The Cost of GF Living April 1, 2008
Posted by glutenfreedance in Celiac Disease, Food, Gluten Free, Shopping.trackback
People always comment when I mention where we usually shop for GF stuff that it must be really expensive to have to live GF. I know there must be cheaper ways to cook GF, and next summer I plan to explore them. But in the meantime, I’ve come up with an analogy to explain to people exactly how expensive GF food generally is…
Imagine if Girl Scouts were the only people selling groceries. 😉
The Gluten Free Dance 
That only makes sense if you know something about girl scouts! We don’t even have Girl Scouts in canada (We have Girl Guides).
I assume that Girl Scouts have expensive cookies?
Yep, they are. Since I don’t usually have a whole lot of questions from people in other countries (I actually only know one person who lives outside the US) it works for me. 🙂
You think GS cookies are expensive, what about Boy Scouts selling 2 qts. of popcorn for $15? And yes, Girl Scouts are the non-US version of Girl Guides. Of course, we have to be different! ; )
That is hilarious! And SOOOO true!
That is a GREAT way to explain it. At least if I was buying from the Girl Scouts, the $$ would be going to a good cause. 🙂
Yep, living gluten free is pretty pricey. We’ve been gluten free Ifor the most part) for less than a year and the transition is a bit difficult. One expense which I do not miss is wheat bread, especially now that bread prices are going up. Packaged and frozen gluten free foods are rather pricey so we have been doing a lot of cooking/experimenting at home.
I would use the comparison to small production boutique food to explain the costs of gluten free foods. There aren’t millions buying Ener-G or Kinnikinnick foods everyday unlike Post, Kellogg or any other food conglomerate. Many of those companies not only have a US customers, but are global companies with customers for their products all over the world. Being able to sell to a very large group of people does mean that you can spread your costs over a larger number of products rather than a smaller.
I think my biggest complaint with gf foods, isn’t so much the cost (which is high), but the lack of organic and healthy flour choices. Everybody seems to rely on white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca. You have to cook for yourself to improve the healthiness of your gf food, otherwise you’d probably have prediabetes after eating the standard processed gf diet for a few years.
Sheltie Girl @ Gluten A Go Go
That literally made me laugh out loud (and read it aloud to my husband).
How are you? Everything okay?