Gluten Free on a Budget

Finding out you are gluten free can be hard on both you and your wallet! Here are my top eight tips for saving money on a gluten free diet:

1. Don’t automatically go to the free from section. Cooking a meal from scratch is a lot cheaper and the ingredients stretch much further.

2. Search for the end of the day bargains – gluten free food is wayy too expensive normal price – see above! My post work M and S reduction treat.

3. Shop at places like Aldi and Lidl to bring the overall cost of your shop right down.

4. Set yourself a cash budget for the week and keep to it! Anything you don’t spend you could keep in a pot and treat yourself to a meal out at the end of the month.

5. Sign up to restaurant newsletters to get deals and treats. These are usually across their whole menu – whether you are gluten free or not. I have signed up to Las Iguanas, Stables, Carluccios, Pizza Express, Prezzo and many more…

6. Before you go out for your weekly shop, make a list. Think…what ingredients do I already have? This will ensure that you don’t waste money or food (which is THE worst).

7. As boring as it is meal prep can really help. For example, cook up a chilli and you can bag it up – some for the fridge for work and some for the freezer for evening meals with rice and gf wraps when you are feeling lazy after work.

8. Coupons! I pick up the supermarket magazines which sometimes have them in and they can occasionally be on money saving emails too. Keep an eye out.