Businesses and the media are realizing that the gluten-free diet is not just a passing fad, but a permanent fixture in many people’s diets.

This article from Tuesday’s New York Times, Gluten-Free: Flavor Free No More, discusses bakeries and companies that are working to create more options and better tasting foods.  The article highlights both the growth of the gluten-free market as well as the improvement in the quality of these goods.  In an interview with Gluten-Free Girl, Shauna, she discusses the different flours that can be used when baking gluten-free treats, as well as the gums that give baked goods their elasticity.

At the end of the article, the NY Times links to 29 gluten-free recipes from past articles.  There are a lot of yummy quinoa recipes, including this one that I’ll be making soon.  Be careful though, as one of the other recipes calls for soy sauce and doesn’t explain that soy sauce typically contains gluten.  (A good reminder never to just blindly trust when someone says something’s gluten free.  Always ask questions.)

Reader, Chili T, passed along this CNBC article, Gluten-Free Foods Paying off Big which discusses the growth of companies, such as Kellogg and P.F. Chang’s,  that are focusing their energies on marketing to gluten-free consumers.  While these products can be more expensive, time consuming and require additional training for employees, it appears from the article that the introduction of these items and services are helping global companies continue to grow.

Many of you are familiar with Shauna who writes the wonderful and beautiful blog,  Gluten Free Girl & the Chef.  Her website inspires me often and includes wonderful images and stories about her food, family, and friends.  Shauna creates amazing gluten-free food with her husband, the chef, and writes about her experience with food.  She, too, has an incredible story of  years of sickness and a new outlook on life after her celiacdiagnosis.

In today’s Gluten-Free Girl post, Eating on $18 a day, Shauna writes about trying to feed her family for a week, spending only $18 a day on food.  Why is she doing this?  This week is King County’s United Way Hunger Action Week and people can pledge to only spend the maximum food stamp allotment for the size of their family to see how many people live. Individuals are allotted $7 a day, couples $12 a day, and a family of three (like Shauna’s) gets $18.

Reading Gluten-Free Girl’s post today brought out a lot of emotions in me.  It enrages me that families go hungry and many people in this country are denied the opportunity to eat healthy, nutritious food.  Sadly, it is much cheaper and quicker to eat a Big Mac Extra Value Meal than to make a healthy, colorful meal for your family.  Also, our country ends up spending much more money on health care because of the cheap, and void of nutrition, food that people put in their bodies.  It seems if more money was spent on healthy food, we could prevent many other diseases, health problems and costs.

We try to eat economically in our home but we definitely spend money on good, nutrient packed food, with the occasional splurge on a nice steak to share.  Unfortunately the gluten-free diet can be expensive, especially finding products like breads and baking mixes.  I try not to complain about the expenses too much because I love my gluten-free life and the excuse to try new recipes and concoctions in the kitchen.  While it would be difficult to live gluten-free on only $7 a day, I think it can be accomplished.

Here are some of the things I do regularly in a conscious attempt to cut my food costs:

Be Flexible at the Store: When going grocery shopping, bring a couple of meal ideas with you and then make your final decision based on what’s on sale that week.

Buy in bulk online: Ordering gluten-free flours, Lara Bars and cereal in bulk on Amazon.com can save lots of money.  Just make sure you have a place to store all of it!  (You get free shipping on Amazon if you spend more than $25!)

Soups & stews: They make great, filling, and nutritious meals.  Soups and stews make a ton of food and you can freeze leftovers.  Stews are a great way to use meat sparingly but still get a hearty meal.  Cornbread goes well with this and you can make a batch of cornbread and freeze it in individual pieces.

Bake from scratch: I will make a big batch of muffins on a Saturday morning and freeze the extras.  Then I have a stash when I’m craving a yummy muffin for breakfast and don’t feel the impulse to buy more expensive gluten-free muffins at Whole Foods.

Buying seasonally and locally.  CSAs are a great way to get fresh produce more economically and forces you to be more creative in the kitchen.

Go Vegetarian Occasionally: David and I are eating more and more vegetarian dinners and I find that we’re spending less money and eating much better food.  I just don’t miss the meat.

Add Beans to your Plate: Lentils and beans offer fiber, nutrients, and protein to your meal and fill you up.  Check out the beautiful bean dish I made last night with fresh swiss chard from The Local Farmstand.  I’ll be using the extra beans to make white chicken chili later this week.

What meals do you make that are healthy nutritious, and economical?  What shopping guidance do you have that helps you limit your grocery spending?