Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • We Recommend
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Genesis

The Financial Toll of Special Diets

September 29, 2010 By Shane Ede 6 Comments

wheatSpecial diets (unlike regular old diets like Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, or even simpler ones like the Slow Carb Diet) are almost always a result of some sort of food intolerance or disease.  Lactose intolerance requires that the afflicted person refrain from milk and dairy product that contain lactose.  Of course, there are milk and dairy replacements.  You can buy soy milk or almond milk, for instance, to replace the commonly used cows milk.  The difference is cost.

Another special diet is the gluten free diet.  Gluten is one of the building block proteins in grass grains like wheat, rye, and barley (and others).  Stop for a second and think about that.  Do a mental assessment of your pantry.  How much of that stuff has one of those grains in it?  Now, add about 20% or so, because much of it that you wouldn’t think has those grains (or their by-products) in it, does.  Soy sauce?  Wheat.  Soup?  Wheat flour for thickening.  Seasoning mixes?  Wheat flour.  There are replacements for almost all of those things.  And, again, the main difference is cost.  (well, some flavor too, but that’s another topic for another day.)

It’s how much?!?

How much of a price difference are we talking?  Around here, a gallon of 1% fat cows milk costs about $3.50.  On Amazon, right now, you can buy an 18 pack of 8.25 ounce Silk Soy Milks for $20.  Let’s compare ounce for ounce.  The cows milk costs about $0.028 per ounce.  ($3.50/128 ounces)  The soy milk?  $0.135 per ounce.  ($20/148.5 ounces)  That’s a difference of over $0.10 an ounce.  There’s 128 ounces in a gallon.  How many gallons of milk do you and your family use in a given week or month?  If you want to talk about gluten replacements, the average price for a loaf of gluten free bread is about $6.  I bought wheat bread at the store the other day for $1.29! Pasta is just as bad.  A package of gluten free spaghetti is usually about $3-5.  The wheat stuff can be found, on sale, for about $0.25-$1.00 for an equivalent size package.

Budget Breaker

It doesn’t take an accountant to add that up and figure out how much of a difference in your finances a special diet can make.  Or, how much of a skewing factor it plays in a budget.  Suddenly, your budget for food has to be quite a bit higher than it used to be.  And, of course, the financial toll is that it sucks up funds that could easily be used for something else should the diet not be necessary.

Planning for the Extra Cost

If you have to eat a special diet, you probably know the added cost that it adds to your budget.  But, what about someone just venturing into a special diet?  How do you budget for the extra cost?  You can either do your research and get a really good idea of what it will cost, or you can just leave yourself a very nice cushion until you know for sure.  Researching is probably the more likely choice, I would think.  Take a look on Amazon and see what some of the replacement items will cost.  Compare to what you normally buy.  That should give you a rough guess as to how much your costs will increase for certain items.  Using your normal expenditure as a starting point, you can then make an educated guess as to how much you should budget for in the coming months as you begin your special diet.

Eat Fresh

Another way to offset some of the cost is to eat more fresh food.  Adding more fruit and vegetables into your diet won’t increase your cost any more than the new special diet food and will likely make you healthier for it.

Photo Credit: wheat by sky_mitch

Shane Ede

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.

You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.

Filed Under: General Finance, Home, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: celiac, gluten, gluten free, lactose, special diets

Comments

  1. John @ Passive Family Income says

    October 1, 2010 at 8:13 am

    Our oldest son was diagnosed with a severe milk allergy when he was 1. This is different than being lactose intolerant and can really make him sick if he even touches dairy.

    After years of buying soy milk, we have gotten a feel for when to get the best deals on those types of products. For example, we found that you can buy a 1/2 gallon of soy milk at Aldi for $2.29. While not as cheap as a gallon of cow’s milk, it is much cheaper than Silk.

    All it takes is some careful planning on stocking up at the right times and we have been able to budget for these added expenses.

  2. Khaleef @ KNS Financial says

    October 4, 2010 at 6:41 am

    It’s really amazing to see the huge difference in costs. A coworker recently told me that she pays $6 for a loaf of gluten-free bread! It would seem to me that these are the foods that should be subsidized, rather than the more common items!

  3. Todd@PhitZone says

    October 19, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Outstanding post. Special diets can certainly put a strain on the grocery budget. For this reason, anybody that I meet that says that they’re on a special diet, such as gluten free, just because it’s “the thing to do”, I have to set them straight. If you don’t need to be on a special diet for medical reasons, it’s important to keep in mind that any time that you remove a food group or nutrient from your diet, you body is missing something that it needs.

Trackbacks

  1. Yakezie Roundup says:
    October 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    […] The Financial Toll of Special Diets @ Beating […]

  2. Just for Kids Weekend | Money Smart Life says:
    October 10, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    […] The Financial Toll of Special Diets @ Beating Broke […]

  3. Personal Finance Links (Tribute to my Grandfather-In-Law Edition) says:
    October 18, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    […] Beating Broke examines the financial toll of special diets. […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Improve Your Credit Score

Money Blogs

  • Celebrating Financial Freedom
  • Christian PF
  • Dual Income No Kids
  • Financial Panther
  • Gajizmo.com
  • Lazy Man and Money
  • Make Money Your Way
  • Money Talks News
  • My Personal Finance Journey
  • Personal Profitability
  • PF Blogs
  • Reach Financial Independence
  • So Over Debt
  • The Savvy Scot
  • Yes, I am Cheap

Categories

Disclaimer

Please note that Beating Broke has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. Beating Broke may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.

Visit Our Advertisers

Need to change careers? Consider an Accounting Certificate Program from WTI.