Budgeting for one gluten free person

motorbo, Jul 22, 6:06am
ok here is a challenge for you budgeting queens, i spend way too much money on food, even though i dont do takeaways and i dont tend to waste anything, i spend too much, any tips or recipes or ideas, its often easier for a whole household, e. g. it can be near impossible for me to get through a whole cabbage. i so want to spend less! ! please give me your ideas :):)
ruby19, Jul 22, 6:16am
Plan your meals, say for a month, then make meals up and freeze in portion sizes. Go to the shops less, try and make things out of what you have, rather than choosing a recipe then getting the ingredients. It would be harder with some fresh produce, but try and find different recipes to use the fresh ingredients that you have, even if it comes down to using the last bits to throw together in soups/curries etc, which can be frozen.
indy95, Jul 22, 6:27am
Motorbo, I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a " budgeting queen " but I have found it much easier to stick to a reasonably tight budget since I stopped doing all my grocery and food shopping at supermarkets. I am not gluten free which is obviously an extra budgeting challenge for you, but I have realised that it is possible to save some dollars by shopping at an independent butcher, buying fish at a specialist retailer and fresh fruit and veges at a local greengrocer or a weekend market. With a little menu planning I can buy exactly the quantities I need and have managed to reduce waste considerably.
motorbo, Jul 22, 6:33am
thansk i think you are both right, i dont menu plan im a sucker for oh i feel like this tonight, and i do need to change that, im planning to put a small vege patch in too, indy95 do you have an amount you spend each week ? if so can i ask how much?
indy95, Jul 22, 6:51am
No, motorbo, I don't have a specific amount, but I do have a basic list of things that I obviously need to get each time I do a supermarket shop which is usually once a fortnight i. e. soap powder, toilet rolls, cat food etc and then I get the other items at the best possible prices. Like ruby19, I used to pick a recipe to make and then go out and buy whatever I needed to make it but now I usually get whatever is in season and preferably on special and then get creative.

You probably know about Sophie Gray's Destitute Gourmet books and website and there are several other websites packed with useful information. Just Google " frugal living " and see what comes up.

One more thing, there is a very useful thread in here titled " Woe is me... have to feed us all on $200 a week " which has been going for some time and is packed with useful tips, and another called something like " Budgets - who needs them ? " which is well worth checking.
motorbo, Jul 22, 7:23am
i used have one of sophies books, but her recipes are often gluten based.
earthangel4, Jul 22, 8:49pm
Hi Motorbo, I am also gluten free.
I also plan my meals, hubby is so easy to cook for, I cook 2 seperate meals, and plan fora fortnight.
I buy my meat at the butchers, and everything else at the 2 supermarkets.
For my glutenfree foods I spend about $70. 00 dollars and make everything from scratch
Good luck hun
frances1266, Jul 22, 9:40pm
Asian supermarkets are goood for cheap gluten free food. They usually have a good range of g/f flours plus pulses such as lentils, chickpeas etc are cheap and delicious.
daisyk, Jul 22, 11:12pm
We have 1 gluten free person in our household. All our meals are gluten free for everyone now. the only concession I make is gluten free bread and delish chocolate biscuits for the gluten free person. Otherwise everyone eats the same.
motorbo, Nov 20, 6:13pm
cheers everyone, i dont spend alot extra on gluten free stuff, its more trying to stick to a budget for one person and buying the quantities - sometimes you have to buy more than you really need - so hence more cost, im thinking strifrys, i dont have enough of them but you can get away with a little meat rather than a lot.