You DON’T NEED to shop in the ‘Free from’ section to eat gluten-free
Once you went gluten-free, how many times were you forced to increase your food shopping budget? 2 times? 3 or even 5 times? For sure, it didn’t remain the same, claims most gluten-free focus customers.
We get it! Gluten intolerance is already a burden keeping in mind unpleasant bloating, digestion issues, only ordering a salad in a restaurant, or having to avoid cake at your friend’s birthday in fear it may contain gluten. The great news here is that the boom in awareness of food allergies in recent years has resulted in endless gluten-free food selections that are found in almost every major supermarket across the UK.
The great news ends where the price tag begins.
Photo credits: Shutterstock Enormous price differences at ‘free from’ food sections make it even harder to keep up with the budget that is allocated for food and medical supplies.
The 'Availability and Nutritional Adequacy of Gluten-Free Bread and Pasta’ report by Beatrice Allen and Caroline Orfila suggests, in 2018 gluten-free products cost on average 159% more than regular products. Some products cost even 2 or 3 times more just because they don’t contain gluten, but in most cases contain even more ingredients than their conventional counterparts. According to a study published by the BBC Worklife, some gluten-free cereals are 205% and some bakery products are 267% more expensive than the regular products containing gluten.
Photo credits: Pexel.
So who is to blame for such high gluten-free food prices?
If you’re about to blame food manufacturers which is what most customers do - you may want to think again. We’re not here to defend but simply explain that in most cases, gluten-free product prices are proportional to the manufacturing price of these products.
Gluten-free products from the manufacturer perspective
Usually, customers have expectations when the question comes to the price of ‘free from’ products, but in many cases, manufacturers struggle to lower the price of gluten-free products for a number of reasons. For example:
How many times have you checked all over the package just to make sure there is no ‘may contain’ warning? But have you wondered that making sure there is no contamination from step A to Z results in high costs of having special facilities and following strict allergen-free guidelines? Yes, manufacturers are forced to struggle to earn the gluten-free label on the packaging.
Photo credit: https://coeliactivist.com/
If there’s a complaint that manufacturers didn’t follow the guidelines and mislead customers in any way, the consequences are huge. Resulting in recalling the whole line of products.
With the demand for gluten-free products increasing, it is still not as economically scalable as products that contain gluten in them. Unfortunately, there are still fewer chances to earn high profit from this product line and sell it in high quantities.
Most gluten-free products contain even more ingredients than regular products. The effort to compensate for the loss of gluten requiresadding additional ingredients. In many cases, these ingredients are also more costly.
Taking all points into consideration, there is a reasonable explanation why gluten-free products cost more than regular ones. However, there’s no longer a need to shop in the ‘free from’ section.
We want to provide you with a tool that will not only help you find gluten-free alternatives but also save you time and money.
Did you know that you don’t need to shop in the ‘free from’ section to eat gluten-free? Yes, yes, we are not joking here. There are a number of accidentally gluten-free products out there that are not necessarily marked as gluten-free but costs lower than the ones with such labels.
With this awareness, JollyGut has developed an app that helps to spot which products are gluten-free within a single click on your phone.
All you need to do is simply:
Scan a chosen product in-store or enter it into a search engine using the JollyGut food scanner.
If you are in store, scan it with the JollyGut food scanner:
Get warned if the product contains gluten in it:
Click the tab ‘for experts’ and explore the nutritional profile of your chosen food product:
Compare prices and find the cheapest gluten-free option:
5 accidentally gluten-free products that you must try!
If you still struggle to find the best gluten-free products at your local supermarket, the JollyGut team has 5 great products for you to try out NOW!
With the JollyGut food scanner app, you don’t need to analyse complex ingredient lists wondering whether the chosen product contains gluten or not - just check the product with the app or Browser extension and it will warn you if the chosen product meets your dietary preferences!