Cutting Costs
The New York Times recently published an article about the high cost of gluten-free living (here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/health/15patient.html). The article gives some useful advice about cutting costs. Most of their suggestions are standard ones like making things from scratch instead of buying mixes. But there was one suggestion that was new to me. Apparently, you could get a tax deduction for gluten-free purchases. If your total medical costs are more than 7.5% of your income and you itemize your tax return, you can deduct the excess of the cost of a gluten-free item. So if you payed $3 for a bag of gluten-free noodles, and that same bag with gluten normally costs $1, you can deduct $2 from your taxes. Wow! Thank you, Uncle Sam! Gotta call my accountant about this one…
I found other interesting suggestions for cutting costs in an article by Nancy Lapid in About.com. Ms. Lapid points out that BeFreeForMe.com offers coupons and free samples of products that are gluten-free and allergy safe. (Great idea! Check it out, it’s free!) She also suggests that you don’t put the entire family on a gluten-free diet. (Clearly everybody has to measure the pros and cons of this one based on their family dynamic.) Contamination issues exist when you run your kitchen this way, but if you are vigilant it is possible to do two things at the same time. Julie pulls it off, though. She runs her kitchen this way because her son’s egg allergy makes it impossible to run an entirely gluten-free kitchen. She often complains about the hardships of cooking both foods with gluten and foods without, but she does it successfully. She uses a special pot for the gluten-free pasta, she has thrown away her wooden spoons, and she does not sift her wheat flour in her kitchen. She has a separate sponge to wash her gluten-free pots and a special shelf in her cabinet for the gluten-free junk food.
Another suggestion that both The New York Times and Ms. Lapid make is to join a Celiac support group where you can exchange ideas and information with others. The Celiac Sprue Association and The Gluten Intolerance Group of North America are two such groups but you can also opt for a smaller local Celiac support group. I wonder if we could set up an effective online support group through our new site…that might help a lot of people who can’t fit regular meetings in to their already busy schedules…anybody know how we can do it right?
Living a gluten-free lifestyle is not about financial ease, it is about staying healthy. But the fact remains that those two things shouldn’t have to contradict each other. The high cost of gluten-free foods is something that I encounter daily and I am going to work my hardest to make affordable gluten-free products available as soon as possible.
Oh yes! To those of you who have already volunteered to help with our new gluten-free website and to those of you thinking about doing so–thank you soooo much! I will be posting some ideas later this week. In the meantime, please post your wish list. I want to hear everybody’s ideas. And, if you can, please participate in our quick little surveys to help with the feedback so we get it right the first time!
3 Responsesto “Cutting Costs”
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We used to be a 100% GFCF kitchen but had to back off somewhat for cost reasons. Our main meal is always GFCF. If a dairy eater wants cheese, it is added to the dish after the GFCF folks are served. Cost saving ideas? Shop in bulk. Never buy a pre-mixed flour blend – make your own. This is much cheaper! Use more fruits and vegetables, choosing what is in season as much as possible. Watch for sales, they do happen & stock up. Freeze anything that you don’t use within 1-2 days because otherwise it goes bad. Ask your retailer about a discount if you get a “case”. We get at least 10% on cases. Make your own mixes in glass jars – this way you get the convenience at the cheap price.
Amazon.com is a great resource for GF foods. They often have sales, but the subscription program really saves me money. I buy the flours I use regularly, cereals and a few other items on subscription, which saves me even more money, and the shipping is free.
Excellent idea! Hey everyone! Subscription plans are the way to go to save money and never run out. I guess I better get to work setting one up for our new GF supersite. –Jen