GFCF Costs? I just signed up for this thing called Family Support Substity. Its a service solely in Michigan but its supposts to help pay for some of the costs invilved in raising an autistic child. I've been researching the GFCF diet and would like to try it. My question is is it exspensive? We would like to start saving that money she'll receive but I will also be applying it to her diet.. Sarah's biggest expense was the potato milk...The rest was easy because she only ate fries and chicken nuggets..I made huge batches of gfcf nuggets and froze them.  She liked the gfcf bread for toast-it was frozen too.  I had huge batches of fries~froze them and she drank apple juice. That was the extent of her diet for a year..some rice cream (ice cream) some gfcf cookies..crackers..she wouldnt eat any veggies at all. She sometimes will eat a apple or banana~I didnt think the diet was hard whatsoever but she had such a limited diet to begin with..finding alternatives was really easy..even out local grocery store carries gfcf products now:) Good luck:)Just thought i would mention.. yahoo mesage boards have a message board just for gfcf diet.. I am on that because i am thinking of going casein free for my son you will get a ton of emails but it is so worth getting all the info.. So i would say go on yahoo and sign up..  It really depends on the parents and the child.  Every child will have different preferences for foods.  Each parent will decide how much time, effort and money they are willing to invest in either preparing the foods or buying the foods. You can definately save money by making most of your child's food.  For instance, you can make gfcf breaded items pancakes, waffles, muffins, breads, etc using gfcf ingredients.  THere are numerous cookbooks out there that can help you find the one that your child will like.  There will be some ingredietns that will cost a little more, but if it is only your child that consumes the foods...it can last a long time.  For instance, if you purchase organic spagetti sauce (or you make it at home), you can always divide it and freeze it.  The same goes with anything you make. I personally don't think the diet is that much more expensive because we make everything from scratch since my kids won't eat any of the packaged stuff (ie gfcf cookies, brownies, etc).  You will find that there are  a lot of food products that are sold in grocery stores that are gfcf so it isn't that difficult to do.  I think the most difficult part was for my husband and I to learn about what foods were gfcf and what weren't.  That took us a good 3-4 months before we coudl get our kids fully on gfcf. Yes it is more expensive especially at the start because you will have to have the basic ingredients. If you make your own bread, rolls, cakes, cookies by scratch it will save you a ton of money. Special Diets for special kids is a good starter book. It took a while but once I found my sons favorite bread, rice and or potato milk (he is not suppoosed to have soy) and rice cheese it made things a lot easier. Oh by the way a lot of rice products have casein and gluten in it ( rice dream) As a family we do eat a lot of rice so I do have a rice cooker( it tastes so much better) I know a lot of mommies who do not even use a bread maker to make their own bread. My son's favorite pasta is by tinkyada and his favorite cereal is by envirokids both are a little more expensive bust he eats them and they are tasty. Any of the mixes by namaste are very good but soo expnsive.   Good Luck. I found it somewhat expi but if you have the time not expi -the trouble I found was that some of the GF-CF products are REALLY bad tasting the Taca now website has some good recco Another great thing of you child is not a picky eater and you have the time to avoid processed goods- is to basically stich with meat, rice and vegetables - I honestly think then that its no more expi than a regular diet Rohan eats potato chips as a snack Joyce, an easy thing to start with is to just remove the casein. Buy some rice or almond milk (some are flavored with vanilla) and don't give her butter, cream cheese, yogurt, etc. You can get all of those at the HFS but for the first week, just do without and see how she does on the alternative milks. You might see such great things and that will inspire you to stop the gluten, too, which imo is harder to do.Im trying to lean our family toward more organic foods. I've been dieting and eating really healthy and I feel a big change in my demeanor and physical self...I want my family to have this too.... Everything is gradual though. Im just curious to see if the diet would make a difference in her. We don't to GFCF around here, but I just wanted to second the EnviroKids cereal!  My kids like them because of the animal pictures, but they are yummy, too :) Especially the cocoa one with the Koala on the box! If you focus mainly on meat, veggies and fruits then she will not become addicted to the carbs. You would need to then buy soy based butter, or use oil for most cooking. There are ready-made carb foods that are gluten free but they are expensive. We do buy some of them. Her being little will help since she probably can make a 6 pack of muffins last a whole week.  (i can't imagine what would happen if our 13 yr old son needed the diet For our little girl, I just keep in mind she needs the diet--it isn't an option. So whatever it costs, we have to pay. It helps me not to die of shock everytime I pay at the health food store.
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