Guest post from Becky of Milo & Oats
Living with diet restrictions can be a huge budget-buster. From food allergies to celiac disease, there are a variety of health needs that might leave you searching for an economical way to bake for your loved ones.
Here are some tips that will have you baking up delicious treats without breaking the bank!
Make your own flour blend.
Do you eat gluten-free? Do you have a loved one with a wheat allergy?
If you’ve had experience baking gluten-free, you know it requires multiple flours for baking success. However, commercial pre-made blends can be expensive! It’s much more cost-effective to make your own.
There are many gluten-free flour blend recipes out there. A quick Google or Pinterest search should get you started in finding recipes with which to experiment. Once you have a recipe in hand, you’ll need to actually purchase the appropriate flours!
The natural foods section of your local grocery store will likely carry a variety of gluten-free flours. However, this is usually not the most cost-effective. My favorite to place to purchase gluten-free flours at a great price is Azure Standard. I buy rice, milo (sorghum) and teff flour, as well as potato and tapioca starch. If you don’t have a local Azure drop, Vitacost may be a good option.
Use everyday ingredients.
Ingredient substitutes can be shockingly expensive. We have an egg allergy in our family, so previously I have used egg replacer powder. Then, I realized there are many other ways to replace eggs. Flaxseed, banana, or applesauce work well as an egg replacement.
These are all ingredients I tend to have on hand, anyway. Not to mention, they are healthier than using a synthetic replacement!
Buy in bulk.
We love our Costco. I have found savings on ingredients that would otherwise be considerably more expensive — coconut oil and flax seed make the list.
We also buy the Kirkland brand chocolate chips. Did you know that they don’t contain dairy?? They have been one of my greatest Costco discoveries. Way less expensive than buying those little bags of specialty chocolate chips!
We are not Sam’s Club members but I’m sure they have some allergy-friendly deals worth discovering, too.
Focus on foods you can eat.
This one is so important, but probably took the longest for me to discover. Focus on all of the delicious, safe foods that you can eat!
Baking with allergies can be discouraging because there are so many ingredients to alter, or replace entirely! By concentrating on recipes that require less replacement, your baking success will be greatly increased. Your results will actually get eaten, not thrown out…again.
Apple crisp naturally requires no eggs and a smaller amount of flour. A big bowl of berries with some lightly sweetened coconut whipped cream is a treat! Cut yourself some slack and relish eating those wallet-friendly, in-season foods.
These are just a few tips we use — I’d love to know what you would add to my list!
Becky is a wife and homeschool mom to five incredible kids. She loves chocolate, books, and baking allergy-friendly treats for her family. Becky is the blogger behind Milo & Oats and loves chatting about everything from parenting to curriculum hoarding to what's for dinner.
