As you all know, I found out a few weeks ago that I cannot eat anything with gluten or soybean oil (although cooked tofu doesn’t seem to bother me). To find out you can no longer eat 70% of the supermarket is quite daunting, especially on a budget and feeding a family of 4. The two boys eat almost as much as grown men, most times!
There are many who have been doing this a lot longer than I have, and they are probably quite used to making everything from scratch. I, however, am only 3 weeks into it, and still find that a few conveniences are much appreciated. I especially love that when I buy everything at ONE store, ONCE a week, I have more time to spend with my babies!
Trader Joe’s is my new boyfriend, I must say. He gives me everything I want, and for super cheap, haha! No, seriously, the store has a million and one different gluten-free options, all clearly marked and still cheaper than most normal things at the supermarket. How does he do it? How does he?
Things to Note:
* The total actually came to $101.70…hope you don’t mind!
* You could probably save even MORE $ per week if you found your meat somewhere else at a bulk rate. But this list is all about one-stop convenience for $100/week!
* I am the only member of the family who is gluten and soybean intolerant, but 90% of our meals avoid carbs as the main base anyways
* The hubbie does not eat lunch with us since he is at work. Usually, he takes leftovers from dinner or makes a sandwich.
* Only the boys eat breakfast on Sundays, as the hubbie and I are fasting before church
* We eat vegan on Wednesdays and Fridays, hence the vegan gluten-free dinner option
* There are only 6 dinners/week planned, because we usually eat out one night a week.
* You can get lots of free fresh produce from friends, especially during the Fall! Most people with gardens or fruit trees have it coming out their ears and can’t wait to give it away to someone who will use it. Ask around!
* We make our own gluten-free bread for sandwiches, using Trader Joe’s gluten free flour (truthfully, I make my own flour to save even more money). This way we can spend $4/week for bread instead of $10 on two of Udi’s small loaves. This isn’t convenient, but it saves us $20-30/month.
*This list assumes that one already has things like spices, oil and butter! Mustn’t forget those!
Breakfast:
4x/week Gluten-Free Oats w/ blueberries== $2+ $3.99= $5.99
2x/week Protein Pancakes (using 6 eggs, 6 bananas, blueberries and gluten free flour)== $2.25+ $1.20+ $0.99= $4.44
1x/week Gluten-Free Waffles with PB and organic sliced strawberries== $1.99+ $1.75+ $0.59= $4.33
Coffee== $2.50 (we buy the $4.99 can every other week– it’s not amazing, but it’s good and budget friendly!)
Organic Half and Half Creamer== $.90/week (I buy a small carton for $1.79 every other week)
Organic Whole Milk== $5.99
TOTAL BREAKFAST: $24.15
Lunch:
4x/week Gluten Free PBJ Sandwiches (for the boys): Home-made bread, using Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour== $4+ $0.59+ $0.56= $5.12
2x/week Rice Mac and Cheese 2x/week== $3.98
4x/week Egg/Nuts/Cranberries with olive oil salad (for me): $1.99+ $2.25+ $1.99+ $2.50= $8.73
Extra lunchmeat and cheese (for the hubbie) : $3.69+ $2.99= $6.68
TOTAL LUNCH: $24.51
Snacks:
Plain Greek Yogurt with berries or jam– $2.50 (half a container/week)
Bananas Sliced with PB– $1.60 for 8 bananas (we go through a TON of them!)
String Cheese== $3.49
Almonds== $2.50 (we go through a $4.99 bag every other week)
Organic Unsweetened Applesauce== $2.49
Raw Carrots== $1
TOTAL SNACK: $13.58
Dinner:
1x/week Tilapia with Organic Foursome and White Organic Quinoa== $6.44+ $1.69 + $1.16= $9.29
1x/week All-natural Chicken with sweet potato mash== $1.38+ $6.08= $7.46
1x/week Organic Gluten-Free Rice Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Organic Grass-fed Beef== $2.50 (1/2lb.)+ $1.99+ $1.29= $5.78
1x/week Organic Thai Quinoa Casserole (recipe coming tomorrow!)== $1.16+ $.089+ $0.89+ $1.29+ 2.00 = $6.23
1x/week Organic Veggie Tofu-Stir Fry with Quinoa== $1.16+ $1.49+ $1.99= $4.64
1x/week Sweet Potato Organic Grass-fed Beef Chili== $2.50 (1/2lb.)+ $.89+ $1.38+ $1.29= $6.06
TOTAL DINNER: $39.46
Dessert:
Our family doesn’t eat dessert, 9 times out of 10, but when we do it’s usually a banana/greek yogurt based smoothie, adding whatever else we have on hand (cocoa powder, berries, almond butter). We used to use protein powder as an added ingredient, but this was before I became gluten intolerant. Even if the protein powder uses egg whites or soy as a protein base, I am very sensitive to soybean or any derivative, so we’ve stopped using it.
But…in case you like your gluten-free dessert handy, here are two I love!
Gluten-free Ginger Snaps- $2.29
Gluten-free Brownie Mix- $3.99
If you liked this post, you can also check out my How to Eat Organic and Gluten-free for $400/month how-to guide!
Related posts How Our Family Spends Less than $400/month on organic and gluten free groceries |
 Trader Joe’s |
 Easy 10 minute Fall Stew |
Thai Quinoa Casserole– Gluten and Dairy Free |
Love Trader Joes! It must be awfully hard to dive into a Gluten free lifestyle like that. Not sure I could do it haha
New follower from the Hump Day Blog Hop btw 🙂
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Great to have you! I feel like if I could do it, anyone could. I absolutely LOVE convenience, and I LOVE pasta and bread even more!
Hey Kelly! I just wanted to let you know we loved this post and your tips and you were chosen a winner of The PINcentive Blog Hop! Congrats girl! With that said, we’d love you to co-host this week’s hop and choose a winner for us :o) Additionally your content will be featured and pinned a minimum of 31 times by my team! Please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss more in detail. I am working under a rather strict deadline, so your timely response would be greatly appreciated! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and I look forward to hearing from you.
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This is such a great post! We have our daughter on a gluten free diet, so this provided some great ideas, especially the homemade bread. My husband and I are not gluten free, but., like the rest of your family, are about 90%. Sadly though, we do not have a Trader Joes’s anywhere near us. Whenever we travel, we bring a cooler so that we can stock up on stuff from there (and Costco), but we can’t get our week to week stuff there unfortunately.
Is there a particular bread recipe that you follow? I would love to try to make some myself.
Becky, thanks for stopping by! I’m glad that this helps you shop for your daughter. It’s so hard finding stuff for a reasonable price, now that “gluten-free” is such a fad. Oh well, the popularity is a blessing AND a curse!
I don’t have a publishable bread recipe yet– still working out a few things to get it just right! They sell all the different gluten free flours on Amazon for a great price.
Check back often though, because we only cook gluten free around here, and my hubbie and kids want their meals to taste like the “real deal”!
I came over from the PINcentive blog hop and I just wanted to say I love this post! I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and it’s highly suggested that I go GF. We started swapping out a few products for their GF counterparts, but it’s so pricey I didn’t know how much more I could so. This post is so helpful, thanks so much for sharing!
TaMara, I’m glad this helps! Do you have a Trader Joe’s near you?
Where do I find the recipe’s for dinner?!
Brittney, I have several of them listed under my Recipes tab, but I’m working on adding a whole bunch of links into this post too! <3
Perfect Thank you! I shop at Tj’s ALL THE TIME and I loved having the photos added to the post. Sometimes you just get lost with words on a page! Thank you!