Our family has been gluten-free now for almost two years, due to gluten sensitivity in several members of our family.
When we first made the switch, it was confusing, overwhelming and expensive! But along the way, I have learned some tricks for keeping the gluten-free budget under control.
1. Avoid Gluten-Free Replacement Foods
Gluten-free specialty items can be extremely expensive, and they are what killed our grocery budget when we first changed our diet.
If you find a great sale on gluten-free bread or pasta, stock up. Otherwise, don’t buy it. $6 for a tiny loaf of bread just isn’t worth it in my opinion!
2. Keep the Cooking Simple
Don’t go crazy trying to make all of the amazing gluten free recipes you see on Pinterest that require seven different specialty flours. Stick to cooking things you know and expand from there.
3. Make Mexican and Asian Recipes
Mexican and Asian foods are often naturally gluten-free. Fajitas, quesadillas, and enchiladas can all be made using corn tortillas, which are very affordable and are gluten-free. Many Asian recipes use rice, which is also a gluten-free food.
4. Use Fruits and Veggies as Snacks
Not only are fruits and veggies healthy snacks, they are also gluten-free and affordable. Instead of buying overpriced and likely unhealthy gluten-free snacks, stick with fresh food. Your health and your wallet will thank you!
5. Buy Pre-Mixed Flour for Baking
Many gluten-free recipes call for several specialty flours. I recommend that you purchase one all-purpose flour that is pre-mixed and already includes xanthan gum. This will save you time, money and hassle. My favorite brands are Pamela’s and Namaste.
Going gluten-free does not have to be expensive! I hope these tips are helpful to anyone who is looking to make the change to gluten-free living.
What are your best tips to go gluten-free on a budget?
Jenn is a wife and mother to three permanent kids and many temporary ones that have come and gone through foster care. She is a gluten free, homeschooling, adoptive mama who blogs at Building Mommy Muscles.
I work full-time and have a small child. My husband and I are thinking of taking a couple of months to live off of one salary, using the second salary to pay off debt, in the hopes to see if we can actually swing living off of one income. This is so exciting and something we have wanted for a long time. Do you have any tips for how to go from two incomes to one? -Jamie
How exciting, Jamie! Here are some thoughts I had:
Get on the Same Page With Your Spouse
If you and your husband are not on the same page financially, it's going to be hard to really get much traction or to achieve your goal of successfully going from two incomes to one. So before you even attempt to make the transition, sit down and talk openly about where you are financially and where you want to go.
Don't nag and drag your husband to go along with your plan; put your heads together and find a solution that is a win-win for both of you. This will most likely involve some give and take and compromise, but it will be so worth it.
Make a Game Plan
Once you're on the same page, dream together about where you want to be a year from now and five years from now. I think your idea to live on one income for a period of time is fantastic!
Think realistically about what sacrifices and lifestyle changes will need to be made in order to make living on one income a possibility. If your plan is to be able to live on one income by this time next year, look at your budget, figure out what you need to cut, and how much you need to save and increase your income in order to make it happen. Having a specific number that you need to save each month will help motivate you to find creative ways to lower your spending and increase your income.
Create and Stick With a Budget
The best thing you can do for your family right now is to get on a written budget. Many times, people don't have an income problem, they have a spending problem.
Before trying to significantly cut your income, make sure you are being very intentional in how you spend your money and know exactly what you need to make in order to survive. I highly recommend getting a copy of The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey from your library. If you can afford it, I also heartily suggest looking into going through Financial Peace University.
Both of these resources will walk you through how to set up a budget and how to stick with it. And Dave will motivate you and inspire you to dream big, work hard, and get your finances in amazing shape.
Pay Off Your Debt
Make paying off your debt one of your top priorities right now. This will probably mean some significant sacrifices in the short-term — working more hours and living on as little as possible — but the long-term benefits will be amazing.
Figure out how much you have left to pay off, set a realistic time frame for paying it off, and then divide the amount by the time frame to come up with the specific number you need to be paying off each month and week in order to hit your goal. When you break your goals down into bite-sized pieces like this, it makes them much more doable. And it also will motivate you to keep making short-term sacrifices for the long-term benefits.
What advice and suggestions do the rest of you have for Jamie?
What kind of bread machine do you have? Do you find it’s better for the machine to do it all, or just make the dough? -Stephanie
If there's one tool in my kitchen I would never want to be without, it's my bread machine. My aunt and uncle got me one as a wedding gift and I used it so much it finally was giving out.
Just around the time it was starting to breathe its last breath, my dad surprised me with a Zojirushi Bread Machine for Christmas. Let me tell you, this bread machine is the king of bread machines!
It's high-tech and offers quite a few different options — including the dough cycle that I mostly. It's also roomy, so you can make larger loaves and bigger batches of dough.
My favorite thing about the Zojirushi Bread Machine is that it has two kneading paddles. This creates a much better and softer texture in the dough which translates to softer, better-shaped bread and rolls.
I rarely ever bake bread in my machine, because I’ve found that the crust is much softer when I bake the bread in the oven. It does mean that you have to be home and remember to take the dough out of the machine and bake it when it’s done, but it’s still so much easier than making bread completely from scratch.
I can stick all the ingredients in the bread machine for Bread Machine Buttery Rolls and and hour and a half later, the dough is ready to be shaped into rolls. No mixing, no kneading and no worrying about setting a timer. Truly, in about ten minutes of total prep time, I can have a hot and fresh batch of rolls made.
Each week for 52 weeks, I'm sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you'll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you're already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.
Store-bought baby food can be very expensive. Knowing this, I decided from the get-go when I had my first child that this was an area that I’d wanted to try to really save money on.
Three children later, we’ve survived without basically ever paying for pre-made baby food — and have saved hundreds of dollars in the process! Here are some things that worked for us (Remember: each child and family is different so please do what works best for your family!):
1. Start Slowly
I was blessed to be able to nurse all three of my babies almost exclusively until six months old. (I know some women would love to be able to nurse and have been unable to do so, so I don’t take it for granted that I never had difficulty with nursing.)
At around six months old, I would slowly start introducing solid foods — normally just giving the child a couple of tastes of banana or vegetables a few times per week. I would usually mash up something that we’re already eating and offer a few bites.
We stuck with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains first and then gradually added in other foods. We’d just offer the child whatever fruit or veggies we’re eating at a meal plus some homemade bread or other wholegrain finger foods. As our children caught on to eating more, I’d gradually reduce nursing and replace it more and more by table food. (I weaned all my children around 18-19 months.)
A great way to save money when you've got a little one crawling under foot is to make your own baby food. The average price at my grocery store for a 1-serving jar of baby food, stage 1, is $0.51. From my rough calculations, you can save an average of 75% by spending a few minutes in the kitchen to make your own food — especially if you buy in season and get the best prices on that fresh produce.
While I prefer cooking in the kitchen each night for our "big people" meals, I've found it works really well for me to have a Freezer Cooking Day once a month preparing homemade baby food.
If you’re wanting to make your own baby food, but the thought of making big batches for the freezer does not appeal to you, I highly recommend that you invest in a simple bay food grinder. I like the Kidco Baby Food Mill. It runs about $15 and is really compact so you can just mash up whatever fruits and/or veggies (or even the main dish!) you’re eating at the meal.
If it’s something that can’t just be easily mashed with a fork, stick a small bit in the grinder when you sit down at the table, grind it up, and you’re good to go! It makes very little mess mess and requires almost zero forethought!
As I watched the Olympics the past two weeks, I kept thinking about how many times each athlete must have fallen in their journey to make it to the Olympics. Here’s what About.com says about figure skating:
If You Are Going to Skate, You Are Going to Fall:
If you are a figure skater, you must understand that if you are going to skate, you are going to fall. That’s a fact. Practicing falling over and over again is the only way to learn how to fall safely.
Falling is part of the process of learning to succeed. If the figure skaters weren’t willing to go out on the ice and fall again and again, they’d never learn how to jump beautifully and gracefully, they’d never perfect fancy footwork moves, and they’d never win any competitions.
It’s the same way in life. If you want to accomplish great things and follow through with your goals, you’ve got to get over your fear of falling.
It’s easy to sit in the bleachers as a spectator. It’s comfortable and safe. And you won’t get any bumps, bruises, or injuries from it.
But it also guarantees that you’ll never see progress, you’ll never experience the fulfillment that comes from putting it all on the line, you’ll never succeed, and you’ll never make a difference in someone else’s life.
Getting out onto the rink requires risk. You’re not going to hit a home run every time you try a new idea, start a new business, invest in a relationship, or attempt a new skill. In fact, most of the time, you’re probably going to stumble, struggle, or even fall flat on your face.
That is how you learn best. Each time you fall and get back up and try again, you become a little bit stronger, a little more sure of your footing, a little more successful. You learn what works and what doesn’t.
Do you want to be safe or do you want to succeed? The choice is yours.
We’re on early Spring Break/vacation this week and half of next week, so I’m staying somewhat “unplugged” and not tackling many new projects or business projects so that we can have lots of extra time for fun, time with friends, and refreshment. Because of this, I’m only planning six goals for this week.
or check out 
from your local library.
. It runs about $15 and is really compact so you can just mash up whatever fruits and/or veggies (or even the main dish!) you’re eating at the meal.
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