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OT: cheap(er) and easy Gluten/Dairy free breakfast; such a thing?
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I just noticed our Aldi grocery store now carries a ton of GF products. They are half the price of Walmart prices. I didn’t notice if they had GF oatmeal, but they had pasta and several baking mixes for pancakes, biscuits, etc.
Thanks, great ideas! I have many of the recipes already, just need to buckle down and cook a day ahead I guess:) I am not a cooking fan, I would almost rather do anything than cook, so I will also try having my older three cook more (they are doing great with the recipes they know). We’ve been so busy lately (trying to sell our house and move, redoing the kitchen because too many people said it needed “updated”:)
I don’t mind same-old food, it’s cheap and it works, so the regular oatmeal thankfully is cheap and 5 people can eat it.
We just made chia-pudding the other day, it was great!
I think the problem with some of the ideas is that my kids eat soooo much, at every meal, whether it’s protein packed or not. They have their Dad’s metabolism, and they are all very skinny (just like 6’4″ Dad). So a smoothie would be a joke for breakfast, so would muffins (even egg/sausage) and would be way too expensive for 6 kids, but maybe I can combine them with rice and beans, or something else filling if they are still hungry.
ALDI is carrying cheaper snacks/mixes, which is great, no oatmeal yet.
I’ll have to try some organic oats (although I really don’t want to deal with the horrible side effects if they do bother me) but that would be great if we could do those instead of gluten free. My friend has a theory that all the gluten intolerances are caused by the processing of the oats, and that organic oats would be fine. I hadn’t want to test her theory though:)
Thanks again, will have to pick a cooking night/day after the kitchen is back together someday:)
There are probably others that know more, but I thought the problem with oats was the handling. I don’t think oats themselves have gluten. But I do know there are a lot of people who have trouble with them if they aren’t specifically gluten free.
So I was wondering if you could just use oat groats. We love them. We grind them for flour for pancakes and everything like that (just not bread). Also, when you cook them as a hot cereal, they are fabulous. They do have to cook a while though, or overnight. I don’t know if you would have to use “gluten free” or not. I can’t have wheat, and I’m fine with them. But I don’t think my problem is gluten exactly, because I do eat spelt.
Here’s the breakdown per serving of the smoothie we had for breakfast today:
1 TBS chia seeds: 60 calories, 3g protein
1 TBS extra virgin coconut oil: 125 calories, 14g good fat
1 TBS Great Lakes collagen hydrolysate: 25 calories, 6g protein
1 cup homemade coconut milk: approx. 144 calories, 3g fat
1 cup frozen strawberries: 50 calories, 13g carbs
1/2 cup frozen blueberries: 40 calories, 18g carbs
Total calories: 444 Total carbs: 31gTotal protein: 9gTotal fat: 17g
I’ve never actually done a breakdown of one of our smoothies like this. I’m pretty happy with where this has us nutritionally, especially for the kids. I often add a raw pastured egg to each of our smoothies which would give us an additional 72 calories, 6g protein, and 5g fat.
If the smoothie was just made of water or juice and frozen fruit, my kids would laugh at me too. But when you consider all the extra protein and fat I’m adding, it makes for a very inexpensive and healthy breakfast. I’ve got big eaters too, especially ds10, who routinely out-eats both my husband and I. He had this smoothie for breakfast today, with nothing else, and was satisfied.
Compare this with 1/2 cup of uncooked oatmeal, which will make about a cup of cooked oatmeal. There are 150 calories, 3g fat, 5g protein, and 27g carbs. I assume you’re adding a sweetener like honey or sugar, which increases the carb content, and if you’re adding a fat like coconut oil, you’re increasing the fat content. Oatmeal is sorely lacking in both fat and protein, but is an excellent source of carbs.
I am NOT a macronutrient counter–this is the first time I’ve ever done a breakdown like this. Hope it helps!
ETA: If you are looking to add variety and feel that a fat- and protein-packed smoothie won’t fill them up, maybe add a side of sausage, bacon, or eggs, or a handful of nuts.
Thanks LindseyD. Yes, some have coconut oil in their oatmeal, sometimes peanut butter. My kids have to have two bowls before cereal, sometimes they each eat three bowls/servings of oatmeal. So my main concern was for a family of 8, the cost of the smoothie above is astronomical compared to our normal oats/cereal/milk/almond milk. Then if they still weren’t full, it would be a really expensive breakfast that just doesn’t fit into our small grocery budget. Maybe I can just try it once a week, or every other week though.
True, oats don’t contain gluten, but they are usually processed with wheat, and even if they aren’t they still bother many celiacs/gluten intolerant people. I can’t stand how I feel after eating them, and my other son gets diarrhea immediately (just like he does with gluten). I’ll look up the oat groats, never heard of them, thanks
I guess I’m confused then, amama5. Was your original post asking for new breakfast suggestions so that you could get away from oatmeal everyday? Or were you planning to stick to oatmeal and Chex anyway and just asking what the rest of us do for GF/DF breakfast? You’ve received a lot of wonderful alternatives, yet your replies keep coming back to oatmeal.
I don’t mean to be rude, but if you were only ever going to feed your family oatmeal for breakfast anyway, what was the point of asking for other suggestions?
Blessings,
Lindsey
I’m sorry if that was confusing, I think you misunderstood my original post since your replies are about oatmeal or smoothies (which are really expensive). I definitely am wanting to get away from buying gluten free oatmeal always and move to something cheaper. It does seem confusing, but I felt like I answered the posts thanking people for good ideas, and for good ways to implement them (having older kids cook more, cooking ahead, etc.) so I don’t think I was always coming back to oatmeal, unless I was just commenting/replying to others (including yours) that were talking about oatmeal (oat groats, adding protein, processing, etc). My kids that can handle regular oats will still get oatmeal though, since it is cheap and easy for me to do. Hope that cleared it up. I did look up some of your links, and they were great, one woman has a great archive of breakfast ideas that I saved to try later this week. Thanks
We use quinoa, amaranth, and millet. Some of my kids like a bowl of rice for breakfast. They experiment with mixins such as fruit, nuts, peanut butter, pumpkin and cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger.
Oh, I forgot that you can get buckwheat hot cereal. It’s kind of like cream of wheat except of course that buckwheat isn’t a grain. I feel your pain with the small budget- it is hard to feed a large family paleo or gluten free on a budget! Hope you can find something that works, especially for your big eaters!!
My kids really like zucchini cooked in egg frittatas. We will mix them with sweet potatoes, cauliflower, brocolli, peppers, onions, or alone.
I like to cook up butternut squash on a cookie sheet at the same time I am cooking up an oven omelet, frittata,etc and then serve it the same way I would serve a potato. If the kids are hungry we will cut into it. If they aren’t we will gobble it up for a side vegetable dish in some meal in the next two or three days. My kids love butternut squash with a little salt.
We also will shred up the zucchini and make fritters. To cut down the cost a bit, I will usually mix in some carrots.
We will mix pumpkin into a porridge with eggs, coconut milk, and cinnamon. My kids won’t eat acorn squash for breakfast yet, but at least they will at other meals.
We lived in Asia for the past 2 1/2 years, so my kids got used to just eating a side dish of vegetable for breakfast (okra, squash, etc). We transitioned to gluten free while over there, and they just came to accept that instead of a piece of a piece of bread, they would have to eat a vegetable or fruit.
My favorite site for eggs ideas is: paleoleap.com. From his website, my kids can create at least two weeks of different combinations of egg recipes.
Soup! I get lots of funny looks, but soup for breakfast can be quick and filling. I’m GF to and chez is in the cupboard and hubby loves eggs but I get tired of them. I also like quinoa and buckwheat and will make a porridge out of either.
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