It can actually be much more difficult for some to live on a tight budget because their diet requires special food. For those who are allergic to gluten or have celiac disease, it can be nearly impossible, since almost everything has some form of wheat gluten in the mix. That doesn't mean you can't find some cheap and delicious items that are simple to make for yourself that are gluten-free and maintain a strict diet. In addition, if you have to make your lunch, then you know it's a burden to create a hearty meal with gluten-free ingredients that aren't going into a sandwich. Since gluten-free bread is one of the most expensive on the market, these recipes can fill in the gaps and hopefully give you some leftovers.
This is actually pasta-less salad, using quinoa. As many gluten-free dieters know, pasta is a major no-no. However, quinoa can substitute for pasta and still create a plentiful, delicious yet healthy meal with some Italian ingredients. With just 1 cup of dry quinoa, cherry tomatoes, green olives, turkey pepperoni, and light Italian dressing, you can make incredible pasta-less salad.
This is really rather simple, but you should be aware that some store-bought hummus can contain gluten. To prevent biting into a mess, it's safer to prepare your own hummus and also ensure that you are getting healthy and flavorful ingredients without chemicals. To make a good hummus, you just need tahini, canned chickpeas, lemon juice, and garlic cloves. You can also mix in things like red bell peppers or paprika.
Lettuce wraps are a great replacement for bread recipes and sandwiches. You can actually create some versatile lunches with ground beef, shallots, garlic cloves, lemongrass, chopped cashews, and butter lettuce leaves or romaine lettuce. Just throw some of your favorite ingredients together on a bed of lettuce and enjoy a healthy gluten-free lunch.
Tortillas are a versatile part of any Mexican dish, but there's plenty of recipes that use flour tortillas. However, gluten-free tortillas are easily found in the grocery store and can allow you to make things like tortillas soup, burritos, tacos, and quesadillas with diet friendly ingredients.
A gluten-free vegetarian chili recipe is not only healthy but on the cheap side. All you need is some black beans, tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, dash of chili powder, onions and minced garlic to create a spicy yet delicious dish.
This recipe for gluten-free quiche muffins serves 12 and it's relatively cheap. You just need chopped spinach, green onion, cream cheese or Swiss cheese (gluten-free), slices of ham, mushrooms and 10 eggs. You just blend all of these ingredients together with a food processor or whisk, then pour into cupcake pan. Bake for 10 minutes to get a breakfast or lunch meal.