Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods is a grocery store that specializes in natural and organic foods. Some of the gluten free items are marked with a little green sign, but there is a list at customer service with ALL of their gluten free items.
At first glance, it looks like it'd be a lot more expensive to shop there. And honestly, most things can definitely be found cheaper at Walmart. However, you must compare apples to apples. A lot of it is more expensive because there are no pesticides, unnatural preservatives, antibiotics, etc. I recently took their Value Budget Tour, which I highly recommend! Here are some of the tips I learned, but keep in mind that a few of these may vary among different regions.

1. At Whole Foods, remember that Value comes before Budget, which means you'll always get good quality.

2. Look for the yellow signs because those are the sale items. New weekly specials start Wednesdays, but some items will not be on the "Weekly Specials" list because the sale runs a couple of weeks or maybe even a month.

3. Produce at its highest quality is also at its lowest price because that's when it's "in season" and at its freshest.

4. The red "Don't Be Fooled" signs mean they won't be beat by anyone on the everyday low price for that particular item.

5. The staff will cut any produce or bread for you to taste. Also watch out for the tasting stations throughout the store. I got to try some delicious smoked salmon spread and chicken salad!

6. Whole Foods does not give rainchecks, but they will take your name and number to call you when the item comes in.

7. Buy large value packs if you have room at home for bulk items or have people you share/swap food with.

8. Buy 6 wine bottles, get 10% off each bottle.

9. Check out the Whole Value Meals in the cooler section. They feed 4 people for $14.99 and menus change every 2 weeks. Meals include an entree pack, salad, and dressing.

10. Buy only the amount you will use. If food goes to waste, that's money you're throwing out. Cheese and meat can be divided into whatever size portions you need. The nut butter station, nut/seed/other bulk station, olive bar, and salad bar allow you to get whatever amount you want.

11. Look for the 365 brand. It is Whole Food's own brand, and will be the cheapest throughout the store. It's not always organic, but is always natural.

12. Use manufacturer coupons if you have any. Whole Foods are also beginning to distribute their own store coupons.

13. Take the Value Budget Tour and enjoy the goodie bag that is given at the end! It includes a few great products to try (full size!), coupons, and tips.

Free SoyJoy at CVS

SoyJoy bars are on sale at CVS 10 for $5. The sale began Friday, Sept 19 in "test areas" or will begin Sunday, Sept 21 in every other area. Get a coupon at SoyJoy for $3 off the purchase of 5 bars. Because of the overage, you can get 6 bars for free.

The CVS I went to only had 4 out of the 6 flavors. I tried the Strawberry today. Honestly, it was my first experience with soy. I know, I must be living under a rock since soy is everywhere nowadays, and it was...interesting. It had a strange fruity, bark-like taste at first, but it grew on me after a couple of bites. It works if you're incredibly hungry and need something to stop the hunger pangs. It's not something I plan to buy again once my 6 (free!) bars are gone, but I recommend you at least try them. I love granola bars too much to switch to the soy bars, but SoyJoy is definitely easier on the jaw than most granola.

Just make sure you're printer is ready once you get to the SoyJoy site. You can only print off one coupon per computer.

Food Co-op

Just as I was about to move on from "God made" foods, I came across the article on BecentsAble's blog about Food Co-ops. I had never heard of this and did some interesting research only to find there is not one near me. Pooh.
A Food Co-op results in food at or near wholesale prices. BeCentsAble uses Bountiful Baskets, which buys produce in bulk and then evenly distributes it among its members. Another group I came across, Upstate Food Coop of Six Mile, specializes in "organic, natural, and allergy-specific food" and has a store for members to buy from. Both groups expect members to volunteer with the group. Upstate Food Coop places a markup on the food you buy based on how many hours you've worked.
Aside from food co-ops, try farms that let you "pick your own" or Farmer's Markets for organic foods.
Check out Local Harvest to find out what's in your area.

God-Made Foods

Luckily for us, fruits and vegetables contain no gluten. To keep the cost down, purchase produce that is "in season," which is more likely to be on sale. The following is a list of fall fruits and veggies. See the article here for what to look for when buying. Bananas, potatoes, and celery are almost always in season.

Acorn & Butternut Squash
Apples
Broccoli
Carrots
Cranberries
Figs
Grapes
Mushrooms
Parsnips
Pears
Plums
Pomegranate
Prunes
Pumpkin
Sweet Potatoes

Bakery On Main - Granola Coupon

Join the Eat Better Live Better Club at Bakery On Main and receive a $1.50 off gluten-free granola. Order online or visit their website for store locations.

One-Stop Dining Source

I highly recommend checking out Triumph Dining. By using their guides, you can take the guesswork out of what foods to buy at the grocery store and what restaurants you can eat at. I don't yet own a guide myself, so the information below is taken directly from the Triumph Dining website. They also show great sample pages of the guides!

Grocery Guide: A comprehensive guide of over 20,000 products. It's organized like a real grocery store, listing gluten free brands and products by category. There are also neat little symbols by the foods that tell whether the products could have been cross contaminated or if there's something else you may need to know. $20.95

Restaurant Guide: A state-by-state guide of restaurants that offer gluten free menus and options or are willing to accomodate a gluten free diet. It also gives a dozen strategies for eating out safely. $23.95

Dining Cards: These cards are a handy thing to give the staff of a restaurant...particularly the chef. They go far beyond "no wheat, rye, barley, or oats" and list foods that gluten may be hidden in, such as soy sauce and fish sauce. There are 10 available--with a different ethnic quisine per card--including American, Chinese, French, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese. They are folded to be wallet-sized and laminated to be durable.A single card is $2.50 or all 10 are $18.95.

Prices taken from Triumph Dining website on September 11, 2008.

Purely Decadent Snickerdoodle Ice Cream

Turtle Mountain is a company that offers dairy free yogurts and desserts. Their brands are So Delicious, Soy Delicious, Purely Decadent, and Sweet Nothings.

I recently tried their Purely Decadent Snickerdoodle ice cream which the website describes as "creamy cinnamon flavored dairy free frozen dessert loaded with gobs of snickerdoodle cookie dough." I'm a huge fan of cinnamon, so the ice cream part was delicious. However, the gobs of cookie dough left much to be desired. I was pleasntly surprised by the large chunks of dough, but they were incredibly gritty. I ended up eating around the cookie dough. I'm sure they have some delicious flavors of ice cream, but I will think twice before purchasing any kind with cookie dough.

This page has a table of their products towards the bottom of the page and lists which include common allergens (dairy, egg, gluten, peanut, and tree nut).

Click here to print Turtle Mountain coupons.

If You're in Ohio

Half Off Deals is selling $50 gift certificates for $25 to Sinfully Gluten Free. It's located at 79 S. Main St. Miamisburg, Ohio. You'll receive 5 $10 gift certificates that expire 1/18/09.

Soap Sample

Gluten Free Spa offers a free sample of Gluten Free Shea Butter Soap (+ $1 shipping). Just scroll to the bottom of the page.

Intro

I eat gluten--bread is one of my absolute favorite foods. However, my sister is gluten-intolerant, and while baking for her I realized how ridiculously hard it is to have a gluten-free diet. I can spend $1 on a package of Mueller's pasta and .75 (or less) for a box of hamburger helper because of sales and coupons. Where are the sales and coupons for gluten-free items? I understand it is more expensive to make products without wheat/gluten, but I can't figure out how people with celiac disease and intolerances can afford to eat.

So here is my blog dedicated to my sister. My plan is to include tips on buying gluten-free (especially with a budget!), recipes, product reviews, where to shop, helpful sites, and whatever else might come up. If you have any suggestions of what to include, just leave a comment.