Money Saving Mom®

Guest post from Jenetta of Frugal Freebies and Deals

I started my gluten free journey four years ago. It was for health reasons. A couple years after I started eating GF we adopted two girls with special needs due to trauma. My doctor immediately recommended putting them on a GF which was no problem.

But about a year later, she recommended removing dairy and corn. Not corn! We live off corn, I thought, and it is in everything.

But I knew I could do it. I was good at the whole GF thing so I could be good at this, too.

If you are new to any dietary restriction I know where you are at. Just the diet change part makes you want to throw in the towel but adding in the “new budget” aspect is enough to make you want to go over the edge. I was there walking out of the health food store with the tiniest bag of groceries ever… and I paid $100 for it.

Plus, I knew I would need to come back and do it again in 3 days! Talk about frustration.

However, I have come up with some tricks to keep your budget in check. We keep our monthly budget for four (mind you the girls are just 6 and 7) at between $200-250 a month without a lot of coupons.

Here are some things that help us:

1. Change your perspective about the way you eat.

This will be different for everyone. For me, it took thinking about my food and what I really enjoy about it. Unless bread is really good I don’t care for it much, so I started eating burgers and sandwiches as more of a salad or lettuce wrap.

Stop trying to replace the food from your former diet with equal non-allergenic counterparts. Instead, start thinking outside the box for new, less expensive (and maybe more nutritious) foods.

2. Start shopping at new stores.

This sounds like a lot, but I have around 20 possible stores I shop at. Weekly, I try to shop at 3-4 of them.

The health food store might have markdowns on GF bread, non-dairy milks, and yogurt. Local grocery outlets have lots of cheap GF, dairy-free, and corn-free items. We have the $0.99 Only chain in our area and I routinely pick up organic produce and non-allergenic snacks for $0.99 (this store is on my weekly route). Local Asian markets sell GF pasta and flour for around $1.

This trick is going to be individual to you and your area. You need to remember that deals change often so you will have to be willing to buy what is available.

3. Stock up.

This is my biggest money-saver. You need to have money set aside for stock-ups.

If I find boxes of non-allergenic organic granola bars at the $.99 Only Store, I can purchase 20 boxes because I have stock-up money set aside. That deal is not going to last and it might be a while before such a good deal comes up again.

This goes for meats, flours, anything that you find at great price. Buy as much as you can use, afford, and store.

4. Buy online.

You don’t always get the best deal online, but there really are some finds. We try to eat a lot of grain-free meals, so we eat a good amount of nuts.

Recently I bought 30 pounds (yup) of pecans online because they were 1/3 of the price I can get them locally. They just went in the freezer and are already half gone. Vitacost, Amazon, and even Ebay are good sources for occasional great prices.

5. Make Your Own.

Don’t feel like you have to suffer. There are wonderful recipes online for GF and other dietary restrictions. You can even try making nut milks and then use the nut pulp for baking.

Those are the tricks I use to keep our allergy-free diet in line with our budget. You can use these ideas for any type of similar diet. I know you can do it.

Jenetta is a wife and mother of 2 daughters adopted from foster care.  She blogs over at Frugal, Freebies and Deals as well as Thrifty Wifey.

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Reader tip from Amanda who blogs at Simple Revelations:

I love my slow-cooker. Soups, casseroles, meats, bread, breakfast — what’s not to love about a contraption that can do it all, and save me time?

One of my favorite money-saving crockpot recipe is Shredded Chicken. It’s a lean, protein-rich basis for meals and it only requires around 10 minutes of active involvement to make.

Plus, depending on where you live, you’ll probably be able to find chicken breasts for around $2 a pound. Compare that to the typical $7 a pound for deli lunch meat, and you’re saving a bundle on sandwiches using chicken salad on your sandwiches instead of deli-bought ham or turkey.

How To Make Shredded Chicken in the Crockpot

• Purchase a large package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Put as many as you like (I’d do 10 or so) in your slow-cooker, cover with water (boiling water if they’re frozen, to get them cooking faster) and sprinkle with a few seasonings. I often use a dash each of lemon pepper and Montreal chicken seasoning
• Cook on high for 4 hours or so, or low for 6 hours or so, until they are cooked through and literally falling apart at the touch.
• Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and put in a large pan.
• Shred with 2 forks.
• Let cool and store in the refrigerator for use all week long.

Variations: During cooking, substitute the water out for your favorite BBQ sauce or green salsa, and use the meat for BBQ chicken sandwiches/pizza, or a tender and flavorful fajita meat. This is great for dinner guests when you don’t have lots of time to prepare.

Ways to Use Shredded Chicken

Use your supply of shredded chicken for lunches and dinners throughout the week. Some favorite meals ideas are:

• Soups (chicken noodle, Matzo ball, coconut chicken, buffalo chicken soup)
• Waldorf Chicken Salad (to eat as salad, sandwich, or wrap)
• Chili
• Avocado-bound Chicken Salad
• Fajita/Enchilada/Taco meat
• Pizza topping
• Buffalo Chicken burgers (just mix the meat with a good dash of Frank’s Red Hot sauce, to taste)
• Salad topping
• Quesadilla filler
• Any other recipe that calls for cooked chicken

What’s your favorite way to use the slow-cooker?

Amanda Dykes is a historical romance author who aches to share God’s grace. She’s a spastic shutterbug, unabashed word nerd, and lover of truthful writing that resonates. She can be found scribbling words on her blog and her online Christian Fiction Book Club.

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