Have you noticed that gluten free grains are expensive?  It is amazing how much they can charge for a bag of rice flour that will only make 2 batches of muffins.  When you add that to the fact that you need many different kinds of grains, it can be a budget breaker.  But we all know that not only is baking from scratch better for you, it is also less expensive than buying the different premade gluten free items out there. 

My solution is grinding my own grains.  I now buy all my grains in bulk and grind them as I need them.  The grains I use most, like brown rice flour, get ground in larger batches and stored in air tight locking containers.  (Note…tapioca is a frequently used flour in our house but should not be ground in most machines.) I grind brown rice, buckwheat, teff, amaranth, millet, quinoa, and much more.  Fresh flour contains many more nutrients than flours that have been on the shelf for who knows how long.  You also don’t have to worry about rancidity like you do with the pre-ground grains. 

 I want to tell you about a machine that I believe should be in every gluten free home.  The VitaMix is a grinder, blender, juicer, food processor, and much more.  (You can read more about my love for this machine and the things we use it for here.)  While this machine is not inexpensive, it will quickly pay for itself in many ways.  The first of which I mentioned earlier, the amount of money you will save on your flours.  Secondly, when you add up the cost of the machines it replaces and/or can substitute for, it is probably less.  Next, the VitaMix is industrial quality, has a full 7 year warrenty and lasts for upwards of 30 years.  As an example, we have burned through two full size blenders and one magic bullet in our 13 years of marriage.  We barely used these blenders because they never did what we wanted anyway.  Just the cost of those items was $200.  I could have saved that wasted money by purchasing a VitaMix in the beginning.  Now add that money to the two juicers and the grain mill and I would have come out way ahead.  (By the way, I found the VitaMix on Amazon for the same cost as Costco.  Just go to this page for all your options.) 

Back to grinding grains with the VitaMix.  My dear friend bought her VitaMix with a special dry container for grinding grains.  When I bought mine, they didn’t give me that option and I already had a grain mill anyway so I didn’t want to spend the extra money.  Next thing I knew, my grain mill wouldn’t turn on (I’m still unhappy about that and hope it is still under warrenty).  I figured I’d try putting rice in my standard VitaMix container and see what happened.  It worked and I haven’t looked back.  You may want to do your own research into the reasoning for the second container but I am happy with just using the one.  The flours are just as fine as those I purchase at the store and are much less expensive. 

Begin saving your quarters for your own VitaMix and before you know it you won’t know how you lived without it.  Then with all the money you’ll be saving on flours, you can treat yourself to a pedicure or maybe a trip to Hawaii.

Diet (other): Gluten free

Microformatting by hRecipe.

When trying to buy items that are gluten free, there are many different ingredients to look for.  Gluten is much more than flour, wheat, and bread.  One thing to consider is the less ingredients your item has, the better it is for you.  If you are looking at a product that has many items you can’t pronounce and aren’t sure about, I would just leave it on the shelf.  If in doubt about the gluten content, don’t risk it. 

 Often under the ingredient list is a statement about whether a product contains, wheat, dairy, and soy.  This is always a great place to start looking.  It gives you an obvious “no” answer quickly.  But remember that just because something say wheat-free doesn’t mean it is gluten free.  So always check the whole ingredient list before eating an item.

Here are your main gluten full ingredients.  The ones that are easy to spot with a quick glance at ingredients.  If you are new to eating gluten free, even some of these items may come as a surprise.   Wheat, rye, barley, oats (or oatmeal), and spelt are your main gluten grains.  You will find that these are sometimes billed as alternatives to wheat but are not gluten free.  Look for ingredients that contain any of these words.  Many cereals, even Rice Crispies, have barley malt which you will notice contains the word barley and thus has gluten.   There are also terms that refer to the specific kinds of wheat, like bulgar, durum, farina, macha, matzo or matza, kamut, graham, or semolina.   Always look for the word gluten as well.

There are some items that may be listed individually but are actually made from multiple ingredients.  Some products will have the broken down but some won’t.  Here are a few of the main culprits.  Malt, soy sauce, beer, germ, bran, and sometime bouillon or broth.