Gluten Free Grocery Shopping
I keep a master list of what I buy I call it ‘Pantry Stocked’
I don’t live in an area where I can buy all my groceries at one place. Or even two places. Some things are SO much cheaper at Walmart, some things are much much cheaper at the commissary (like a dollar less for milk). So basically, on my master pantry list, I color code the items I buy according to where I buy them from (where it’s cheapest, I figured that out by keeping all of my receipts for 3 months, which you should do anyways if you are diagnosed Celiac as you can claim them on your taxes). Then when it’s time to buy groceries (I buy twice a month usually every two weeks) I look over my master pantry list. Add extra items that are not normal stuff (like ice cream or popsicles). I Delete the stuff on the list that I don’t need, print it out, then close the program (not saving the deletes)
I also have my route planned out, for maximum gas efficiency since I usually need to visit at least 3 stores. Sometimes 4-5. I also utilize my local butcher store. You can buy 70lbs of meat for $80 there, and they allow substitutions. I usually end up with 10lbs of their homemade sausage, 10 lbs of chicken, 10 lbs of beef roast, 10 lbs of pork roast and 20 lbs of hamburger! I also menu plan. I’ve got a list of all our favorite dishes, which adds up to about 20 items depending on the season. Then we’ll pick out another 6-10 that are interesting sounding for new dishes to try (a lot of them hit our regular rotation and we’ve gotten rid of some stuff, like fried chicken). Leaving room in our rotation of dishes for leftover night.
I usually also make a couple of big pots of stew, and then freeze them into individual portions (usually Thai Chicken/cabbage and 20 bean ham soup). Same for rice pudding so the boys can have it for breakfast when they aren’t feeling like cereal. So all the ingredients for the menu need to be on the grocery list.
The things that aren’t available locally (sweet sorghum flour for instance) or are VERY expensive locally (Mi-del gluten-free cookies are 5 dollars a bag ack!) I buy online, either from an online retailer (see links at the bottom of the page) or in bulk from amazon.com (free shipping after a certain amount of money and LOTS cheaper if you need to buy lots of one particular item, say bread mix, cereal, or crackers that you use a lot of in one month, we are talking probably a savings of about 20 dollars total for each bulk item ordered for me)
For those of you who read this and are gluten free, what are some of your family staples?
I’ll be bringing that list here later (it’s on a different computer that I can’t get on right now)
Just as a note, these are all places that I’ve ordered from in the past, gotten prompt, good service, and had good prices. This is not in any way shape or form a complete list of places to buy from ok? For a better list of links I’d join the Silly Yaks yahoo group
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