Living gluten free takes careful planning when it comes to the types of food products and ingredients you purchase. Learning to make key changes to the way you live is important as soon as you are diagnosed with coeliac disease. For those of you who are living on a budget, it might seem an even greater challenge to manage a gluten free diet while maintaining a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle in doing so. There are a few things that you can do though.
Learn more about natural ingredients
Although at first, you might look for alternative gluten free versions of items and products that you loved when you could ingest gluten, a good way to eat healthily and lower your costs is to look at natural alternatives. For instance, using something like buckwheat flour to make pancakes, or almond flour can be used to make brownies. Utilise lentils, polenta, and rice noodles within your cooking. Once you open your eyes to the gluten free world, you’ll understand that many ingredients are naturally gluten free anyway, so you don’t even need to only coast around the ‘free-from’ aisle in the supermarket. It’s all about research and understanding.
Learn to bulk cook and freeze meals
Once you have a few gluten free recipes in your back pocket, a good way to live on a budget is to meal plan and then cook recipes in bulk to freeze for later consumption. It is more time-consuming to cook from scratch, but it can be a lot of fun, and it will certainly help you to understand gluten free ingredients and find greater possibilities for what you can cook. Take a lazy Sunday afternoon and cook up a big meal that you can portion and freeze, such as chillis, casseroles and stews. Dishes that you can pack full of vegetables are great, and of course, this type of produce is much cheaper than buying convenience food such as ready meals.
Use energy-efficient cooking methods
Slow cookers and air fryers are popular as they are convenient but also because they cost less to run than a conventional oven. There are so many gluten free recipes for the air fryer and slow cooker that you can experiment with, that are quick and easy to prepare, delicious to eat, and won’t cost you loads in energy and time to cook.
Try a gluten free prescription
One of the best ways that you can live gluten free on a budget, especially when you are first making the change in diet and lifestyle, is to look at a gluten free prescription and if you qualify for one. This provides you with access to a wide range of gluten free products and ingredients, including gluten free pasta, pizza bases, bread, gluten free flour, and much more (different gluten free products are available in different areas of the UK). This is a fantastic way to ease into a gluten free lifestyle on a budget, finding alternative products that help you maintain a gluten free diet. Once you are part of a coeliac community, you’ll find gluten-free recipes and guidance from a community of coeliacs.
