Frugal Food Allergy Living is coming to a close, although I have decided to extend it a little longer with one additional topic.  If there is a topic that you would like to see featured, please let me know in the comment section.  You can find more on living a frugally with food allergies at The Willing Cook.

From the original post on Food Allergies and Budgets:

Prepare Food from Scratch
Avoid pre-packaged or processed foods, even allergy-friendly foods.  They are pricey and generally not the healthiest for you, especially when avoiding multiple allergens.  Stick with fresh meat and produce, dry beans, bulk rice, and oats, for example.

Eating “whole foods” seems to be all the rave these days in healthy circles.  There are many websites dedicated to “whole food,” as well as grocery stores and restaurants.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines whole food as “a natural food and especially an unprocessed one (as a vegetable or fruit).” It is simply preparing food from scratch or homemade, although there are many variations of this (avoiding buying processed foods versus milling own flour, making homemade yogurt, raising chickens, etc.).

Preparing food from scratch becomes a necessity when living with food allergies, rather than a simple exception.

• Most prepackaged food has one allergen or another in it.  Just read the labels and you will see all the “contains.”
• The most common allergens found in prepackaged food is dairy, wheat, soy and corn.  Not to mention the preservatives and artificial colors and flavors added to prepackaged foods.
• Even so-called “allergy-friendly” pre-packaged foods that are becoming more common on the grocery shelves are not necessarily good for you.  Furthermore, they are really expensive.  You can make a homemade version for a lot less.
• Try making a similar version as the pre-packaged allergy-friendly foods at home.  For example, instead of buying allergy-friendly pre-packaged cookies or cake mixes, I make them homemade.  I make a couple dozen cupcakes at a time and individually freeze them.  When my son goes to a birthday party, I take a cupcake out of the freezer, spread on some icing that I keep in the refrigerator and he’s off to a birthday party.  You can do the same thing with cookie dough.  Make a batch or two ahead of time, freeze them, and bake as needed.
• There are exceptions to this rule.  If you want some prepackaged foods for convenience sake, just make sure you read the labels carefully.

Frugal Living and Preparing Food from Scratch

• It is true that there often better deals in the grocery ads or more coupons available for processed foods.  But is their a potential cost to your health?
• If your family is stuck on convenient, pre-packaged foods, I encourage you to sit down with a calculator, pen and paper and do a line-item price comparison for each meal for a week.  Here is a spreadsheet example below.

• If you stick to buying the fresh foods that are on sale, manager-specials and in-season produce, you may be surprised at the cost savings.  You will get much better quality as well as more healthy choices.
• Remember to buy extra fruit and vegetables when it is in-season and freeze it for those winter months.
• We are looking into having fresh, quality meat by buying a cow or pig straight from a farmer.  Find family or friends who would like to split up the cost and quantity of buying a whole animal.  Keep in mind that you will need extra freezer space for this option.

Now, I am by no means a purist.  I don’t make everything homemade all the time, but I try to as often as possible.  It is cheaper, healthier and safer for food allergies.  On Friday, I will give a short run-down on “safe” prepackaged foods that I usually have in our home.  Be sure to check in.

Are there any foods that you only buy pre-made? Are there foods that you choose to make from scratch? I’d love to hear your comments on this topic.

Next week: How Frugal Food Allergy Living is easier with a well-stocked pantry.

You can see all the posts in this series by clicking on Frugal Food Allergy Living series.  You can find more about living with food allergies on a budget at The Willing Cook.

“Shop Around” is part five of our series from the original Food Allergies and Budgets post:

Do not be product or store loyal, if possible.  Shop at many stores in order to get the best deals (Asian grocers, Aldi, Costco, etc).

While shopping around to get the best deal is not a new concept to anyone who sticks closely to a grocery budget, I find this to be particularly true when shopping with food allergies.  Most new food allergy shoppers (or non-food allergy shoppers) believe you are stuck to shopping only at one very expensive specialty shop.  This is not the case.  (You can read the series on where I shop and where I purchase particular allergy-friendly foods at The Willing Cook.  You can find this series in the category “budget tips” on the sidebar.)

Benefits to Shopping at Multiple Stores:

• You are able to shop the grocery ads to get the best prices.
• You can take advantage of the cheaper store brands that are allergy friendly.  For example, Costco carries a lot of allergy-friendly foods that are Kirkland brand.  Of course, the same goes for Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods that carry their own brand of food and are often allergy-friendly.
• Don’t stop with the “specialty” stores.  The big supermarket brands can often have store brand allergy-friendly food as well.  You just have to read the labels.  For example, Meijer carries a great selection of Meijer Organics and Meijer Naturals food that are sometimes allergy-friendly.
• Asian supermarkets often carry gluten-free flours or whole grains that you can make into homemade gluten-free flour that cost much less than the pre-packaged gluten-free flours at the big chain stores.
• There are also local health food stores or fresh produce markets that can offer good deals on allergy-friendly products as well.  I have found some of these stores to be particularly good at offering “manager special” deals.

All of the above points lead me to say that you cannot be brand loyal, unless you have to be.  Now, as far as allergies go, sometimes you have to be brand loyal.  In that case, that is fine.  But if you don’t have to be loyal to any particular brand, this is an area where you can save a lot of money.  Personally, there is rarely a difference between the name brand and store brand products.  In some cases, I prefer the store brand over the name brand.

Some of you might say, “I cannot go to multiple stores a week, especially with kids in tow or I work a full-time job.”  However, shopping at multiple stores does not have to become a 2nd job as long as there is a little planning involved.

1. Try to review the store ads for the upcoming week before planning your grocery shopping for the week.  You can then map out if you want to hit a couple of stores based on those ads.  If possible, avoid weekend grocery shopping because it is so busy.  Night time is a great time to have some peace and quiet in the store.
2. Make out a grocery list to save you time (especially if you have kids in tow).  This list will also help you stay focused on your budget with what is “needed” and not what can end up in your cart from “wandering.”
3. Be practical about shopping at multiple stores.  You have to take gas into consideration when driving from store to store.  If you only save a small amount on one product at one store but are purchasing multiple products from another store, it might be worth your time and gas to just buy everything at one store.  This is where planning ahead comes in handy.  Be smart about it.
4. Don’t hit every store, every week.  Costco/Sam’s Club, Trader Joe’s and Asian Grocers do not rotate sales, so you can plan a trip to those stores every 6 weeks or so (less for Asian stores if only buying flour/grains).  Try to stock up on their products to last you until your next trip.

What if you live in an area with only one store option?

• There is always online shopping.  Again, compare the prices.
• If there is a warehouse store or other specialty shop (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s) in a city close by, figure out the gas-time-cost savings of making a trip there a couple of times a year to stock up.
• Don’t limit yourself to just grocery stores.  You can often find a small selection of allergy-friendly foods at Dollar Tree, Big Lots and Drug Stores.

So, I think that covers all my points for Shopping Around.  Is there anything that you would like to add?

Up next week in the Frugal Food Allergy Living Series: Avoid Restaurants