Gluten Free…..a marketer’s dream

I’m a marketer.  I’m a food marketer at that, so I get it.  The people who CHOOSE to eat diet food are happy to pay a higher price.  Now, I could turn this blog into a 4000 word rant on the obesity issue and the cheapness of a quarter pounder, but I’ll refrain.  This is more about how I find my way around the high prices, since I didn’t CHOOSE celiac and this food is a necessity.

I knew going into this lifestyle change that our grocery bill would increase.  I am sure it is more costly for a company to open a certified gluten free facility.  I am positive there are fees associated with continuing to be certified, blah blah blah.  Long story short, I was prepared for the cost of bread to double.  Being prepared doesn’t mean I don’t want to scream every time I open that $5 loaf of bread, only to find half of the slices you would get in a “normal” loaf.  And it doesn’t mean I don’t find it SUPER annoying that my people, the genius food marketers of the world, love slapping that $5 price point on the bread bag.  This is why I spend most of my time eating gluten free by doing it naturally, and not with gluten free replacements.  BUT, I dare you to try to pack a 15 month old’s lunch every day with fresh veggies and protein.  Every now and then you need a good gluten free cracker and some sunbutter so he doesn’t starve to death.  I decided I needed to put my competitive nature to good….to find a way to defeat those sneaky food marketers and get a deal on gluten free goodies.

This morning while chatting with my husband I mentioned I needed to find out when Aldi’s opened….he laughed saying he never expected those words to come out of my mouth.  I guess I am a stuck up grocery shopper.  Or it could be that Aldi’s isn’t nearby, so I go to the store that is close, but let’s stick with the first reason.  I’ll admit I’m pretentious.  I decided today was the day I was going to give the weird “pay a quarter for a cart” store a try.  And I’m so glad I did.

The gluten free options, cheeses, produce, and soymilk prices almost made me fall on my face.  Yes the store’s display shelves leave something to the imagination, the aisles are narrow, and I had to bag my own groceries.  Yes I had to drive past my normal Publix, and another Publix before I could get to the Aldi’s. And I had to insert a quarter to get a cart.  But the fact of the matter is, those are the things that help to jack up prices at other grocery store chains.

After shopping for about twenty minutes and just finding more and more LiveGFree (the Aldi’s gluten free brand) items to try, we headed to the register.  The cashier completed ringing up the ridiculous amount of crackers, frozen items, bread, soymilk, looked up and said “That will be $74.12”.  $74.  All that for $74.  Inside of my loot below is a bag of chocolate covered pretzels, two bags of regular pretzels, frozen ravioli, gluten free pasta, bread, gluten free wraps and two things of milk….not to mention turkey breast, corn, and some fruit.  I feel like I pay $74 for milk at Publix. If you need gluten free items, you are crazy not to stop by Aldi’s.  It is absolutely worth it.

The Aldi’s Loot

In other news, the Tucker household has been crazy stressful the past few weeks.  Nathan was interviewing for a job that would move us to Charlotte, and at the same time I had been approached about a Director of Marketing position with a national bakery chain based in Nashville.  Thinking about moving had sent me down the crazy river, and I’m going to guess on several occasions Nathan thought moving without me sounded better than ever;)  In the end, the Charlotte move didn’t work out.  And you are reading the musings of the new Director of Marketing of a brand I’ll talk about soon;)  The best part…they sell gluten free items.  My mom said when they diagnosed Pierce that somehow gluten free would be a part of my next career move.  She might be a prophet!

Pierce continues to get better, which allows my crazy to shift to things like freaking out about moving:)  He is walking, blabbering all day, and his appetite is out of control.  Can you imagine how good food must taste now that it doesn’t make him sick every time?

Feeding himself breakfast

Well, back to enjoying the two free hours of life called “nap time”.  Although today it shall be known as the two hours I will spend listening to Ford refuse to nap and instead, make up stories about super heroes.  And laugh at his own jokes.  A boy who takes after his mother:)