who has time to bake anymore?

Being gluten intolerant can be a nuisance.  However, with the proper amount of planning and research, an entire world of possibilities present themselves.  I always hear people saying how expensive it is to live gluten free (GF).  I understand this and I will not deny that my grocery bill has increased since I found out I needed to be GF.  That said, the main things that cost more are pre-made and processed foods.  Cereals, breads, frozen pizzas, and baked goods are all nearly three times the price of their non-GF counter parts.

So, how do we fight this?  

First, I recommend simply eating less processed foods, not only are the GF versions of these products riddled with corn and rice flours (which if you over do it on these, can cause similar issues to a wheat reaction), but to be honest before being GF we probably shouldn't have been eating as much of these foods as we did.

Second, as the Boy Scouts taught us, "Always be prepared!"  My mother was a wonderful planner.  She would always find great deals on brownie and cake mixes then freeze them for a later time.  We never went without some sort of easy to make sweet treat.  GF brownie mixes can get expensive especially if (like me) you are already buying your flour in bulk and plan on using it to bake.  Like any busy American woman I myself have purchased large quantities with ideas of grandeur, thinking I would just make more of my food from scratch if I only kept the proper ingredients on hand.  That dream usually lasts about a week, if I'm lucky.  But, rather than kicking ourselves when we're already down, we need to just recognize that life is sometimes too busy to bake from scratch every day.

My solution to this didn't come until I had to move a month ago and I had a ton of GF flour that I had premixed in a large vat-like container.  I didn't want to use it all up before I moved but I desperately wanted to make it more manageable to move.  My solution... PRE-made baking mixes.  We have all received a homemade brownie or cookie mix in a jar at some point in our lives.  Why not take that "gift" concept and use it in every day life.

Creating my own GF baking mixes has changed my life.  I have more cash and more time.  It simply took one day to prepare in advance over a dozen baking mixes.  It has been a month and I still have more than half of the mixes I made that day and have had brownies or cookies about 5-6 times since moving.  Preparing goes a long way especially when you have a food allergy, but you don't have to quit your day job in order to do it.  Just take a moment to think ahead and when you have a day off, take that one day to plan and prepare.  Remember these are all mixes you make with things you probably already have on hand and certainly would have bought anyway. If you still need more motivation, with every mix you make in advance say to yourself, that's five dollars more in my pocket this month.

Feel free to contact me for more tips like this or just advice on how to get started... HAPPY PLANING!