How much are you spending weekly - Gluten Free Guerr...

Gluten Free Guerrillas

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How much are you spending weekly

Ian67 profile image
31 Replies

I'm spending rediculous money per week..GF and lacto free is not cheap for me..I'm spending at least £100 a wk

My milk alone is £3 a day thats £ 21 a week for starters..

In fact I must be spending well over £100...

I won't be able to afford this when I'm old!

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Ian67 profile image
Ian67
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31 Replies
sassyl profile image
sassyl

Wow, that's a lot of milk Ian! I ration mine - only on cereal.

I seem to spend a fortune in food too, and I don't buy anything processed, just fresh veg, meat, fish, the odd tin of tomatoes and loads of nuts. And wine to keep me sane! Bread and pasta I get on prescription, but I don't eat much of that as I have to limit carbs too. I have to eat 6 times a day too!

Ian67 profile image
Ian67 in reply to sassyl

Glad I'm not alone

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

I know it's 2 litres a day.. I have cereal twice sometimes with nearly a pint each time.. Then theres all the cups of tea haha.. And homemade rice pud!

Lazydaisy profile image
Lazydaisy

I d cut down on the milk for a start a pint of milk on a bowl of cornflakes seems very excessive Ian or do you have your cereal in a saucepen?

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

It's a big bowl... Im still eating a lot and never gain weight even tho my villi are supposed to be fine now.. I must have a fasts wotsit ( minds gone blank)

jmjhoh profile image
jmjhoh in reply to Ian67

Metabolism :) I have lost weight through the discovery of my CD, still trying to find enough things that I like to put weight on :) I don't want to eat too many processed GF foods but have a thing for Asda GF madeira cake at the moment.

Have you had blood test for your thyroid function?

Ian67 profile image
Ian67 in reply to jmjhoh

Not sure I'll ask next time at dr

Mia1057 profile image
Mia1057

It seems a lot. I spend about 40 a week on food. I make most things from scratch and the only gf thing I buy is pasta. I do eat a lot of brown rice, lentils and veg to bulk meals out. I only buy milk twice a week and I bake gf bread twice a week.

Special gluten free or dairy free items make up barely 5% of my weekly shop. Everything else is naturally gluten or dairy free. All the supermarkets produce lists (usually updated monthly) of all their own brand products suitable for gluten free, lactose free, nut free, vegan etc. For example for Sainsburys see www2.sainsburys.co.uk/food/... and you'll see that not only is there a list for gf products but also a list for gluten AND lactose free products. I use things like these lists to work out what is safe - and then the rest is made from scratch.

Mikeila profile image
Mikeila

In Asda you will find rice milk with just 1£.Yesterday I bought 5.I'm try to spend as little as possible, like Mia, about 40 a week on food.I can't afford more..

Ian67 profile image
Ian67 in reply to Mikeila

Which. Brand is that?

Liana profile image
Liana

We eat organic, free range, gluten and lactose free. It adds about 25% to our weekly grocery bill. However, we rarely eat processed foods and I bake our GF sweets myself, so there are big savings in that department. In the end, our grocery bill is about the same as it was before. Yes we do spend a little more, but not significantly. I also eat 4 to 6 small meals a day due to my IBS/D. I drink about one glass of milk per day. However, I do drink over 2 litres of water daily as per my doctor's instructions. I have one or two cups of coffee per week. I don't drink pop, alcohol or juice more than once or twice a month. Vegetables are inexpensive, potatoes and rice are too. Small meat portions keep the costs down. You can do it with some planning and forthought.

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

£40 a week? I obviously eat too much

I too buy no GF food.. Only lacto free milk and butter , oh and flour..

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

I eat mainly chicken.. Not fillets ..tesco drums an thighs £4... It's only a days worth tho so there's £28 on chicken

sassyl profile image
sassyl

Wish I could just spend £40 a week :(

I've got a protein-rich diet like you Ian, it is expensive. I'm fighting my way through a minefield trying to be Low Fodmap, low carb, lactose and gluten free. The only thing left is nuts, meat and celery! I have a very prescriptive 6 times a day 3/4 low fodmap, low carb veg/ salad to 1/4 protein and fat and the very odd bit of pasta, potato or bread.

If you have the choice, bulk your meals out with rice, puy lentils, prescription pasta, potatoes. Eggs are cheap protein too, and what about cans of tuna? Don't Tesco etc do 3 for a tenner on meat?

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

What's fodmap?

Yes they do but it's not always the meat u want..

Tuna? I can't even say the word anymore lol.. In on wild salmon these days.. But a tin goes on one meal

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

Oh I get thru the spuds too... I can do six jackets a day easy if it's a spud day.. I'll swap for rice time to time..

judyblue profile image
judyblue

Can you get any of these items from your gp on prescription, even a yearly prescription that you have to pay for may help to cut costs down

HazelG profile image
HazelG

Managed to cut down radically on price in the last month. Get soya milk from sainsburys 69p fruit and veg from Aldi and market make my own cakes from rice flour and ground almonds supplement carbs with Nairns GF oatcakes and cook from scratch. current monthly bill is £120. but to do that i have to go round looking for the offers (like tesco has an offer on Alpro desserts at the moment 3 for 2 (£1 for four) Asda is normally £1. Find Farmfoods is quite good for meat and fish. Used to be about £95 a month pre needing GF so cost has gone up significantly in last year (was already lactofree then. Incidently Aldi usually has quite a large bag of jacket potatoes at a reasonable price. FODMAP is to do with different sugars which can provoke wind and bloating diarrhoea and/or constipation. Foods are grouped together according to the different sugars and you go on an elimination diet to find out which group you are sensitive to. For example Fructans are present in high levels in Artichoke (Globe & Jerusalem) Asparagus Beet Brussel Sprouts Cabbage Chicory Dandelion leaves Fennel Legumes Okra Onion Family Peas Radicchio lettuce. Having found (by trial and error) the sugar causing the symptom you then have to eliminate it to allow gut to recover. Sometimes you can (like milk sometimes works for coeliacs) reintroduce sparingly. This technique is becoming available in hospitals for things like IBS.

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

120 pound a month?

I'm shocked.. I must be a glutton..

Can you give me one day example of what you can eat for £30 a week.

I can £25 in one shopping bag

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

I can't do soya

Penel profile image
Penel

We live in difficult times!

We try to stick to seasonal veg and fruit, which are cheaper from our local market than from most supermarkets, so still lots of root veg at the moment. I don't eat breakfast cereals (too expensive), prefer to start the day with some protein, which seems to be more filling, and keep the lactose free milk for tea and coffee. We buy the best meat we can afford, but have gone back to cheaper cuts. A slow cooker is useful for stewing steak, oxtail, etc. We also eat liver and kidney, which are quick to cook and very nutritious.

Some costs are totally beyond our control. Drought affected the buckwheat harvest last year, so prices went up a lot. Food has become a commodity for speculators and has gone up in price throughout the world (there have been food riots in several countries).

NorthernSoul profile image
NorthernSoul

I spend about £30 a week on food (probably a bit less than that, actually, although I buy food with my boyfriend so that helps keep cost down). I'm a student so I can't really afford not to. My average day's (say today) food is:

-Breakfast- around 1/3 pint milk and cereal/quinoa with a handful of nuts

-Lunch- salad with tomatoes, feta, ham, sardines or whatever is lying around, a banana, a GF snack like a cereal bar

Tea- risotto, spinach and chicken with half a grilled aubergine, tomatoes, a bit of cheese

Drinks- mainly tea (with milk) and water

Snacks- a banana or the odd additional bowl of cereal

To the OP- how on earth are you getting through 6 jacket potatoes a day!? Do you eat them for every single meal?

Ian67 profile image
Ian67 in reply to NorthernSoul

Ha.. Yes. That's me.. I'll do a rice day or a spud day..I'll eat two jackets with either chicken, salmon, or bacon if it's breakfast

Breakfast: pint milk with GF cornflakes + small banana tablespoon sugar. 7am

10am : chicken n rice or two spuds

1pm. Pack of ten slice corn beef rice or spud ,cabbage or salad

4pm : if I've baked then I'll have half ofthis big scone thing I make with jam and tea (850 cals with raisins and walnuts I put in.)

8pm another meal of same as dinner

Supper: rest of that cake, lol I can't. Resist..or icecream , banana ,raisins plus Arla cream on top.

Someday 's more some less...I'm not fat, Iif weights few times a week

5'11" 14st 8.... Never any heavier... Weight will go down a bit if off food

I can eat easily 5000 cals a day.. I was told I'd gain weight once stomach has healed.. From last biopsy villi seem ok...I'll be 3 yrs gluten free in October...still no weight gain..

Some will say I'm greedy. I feel weak and sickly if don't eat regular.

I don't wanna be spending £100+ on food , I don't want to feel sick with hunger, bad enough not being able to eat what u want never mind when u want..

sassyl profile image
sassyl

Oh my word Ian! You have a very high metabolism. I got diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycemia a month or so ago, because I was feeling weak and tired if I didn't eat. Endocrinologist diagnosed it after a Glucose Tolerance Test. Maybe you need to look into that. Before diagnosis I could only make it through the day with 2x Lucozade, tea with sugar, sugary snacks constantly.

My diet, post-diagnosis:

7:00 15g rice & buckwheat porridge with 50g Lactofree milk

8.00 The other half of the porridge & milk at work, cold

10:30 Handful of peanuts, 1/3 stalk of celery

12.30 Tomatoes, cucumber, celery, olives (1 very small tub), sometimes an egg or 1/2 sausage, Lactofree yoghurt and 30g flaked almonds

3.30 More ******* celery, more tomatoes, maybe 1/3 carrot if I'm living the high life

6.00 Small chicken thighs x2, mushrooms x5, 1/2 courgette, tarragon, stock

8.00 More ******* nuts

10:00 Lactofree yoghurt & almonds

I only drink water throughout the day. Cutting sugar and carbs (very limited pasta, potatoes, rice, etc, maybe twice a week), has been a complete revelation to me. I can't remember feeling this good for years!

Ian67 profile image
Ian67 in reply to sassyl

Sassy I tried no carbs Paleo. Diet.. Well very low, lost weight, craved carbs all day..

I'd have a 5 large egg onlette with half gammon steak ,mushrooms, spinach... Be starving 2 hrs later

Ian67 profile image
Ian67

I've had a rib eye , huge jacket spud, lots of salad at 8 pm ish

I'm now at 11.30 having 6 rounds of sainsburys free from seeded batch with butter , jam and peanut butter.. There tiny rounds.. Scones are in the oven I'll try resist them tho to ight

denise81 profile image
denise81

pay 104pound a year priscritions and icovers most things when got from your gp it saves me a fortune when getting gf food and other medication. good luk.

FionaGFG profile image
FionaGFGAdministrator

Ian - definitely worth chatting to your Dr about being hungry all the time despite what you're eating. They can re-test you for antibodies to gluten & check your thyroid out. Do remember when your villi heal you will suddenly begin to put on weight again like never before so it's worth trying to suss why you're so hungry with your doctor now & looking at slow release low GI foods online that will give you a fuller feeling for longer.

Jacks profile image
Jacks in reply to FionaGFG

I'm also hungry and eating all the time. I was told it is due to malnutrition from late diagnosis. Saw consultant last week who told me it was normal and okay to keep eating! I do lose weight if I don't.

Kezzie94 profile image
Kezzie94

i too used to pay loads for foods i thought i needed.

i was told to cut the carbs, up the protein etc. my IBS and allergies kept on getting worse. ( they were due to following fad diets and bad eating) i stopped taking the medicine i was prescribed to near the beginning which helped. i would eat tiny portions every couple of hours as told. i would end up hungry and craving carbs- at night or every so often i would binge out on ready-made icing out the cupboard and peanut butter. LOL.

i looked 8 months pregnant the next morning and felt terrible, so i wouldn't eat that morning and so the cycle would go on. then i thought it must be my fault and that i now had a eating disorder.

I had no clue.

god has delivered me from all the propaganda and big industry marketing scams, and has shown me the truth. i now limit the fat to about 10% of my caloric intake, ive cut the meat and also grains and legumes etc. ( i already had stopped eating all dairy and egg, gluten, wheat etc due to my allergies) i eat massive amounts of raw unprocessed fruit and some greens and limited amounts of nuts and seeds. the additional benefits ive had are amazing! (clear eyes, healthy skin, no colds or illnesses when everyone else around me is dying etc. )

at first a thought it was so extreme and dangerous, but now cooking and eating animal products seems so unnatural and yucky and nasty etc. getting rid of the cravings (addiction) to processed junk food went as soon as i learned about them and started eating enough calories from fresh ripe delicious fruit (about 3000 cal). buying fruit in bulk saves tonnes of money, and in the summer i get lots of my food free out of my garden and foraging! its great! cutting the fat and learning about food combining has cleared me! before i was only covering up the symptoms, and now ive cleared the cause :)

some useful websites:

fitonraw.com/

30bananasaday.com/

fredericpatenaude.com/

raw-food-freedom.net/

foodnsport.com/

rawinspiration.org/

youtube.com/user/durianride...

youtube.com/user/Freelea

and many more

i hope i have inspired some people :)

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