Gluten free/paleo expensive

[beewritesx]

My husband wants to do a paleo and gluten free diet. I do all the food shopping and I find gf and dairy free stuff extortionate and generally eating meat everyday is expensive. I want some money to treat myself and ds at the end of the month. I told him to get tested for an intolerance/celiac disease before going gluten free but he won't and said he'll buy it himself. I'm worried about how this will impact our finances!

My friend thinks I should consider his health but the fact of the matter is that she only has herself to buy for and she's not on such a tight budget. Prior to going gf DH ate a lot of white bread and biscuits, etc so I think it's a question of cutting down, not cutting out.

I was prepared to make him a sandwich for work everyday, but not sure I wanna do a paleo meal for him! If he was actually diagnosed with having celiac disease I'd feel differently, but he's not! AIBU?

If he's doing paleo then he won't be eating GF substitute foods which are expensive. He will be mostly eating veg, nuts and seeds with some meat. Does he actually understand what paleo is? If you're doing it right it's pretty boring!

Lots of people struggle with gluten or highly processed modern foods without actually having coeliac. I have discovered that dairy doesn't agree with me but I'm not allergic.

You're not unreasonable to consider the impact on finances but I bet you he gets bored with it very quickly.

I agree with you that he needs to get tested. I was tested by Gastro-Enterology after a referral.

Gluten-free bread is more expensive, yes, but Asda own brand (for example) is a lot cheaper than 'branded'. Thing is, bread isn't a 'paleo food'.

A paleo diet typically includes lean meats, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds — foods that in the past could be obtained by hunting, gathering and foraging, not through cultivation and agriculture.

Does he really know what he's on about?

He might be better on a temporary low FODMAP diet, tbh. That's short-term and about healing and elimination, then slowly reintroducing foods one at a time to find the culprit(s).

I'm finding it very helpful.

He wants to do paleo mainly but he asked me to buy GF wraps yesterday. £3.50 for a pack of wraps that tasted like cardboard!

There's a good amount of talk about fasting on the paleo diet, maybe tell him to skip lunch. And, as above, you wouldn't need to find wheat substitutes because they wouldn't have been around in paleo times - it's all meat, fruit, veg and beans.

Mine are dairy free. Yogurt is pricier and I shop around for unsweetened oat milk and soya when it's in offer. Being gf too is a pain as we did it and it does massively restrict things.

I'd look at doing him meals that naturally avoid gluten instead of buying gf products. Instead of sandwhich he takes a salad

Also, a paleo diet would consist of just free range meat which I try to buy, but it is expensive... I'd rather substitute it for Quorn which is off the menu. 🙄

Why is this all down to you to make happen anyway? Can't he just have his share of the food budget and let him get on with it?

But a tonne of free-range eggs? Boiled eggs, omelettes, scrambled eggs ...

Root vegetables and tubers are cheap.

I've never understood why calling something "paleo" is meant to be such a good thing.

The life expectancy in the paleolithic era was 35!

He needs to read up on it first and get some ideas of the type of foods he can eat, it can't all be on you.

When I did it, the fuzzy head and feeling rubbish lasted days and made it hard to work so that's something to bear in mind.

He could look at a primal diet which is the same but allows dairy and could be used as a stepping stone into paleo.

We are a pudding kind of family and found adjusting to that hardest as veg & meat was pretty standard for a main meal anyway.

Oh and breakfast can be tricky if you normally have cereal (although whole foods used to do a paleo (expensive) cereal.

Rather than replacing bread/wraps with gluten free versions, look at different foods that are naturally gluten free.

For example, replace sandwiches with jacket potatoes (cook in bulk at the weekend and reheat in the microwave during the week).

Alternatively - and this is what Paleo really means - replace carbs with fat. For example, a can of tuna in olive oil costs the same as tuna in water, but is much more filling.

I haven’t eaten meat for 30+ years.

For the last 3 months I’ve also dropped caffeine, dairy, all sugars, fruit, all grains, root veg and alcohol.

I eat twice a day and my meals have egg/fish/sometimes beans as a base with loads of salad/green veg and I haven’t ever found it boring and I feel absolutely amazing. This will be my way of eating most of the time for the rest of my life.

I don’t put crap fuel in my car and now I don’t put crap food in myself. I also don’t expect anyone else to enable it.

@bananapumpkin

Rather than replacing bread/wraps with gluten free versions, look at different foods that are naturally gluten free.

For example, replace sandwiches with jacket potatoes (cook in bulk at the weekend and reheat in the microwave during the week).

Alternatively - and this is what Paleo really means - replace carbs with fat. For example, a can of tuna in olive oil costs the same as tuna in water, but is much more filling.

Potatoes are not on any paleo/low carb diet.

Thing is, going gluten-free doesn’t improve your health UNLESS you have coeliac.

I would say he needs to do further research and make a plan of what he is going to eat for all of his meals. Just saying ‘buy some gluten free wraps’ isn’t going to provide him with a gluten free diet.

I don’t think it’s reasonable for you to veto him going gluten free but he needs to know what he is going to be eating. It’s not up to you to find out about it!

@FourTeaFallOut

Why is this all down to you to make happen anyway? Can't he just have his share of the food budget and let him get on with it?

Indeed!!!

As an archaeologist, I would tell him that he needs to research what would have been available to Paleolithic people in Northern Europe, as that’s what he’s trying to replicate. Nothing from anywhere warmer or further away, even if he thinks they otherwise fit the bill. And he should be using the whole animal if he’s eating meat. All the stringy, fatty and gristly bits too. Preferably butchered at home with flint tools. And not kept in a fridge but just left on the side.

There was a reason those clever Neolithic folks started farming.

I've just remembered the breakfast cupcakes I used to make and they were really tasty and filling.

Line a cupcake tray with pieces of bacon to try and take the shape of the cupcake and bake for 10mins. Crack an egg inside and bake for a further 10mins.

2 of those would fill me up for hours. I'd make a couple of days worth for us and keep in the fridge.

I was prepared to make him a sandwich for work everyday, but not sure I wanna do a paleo meal for him!

Well can he not do it for himself??? Is he doing paleo because he is an actual caveman?

Sounds like the responsibility for his health is firmly at your door ffs.

I have to eat gf, not a choice. Anyone willingly doing this has to be evaluated by a shrink..... imo.

@MrsTulipTattsyrup

As an archaeologist, I would tell him that he needs to research what would have been available to Paleolithic people in Northern Europe, as that’s what he’s trying to replicate. Nothing from anywhere warmer or further away, even if he thinks they otherwise fit the bill. And he should be using the whole animal if he’s eating meat. All the stringy, fatty and gristly bits too. Preferably butchered at home with flint tools. And not kept in a fridge but just left on the side.

There was a reason those clever Neolithic folks started farming.

We could argue all day about the impact that has had!

Get him to google paleo diet meal plan

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324405#7-day-paleo-diet-meal-plan

Get him to write shopping list and price it on online shopping

Tell him to start intermittent fasting and then just feed him once a day 😆

Or he could forage some wild grains? Bash them about a bit with rocks, lovely mixed with some river water and cooked on a nice bed of burning charcoal and wild garlic leaves.

Spread with mashed up duck egg.

(I went down a rabbit hole, @MrsTulipTattsyrup!)