Living Wheat Free on a Budget Part III: Think Outside the Box

I would be the first to admit that it is so easy to just go to the grocery store, get all of your stuff and call it a day. Unfortunately, when you are trying to get wheat free products at a reasonable price, this method usually means you pay a premium. Today I'm going to share a couple of tips for getting the more pricy wheat free products at a better price.

To see tips #1 and #2, click here
To see tips #3, #4 and #5, click here

Tip #6: Shop Around 


We are dominated by Publix down here in Lakeland, but we do have other grocery store options. It often takes a little hunting to find the gluten/wheat free sections of the grocery stores but almost all of them have at least a small selection at this point even if the people working there are not aware of it (Every single Publix down here has theirs in a different spot... including the frozen juice section so don't give up looking!). These stores may carry different brands and they may have slightly different prices on the same products. If you spend some time visiting different stores near you, you'll quickly figure out which store tends to have the best prices for what you are looking for.

Tip #7: Try Different Brands


Since wheat free products tend to be pricy, once you find one you like, it can be difficult to try a new brand since you are going to waste that money if you don't like it. But, it can sometimes really pay off to take that risk. For example, I hate really really really don't like Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour

This was the first all purpose gluten free flour I tried and everything I made with it made me gag. This is because it has garbanzo bean flour in it which I apparently have a severe aversion to. After that experience I didn't buy gluten free flour for a really long time. Then I found King Arthur's Gluten Free Flour and since I love the rest of their products (and no garbanzo bean flour was listed) I decided to give it a try.

It immediately became my favorite gluten free flour but it is pretty pricy compared to regular flour so I kept looking for other products. At Walmart recently I found Hodgson Mill gluten free flour

I was skeptical since you tend to get what you pay for, but at basically half the price of King Arthur's GF flour, I decided to give it a shot. I was pleased to find out it was comparable to King Arthur's and my pocket book now doesn't scream every time I buy flour.

Another area to try different brands is GF pasta (Nate makes fun of me because I tend to call all types of pasta spaghetti so I'm going to try to be really good and not do that). There are a bunch of different types of GF pasta including rice, corn and quinoa. In my opinion, corn pasta is the closest replacement to regular pasta and it is the cheapest but once again it's best to try try try!

Tip #8: Check out Amazon

This may seem like a weird place to get food, but they have the 'Subscribe and Save' option on some products which ends up saving a good chunk of change. For example, I use a lot of GF Bisquick. I'm obsessed with this stuff but once again, it's pricy at a little over $6 for a 16 oz box. 

I have a Prime membership at Amazon so I have free shipping so I don't have to worry about that. Even without subscribe and save, Amazon knocks the price down from $18.84 for 3 boxes to $14.64 and with subscribe and save it is lowered to $12.44 for 3 boxes or a total savings of $2.13 a box. 

The way subscribe and save works is that you sign up to have your product shipped to you in regular intervals. You can choose how often they are sent anywhere from 1 to 6 months. It's pretty convient to have your stuff just show up at your door every few months with the added bonus of a few extra dollars in your pocket. 

So far I have only used Amazon for dry goods, but they do sell things like Udi's products.

Alright, I am officially out of tips! I hope you've enjoyed this mini series and hopefully you've learned a couple of new ways to reduce your wheat free budget. 

P.S. I wasn't paid or compensated in any way for the products I wrote about. These are the products I actually use and I find it easier to explain through examples.

Linking To: Hi Sugar Plum, The Great Indoors, House of Hepworths, My Repurposed Life, Our Delightful Home, Five Days Five Ways, Serenity Now, Lovely Etc., The Rooster and the Hen, Six Sisters Stuff, Tatertots and Jello, Wayward Girls Crafts, Twigg Studio, Serendipity and Spice, Ask Anna, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, House wives of Riverton, Crafty Texas Girls, Southern Institute