What Do I Buy Online?

Online shopping can be a great way to purchase gluten free items for a better price.  A reader recently asked what do I buy online.  These are some of the best deals I have found.

1.  Heartland Pasta.  First of all this pasta tastes like the real thing!  It cooks and acts like normal pasta.  It is my favorite by far.  It comes in the spaghetti, fusilli, and penne pasta varieties.  The only store I have been able to find it in is Walmart and often they are out.  The price at Walmart is $2.18.  Online I can purchase a case of 12 on Amazon's Subscribe and Save for $2.20 a package and I get exactly what I want and I don't have to drive thirty minutes to go to Walmart where they may or may not have the pasta.

2.  Gluten Free Mama's Flours:  This is a great flour blend if you don't want the hassle of mixing all your own flours.  It produces excellent baked goods that are not gritty or crumbly.  It comes in two varieties: an almond flour blend and a coconut flour blend.  I have used both and both are excellent.  The coconut blend is great for those with nut allergies.  In the store you can easily spend $15.00 or more for a four pound bag of flour.  The cheapest I have ever found this product was on sale for $11.24.  Needless to say I stocked up.  You can purchase it on Amazon's Subscribe and Save in a pack of two for $25.99 which makes them $12.99 each.  This flour also comes in smaller sizes as well.

3.  Gluten Free Mama Pancake Mix:  I use this pancake mix because I really like the taste and I can make it dairy free!  A word of caution for those with nut allergies: it does contain almond meal.  I also use Gluten Free Mama's Pizza Crust Mix because it is the best I have found.  It is delicious.  Amazon's Subscribe and Save plan makes this crust $5.42.  The package makes two nice sized pizza crusts which feed my family of five when I add a side salad.

4.  Bob's Red Mill Cornbread:  Also on Amazon's Subscribe and Save in a pack of four.  Each package ends up costing approximately $2.53.  I like this cornbread mix because it is easy and I can make it dairy free.  My husband loves cornbread and this is his favorite by far!

5.  Envirokids Granola Bars:  These are yummy!  They come in several different varieties and the subscribe and save plan can make them as little as $2.47 a box.  They are great for quick snacks and for on the go which is so important for gf families.

6. Xanthan Gum:  A staple in gf cooking.  I recently found this one on Amazon.  Before I used Bob's Red Mill xanthan gum, but this one is a MUCH better deal.  This brand is not on the subscribe and save program, but the cost is still amazing when you compare it to other brands.  It costs $14.95 for 1 POUND compared to other options which can cost you $11.09 for 8 ounces!

7.  Namaste Muffin Mix:  The best thing about this muffin mix it that you can make any kind of muffin you can think of or create because this is a base mix.  We have made blueberry, chocolate chip, almond, orange chocolate chip, to name a few.  With subscribe and save you pay about $4.18 for a package which makes 12 muffins.  This is much more cost effective than buying four muffins for six dollars out of the freezer at the grocery store.  I make a batch and keep them in the freezer for when we need them. 

8.  Glutino Crackers and Pretzels:  The crackers are a much better deal than you can get in the store, so are the pretzels.  I have not found the ultimate cracker yet, but my family does like these and they come in four different varieties.  You may want to purchase a box at the store and try them before you buy online.  The pretzels on the other hand are awesome!  They are also dairy free!  They have a great taste and crunch.  I use them in Chex Mix and just as a snack.  Cinnamon says she likes them better than the old gluten filled pretzels.  They have a better taste.

9. Betty Crocker Cake Mix (GF):   This is a great product and so much cheaper online.  A box, through subscribe and save, costs around $3.04 compared to $4.79 in the store.  It come in the vanilla and chocolate varieties.  We use them to make cakes and cookies from this cookbook.  I have also used the Brownie Mix......divine!!! and the cookie mix.

10.  Annie's Products:  My kids love the Macaroni and Cheese!  They also love the Bunny Cookies  which now come in two more varieties.  These were two of the first products I purchased online because for my kids, they were comfort foods, things they thought they would never get to eat again.  I wish Annie's would make the cheddar bunnies gf, my kids thought they were the best. 

So.....here is a start. This list is not complete.  I am finding new products all the time and am always looking! I hope to keep you up to date with items as I find them.  So, now the hard part.   You have to take each item into consideration and decide which ones are the best deal for your budget.  I hope this is at least a place to start. 

Is Less Really More?

I was on the computer today checking emails and looking up an order I placed with Amazon a few days ago to check on the arrival date.  In my order box, not yet shipped, was my next round of Subscribe and Save items just waiting to make their way to my house.  I thought I had better check out what other items were going to be shipped over the next few months.  Good thing I did!  After changing the order dates for many items, I got to thinking, is it really better to buy in bulk?

One of the items on my list was Glutino Pretzels.  They are a great deal on Amazon's Subscribe and Save.  They are $2.75 a bag compared with $5.00 or more at the grocery store.  I can save $27.00 by buying a pack of 12 online.  Seems like a good deal.  The Betty Crocker cake mix could save me $8.00 if I bought it online (a pack of 6)  for $19.86.  Each box is $3.31 compared with $4.79 at the store.  Good for the budget, right!  Everything I buy on Amazon is cheaper than I can get in the store!

So, what about other online stores.  I have been debating buying flour in bulk online.  I can buy rice flour in regular packaging at  the store for $2.29 a pound or I can buy it in bulk for $1.19 a pound, but if I buy a 25 pound bag online, it costs me 72 cents a pound!  The same with tapioca flour:  $5.98 a pound, $1.49 a pound if purchased in bulk, or 89 cents a pound online for 25 pounds!  Online seems like the way to go.

Of course there are other places besides online to buy in bulk.  Costco provides massive packages of just about anything and Cash and Carry can be a savers dream for many items in bulk.  Check out my latest find!  First, let me say, I love my morning coffee.  I love it with a splash of Silk Vanilla Creamer and a hint, okay maybe a heaping teaspoon, of chocolate.  I use this Torani Chocolate Sauce.

I can get it at the grocery store for around $5.00 or I can buy it online through Amazon's Subscribe and Save for $4.12!  You can imagine my excitement when I found a larger bottle for around $10.00 at Cash and Carry.

Did I mention it is more than twice the size!  A lot more than twice the size!  How about four times the size!  Wow, I just saved half!

All of this sounds great.  Absolutely fantastic!  Right?

Maybe not.

I took a look at the fifteen items on my subscribe and save account.  Fifteen is not that many items really.  They are all items I use, some more regularly than others, but all things I do buy.  All of them are significant deals.  So what is the problem then?  The cost of those 15 items comes to $330.89.  Not exactly budget friendly.  Add that to the online flour I was thinking of purchasing, the cost rises to $387.70.  That is almost my entire budget for a single month, which has been a real challenge to meet!

This budget challenge has really made me stop and think about those things I often take for granted.  I have spent considerably more time evaluating individual grocery items than I ever have before.  One thing I have discovered is that buying in bulk does not necessarily save you in the long run.  Here's why.  Have you ever noticed that when you have a large quantity of something, you use it up without thinking and evaluating how much, or if, you really need to use it?  I have.

I discovered this a while back with olives.  If I purchase a pack of eight cans of olives at Costco I often use them up before the end of the month. I discovered that if I purchased six cans at the grocery store, I was much more discerning and I also found I only needed to  purchase that number of cans every six weeks instead of four.  How does that translate into cash?  Well, buying olives at Costco each month would cost me $85.44 a year compared to $46.28 at the grocery store and that does not take in to account sales or coupons.  Two cans less and a slightly longer use period adds up to savings, just by discerning a bit more.

The same was true for microwave popcorn.  If I buy the huge box at Costco, my kids get into it almost daily, but if I buy a small box, they are much more selective, especially when it comes to the last one in the box. 

What about Amazon?  Take the pretzels, for example. My history shows that when I had them on hand, we went through a box of twelve bags every four months. That adds up to about a hundred dollars a year. Last month I bought a six bags on sale for $2.99 a bag. That was more than the Amazon cost. I still have four bags! At this rate I would only spend $35.88 a year. Even if I did not buy it on sale, I would still save $40.00 a year.

If this is true for these items, where else is it true?  After taking a look at my 15 items on Amazon and other bulk items I tend to buy,  I found that staple items like flour or sugar are a good bulk buy.  They are necessary items.  Other items like my pretzels or granola bars aren't really a need, but more of a want.  A want I can control.  I think it might be better in the long run to buy a more expensive item at the store in a limited quantity and make it a special treat, than to buy it in bulk and make it a staple.  That line in the sand is different for everyone.  Some may find that granola bars for the kids are a necessity, for others it is the convenience of a gluten-free box of mac-n-cheese.  As for me, I think I will spend some more time discerning how much I really need of any one thing.  I will spend more time evaluating the difference between a want and a need when it comes to bulk buying.  It is like the saying goes....sometimes less is more,

Except when it comes to chocolate!