at home.

Carrie Saunders:

If you're into pancakes and you want something quick and easy so that you're not buying store-bought gluten-free pancakes or waffles, make your own at home, do it on a Sunday and then have it in your fridge or put it in your freezer and you can pop those and warm those up for just a few seconds if it's refrigerated, and they're going to taste like they came out of the oven. You can do this for waffles too. So don't don't waste your money on the gluten-free waffles that you find at the store. If you can avoid it, make your own waffles at home, toast those back up in your toaster oven or your toaster. When you're ready to eat them, you can pop them out of the freezer or the fridge and they're going to taste from fresh, just like you would if you got the frozen ones out of the. They actually probably will taste better, honestly, than the frozen ones that's been in the freezer, because they've probably been in the freezer of your store for a while and in transit. So you can do several things like that to really make things a lot more budget friendly and fast and convenient.

Carrie Saunders:

My whole goal with helping everybody listening for you know, being gluten-free is one let's make it fun, let's make it easy and let's make it convenient. So these are some tips that I think will help you do those three things and also give yourself some grace. You know, if you're new to this, you may be figuring out how to make these shortcuts that I figured out over the last like 12 or so years. You don't have to have a pantry full of gluten-friendly items to be successful. You know. Look at what you normally eat and figure out. How can I make this easier? How can I make this more convenient? How can I make this cheaper? By being smart with how I buy. Some weeks you might be a bit more creative than others, and that's okay. There's some weeks where like, oh, what do we make this week, even though I've been doing this for a very long time? But your health is worth investing in, and having something budget friendly is also great on our wallets too. So we want to make sure it doesn't drain our bank account when we're using gluten-free items because it's necessary for us.

Carrie Saunders:

As a recap, stick to naturally gluten-free foods. Naturally gluten-free whole foods You're going to found around the perimeter of your store. That's going to save you a lot of money. I also recommend cooking in batches and doing DIYing what you can from scratch, like pancake mixes, soups, bread. You can also do it for pizza crust Make those in batches and freeze them. You can use also store brands and sales and buying in bulk when it's to your advantage, and just be creative, flexible and keep it simple. That makes gluten-free a lot more fun and a lot more convenient and a lot more budget-friendly.

Carrie Saunders:

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten-Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineercom. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. And we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.

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